When we build homes, our hope is always that they’ll last for many decades to come. Sometimes mother nature has other plans, though. Natural disasters are something you hope you never have to experience, but unfortunately not planning for them doesn’t make them less likely to happen—it just makes the damage that much worse. While some things are beyond your control, there’s a lot you can do to better prepare your home for Iowa weather.
Whether you’re designing a new home to last or improving what you have, we have a few suggestions on how to prepare your house for Iowa weather.
Protecting Your Home From Water
Rain can be great for your yard, but too much of it can be detrimental to your home. With rainy season coming up, remember to check your rain gutters and downspouts. This may seem like a minor chore, but overtime, they can accumulate a lot of debris that can create serious problems in your home, like dumping water around your home’s foundation. Unfortunately, they don’t give you a whole lot of warning before they create disaster.
Some things you can do to prevent disaster (aside from cleaning them regularly) include adding a cover over your gutters. There are a few different styles that work to different effects and which one will be best for you will depend on the amount of upkeep you’re prepared to do and how many trees you anticipate having around your home. We can help you pick the best option for your needs.
Staying Safe During a Tornado
To avoid getting swept off to Oz, we recommend having a storm shelter in your home. Storm shelters, also known as safe rooms or panic rooms, serve a few different purposes in your home. In addition to sheltering you during extreme weather conditions like windstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes, they can also protect you in case of a home invasion or an attack. On a lighter note, they’re also great for recreating movie scenes from films like Panic Room and The Purge.
Safe rooms have been around for hundreds of years and across different cultures and have served many purposes throughout their history. Whether it’s been a lord hiding under his castle during a siege, a hideaway room to help people on the Underground Railroad, or a fallout shelter to keep safe from a nuclear attack, safe rooms have been an important part of many homes. While some of those scenarios might seem a bit dated now, they speak to the versatility of safe rooms. It’s never a bad thing to have a place to keep valuables safe in the event of a fire and yourself safe in case of a tornado or a neighborhood revolt.
Having a basement or below ground area is ideal, but far from your only option. Having windstorm-resistant doors and shutters on your windows are a few options that will help your house stay bunkered down when the wind picks up. Adding extra support for you roof will add overall structural protection to your house as well, working to help keep the whole structure strong and upright in the event of a tornado.
In a custom-designed universal home we did last year, we wanted to make sure accessibility wouldn’t be an issue in case of bad weather. We installed a ground-level storm shelter for this couple and added a backup battery for their in-home elevator so that safety would be available to them at any age and stage of life. You can read more about this home by checking out Part One, Part Two, and Part Three of the construction process.
Wondering what else you should think about when designing your home? Check out our post on Do’s and Don’ts When Designing and Building Your Custom Home.