Avoid possible winter flooding with these tips

Take these preventive steps to avoid winter flooding in your home.

The latest forecasts for Massachusetts and New England predict heavy rain with the possibility of ice today continuing into Saturday. This weekend’s forecast coupled with the recent snowstorms, creates the potential for flooding and other water-related issues.

The melting snow around a home can easily navigate its way into cracks or gaps in a home’s foundation, causing floods that affect the home’s interior. Other porous surfaces and even window wells are susceptible to flooding.

Before the rain moves in, here are a few tips to help prevent flooding. The most important thing that can be done is making sure the water has some place to go.

  • Check all of the downspouts on your home. They can sometimes get clogged or be blocked by snow.  Make sure the downspouts are draining water away from the foundation of your home.
  • Clear the street drains near your house. Snow can accumulate and prevent proper drainage.
  • If you have a sump pump, please test it to be sure it is working and make sure that the water being pumped outside is flowing away from the home.
  • Piles of heavy snow around a home’s perimeter can melt and intrude into your home. Prevent an interior flood by shoveling the snow away from the foundation of your home.
  • Snow from a home’s roof can flood the interior when it melts. Remove excess snow from your roof with a roof rake or have a professional clear the snow when it accumulates to form piles of two feet or more.
  • Check gutters for any blockages. Gutters can become blocked with debris and a blocked gutter gives melting ice nowhere to flow.
  • Prevent ice dams by making sure your attic is properly insulated. Heat escaping through the roof, is the primary cause of ice dams.
  • Examine exposed pipes located in the unheated areas of your home, like the attic, basement and under sinks. These pipes should be fitted with insulation. Effective insulation can encapsulate water pipes and prevent freezing.
  • Another way to avoid pipe breaks and catastrophic flooding inside your home is by turning on the water faucets to your sinks so they steadily drip small amounts of water. The trickling water continuously running through the pipes is less likely to freeze.

The professional claims team at McSweeney & Ricci stands ready to assist clients with claims if needed. We hope you never have to experience a claim, but if you do, our Claims Department will be by your side and will get you back to “life as usual” as quickly as possible.

Click here to send us an email or call 1-844-501-1359

Article Sources: “How to Prevent Winter Flooding” 12/22/17 Service Master

“Blizzards, deep freezes, and now heavy rains!” email blast by Arbella Insurance Group 01/12/18

 

 

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