Homeowner’s Academy
This is your guide to interesting facts, tips and general homeowner information. We hope you find the information useful – and feel free to share with friends!

Protect Your Home and Avoid Claims in the New Year

Spring cleaning often comes with a fresh coat of paint. Painting can be a great way to change the feel of a room or give your home some great curb appeal. Painting also plays a role in home repair by protecting the wood of your home against the elements, essential here in Florida.

If you decide to try your hand at painting this spring, People’s Trust has some tips that can keep the experience enjoyable and safe for everyone in your family.

Try Some Eco-friendly Paint

Spring conjures up the sniffles for many people in the great outdoors, but paint may do the same thing inside of your home. Household paints have previously contained up to 300 toxic chemicals, including the hazardous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that release particles into the air for years after you paint.

Try a low-VOC paint, which tends to be water-based, for any home interior painting. These have taken off in recent years and come in every shade and finish imaginable. Some brands also create no-VOC paints by replacing chemicals with more natural ingredients. These no-VOC paints are often pet-safe, but always check the label and never leave your pet unattended in a room where paint cans are open.

Home Repair Supervision

If you have children, never let them be in a room with open paint cans by themselves. If children are under the age of 10, they should never be in a room with any open painting materials. Even eco-friendly paints are extremely dangerous if ingested. If you believe your child has ingested any paint, immediately call poison control at 1-800-222-1222.

Try Cloth Catchers for Indoor and Outdoor Painting

You can pick up plastic sheets to protect your floors and lawn, but these often move and tear as you walk around painting. Turn to cloth or canvas drop cloths that will stay in place easier and can be weighed down with objects without the risk of tearing.

For painting the outside of your home, try a tarp with tie-holes. These can be staked into the ground to provide a steadier surface for a ladder.

Ventilate: Make Room to Breathe

If you’re painting inside, open the doors and windows. If your room has a fan, turn it on. You want proper ventilation for any space you’re painting to help air out the room and not breathe in paint fumes. If you can’t ventilate where you’re working, get a respirator and only paint in short stints.

Ventilation is essential to most common home repair improvements.

Stick to the Shade

If painting outside, you know that you need to take a break in the shade, but what about your materials? Paint, paint thinner and lacquer all need to stay in the shade as much as possible when painting outdoors.

Not only can heat and sun alter some of these items when they’re sitting in the can, but heat can also be a big problem for these flammable items. The city of Las Vegas actually warns its citizens to be careful when painting their homes or canvases outside because paint thinner has been ignited by the sun and started home fires.

Clean Up after Home Repairs

When you finish painting for the day, clean up the entire space. This will prevent spills and any accidental exposure.

Latex paints can typically be cleaned from surfaces and your skin with soap and water. Oil-based paints will have specific cleaning instructions located on the paint can itself. Take a look at your can before you start painting and write down what it says, because paint often spills on the outside of the can during the painting process.

Gasoline was once used to clean paint off of brushes, but this should never be used. Gasoline is extremely dangerous and should never be used as a cleaner for any object.

It’s always a smart practice to clean up and watch your space clearly when doing any home repair project.

No one plans for their homes to have a loss – but, accidents happen. While you can’t control everything that could happen, there are preventative measures you can take to help prevent your Florida home from experiencing the unfortunate.

Below are the top 5 home insurance claims and what you can do to help prevent a loss in your home:

  1. Wind Damage: High-velocity winds can damage your property in a matter of minutes. It’s impossible to predict the timing, strength, and potential damage of any storm. The best prevention is cleaning up your yard to prevent damage from flying debris, broken tree branches, and the sheer force of the wind in the event of a storm. Having weakness in the structure of your home can make it vulnerable to damage. Take action now by:
    • Safely storing and securing your Florida home’s patio furniture, cushions, gardening tools, kids’ toys, and anything else that can become an airborne projectile.
    • Keep your front and back yards free of debris that can easily be picked up by high winds.
    • Inspect your roof for loose shingles or areas of damage.
  2. Non–Weather-Related Water Damage (i.e. plumbing or appliance issues): More water damage occurs from pipes bursting, plumbing problems, or appliance issues than from weather. Almost all of these claims can be prevented with regular maintenance. Avoid water damage by:
    • Investing in a water sensor and alarm. By placing this sensor near your appliances that use water and if there is any moisture detected, an alarm will sound alerting you to the issue quickly. Here are some bestselling sensors and alarms from Amazon. You can also invest in an automatic water shutoff system like this one from Home Depot.
    • Monitoring and checking old appliances and hot water heaters for leaks and cracks, and replacing them when needed. Check water lines from your refrigerator, if it has one, for kinks which cause leaks. Always replace all water lines from your toilets, sinks, and appliances with no burst hoses.
    • Re-caulking around toilets, sinks, and tubs to prevent plumbing leaks.
  3. Weather-Related Water Damage: Standard home insurance policies do NOT cover Floods. Flooding is a temporary overflowing of water onto land that is normally dry (www.ready.gov/floods). Avoid weather-related water damage by:
    • Paying attention to the slope on your property in relation to your home. Land that slopes away from your home will help diminish water damage in the long run.
    • Ensuring gutters and downspouts are free from leaves, twigs, and other debris which will allow them to do their jobs and drain water away from your home and not into your foundation.
  4. Fire and Lightning Damage: Lightning can strike anywhere, but Florida overwhelmingly leads the nation in the number of lightning strikes, and also deaths – we are highly prone to it. Lightning can cause fires. Take precautions to avoid permanent damage to your home if lightning strikes by:
    • Inspecting the condition of everything you plug in. Is the cord frayed? If so, don’t use it.
    • Never leaving a candle unattended (especially if you have children/pets). Use non-flammable candles as an alternative.
    • Avoiding clutter in your kitchen, especially flammable items around the stove/oven area that could catch fire when using those appliances.
    • Making sure you’ve got properly installed and working smoke detectors. A good way to remember to check the batteries in them is by doing them in spring and fall when you change your clocks for Daylight Saving Time.
  5. Loss Due to Theft: Imagine coming home from work to find that a window or door is shattered and your home’s been ransacked. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, there were more than 7.9 million burglaries in 2015, which estimated losses at over $14.3 billion. Use these tips to help prevent your home from becoming a target of theft:
    • Invest in a home security system and make sure it’s always working properly. Place a lawn sign to inform others that your home is protected by a security system.
    • Do not keep a spare key outside. Alternatively, burglars are catching up with technology as well. They’ve managed to outsmart our “smart locks,” by being able to duplicate the signals it sends to the lock when the correct code is entered, without entering anything onto the keypad. If you must leave a spare key, see if you can leave the key with neighbors you trust or far away from the house in a place no one would think of, like the dog house or under a patio chair.
    • Keep exterior lights in working order and install motion-detecting lights where possible. A well-lit home is a deterrent to burglars.