You’ve finally found that free weekend to tackle that home improvement project you’ve been dreaming about all season. But disaster strikes, and before you can finish, the weather turns, and the prediction is that severe weather is about to ruin all your hard work. Now what?
Discover the best ways to secure an outdoor home improvement project and ensure your dreams don’t wash away.
1. Stop, Breathe and Plan
When in a state of panic, it’s easy to make mistakes and become a danger to yourself and your loved ones. Instead, stop, breathe in and out, and assess the situation. How much time do you have before the storm hits? Is it still safe to be outside at the moment? No project, regardless of the cost, is worth your or anyone else’s life.
Avoid guessing and listen to your local weather station’s warnings and advisories for a solid storm indication when to expect landfall. Never assume you have more time. If a red warning is issued, don’t go outside at all.
If you’re out of time and need to start preparing for the storm, you may as well get inside and start again when the weather clears. If there’s time, determine how long you can safely continue covering your work and set a timer on your phone, as it’s easy to keep working on protecting stuff and lose track of the approaching bad weather.
2. Secure Loose Materials
Now you know what time you have to work, grab some friends or family, and carry all loose materials like tiles, boards, nails and tools into your storage area, garage or shed. These are usually fairly small or lightweight items that powerful winds sweep up, turning them into dangerous projectiles.
3. Decide on the Best Protection Method
Consider what materials you have in your toolshed or garage you can use to protect your DIY project. Do you have large tarps or plastic sheets? How about a canvas sheet? Are you protecting the project from wind, water or hail impact damage?
Bring any small construction materials and gear inside to prevent them from blowing away or being damaged. If you’re working on a larger project, like a wall, fence or gazebo, try to find protective covers you can toss over the project and secure with rope or a few heavy objects.
4. Cover Large Projects
If you’ve been working on a significant project like adding new roof shingles, you need to take action quickly, as it will likely take a while to secure a large plastic sheet — if you have one — to cover the whole roof.
The best option would be to use a strap and ratchet to securely fasten the sheet to the roof, anchoring it across the apex onto another secure fixture. Alternatively, use a sturdy rope fastened across the sheeting to keep it from billowing in the wind, ripping or blowing away.
5. Manage Flooding
Storm damage can ruin a new deck or that outside doorway you just cut into the side of your living area. Securing it with sheeting may not be enough to manage large water volumes. Try grabbing some large absorbent cushions and place them in the entry. For a more heavy-duty approach, fill up some sandbags with building sand and stack them to barricade the opening up to the anticipated waterline.
6. Anchor Lightweight Structures
If your project was a new garden shed, you’ve hopefully included ground anchors from the start, but if you’ve only assembled the shed — and fear it will fly away — you can add securing anchors before the storm hits.
Pass a high-strength rope over the shed roof and secure it to nearby trees, preferably ones with deep root systems. You can also hammer iron rods into the soil at an angle and secure the rope ends around these. Avoid placing anchors too close together, as overlapping can lead to excess pressure on the same soil section, which weakens the building anchoring.
Successfully Weather the Storm
Storms and other inclement weather conditions can cause significant damage to your home and property. It’s advisable to check the weather before you start an outdoor project so you have material on hand to cover it when the weather turns.
Alternatively, work in stages, assembling your DIY gazebo or trelliswork shutters in the garage before installing them. This way, if you don’t finish for the day or need to protect your work, it’s already indoors.
