How Strong Winds Damage Your Home

Natural calamities cause destruction of properties and cost people a lot of money. There are a lot of calamities that could happen day in and day out. Thus, it’s wise to know how these catastrophes can cause damage to our infrastructures, how to avoid them, and rise above them. One natural disaster that seems minor but can cause a lot of damage is the presence of strong winds. You should be knowledgeable about how to avoid it somehow, or maybe lessen the effect. The damage that strong winds can do to your property depends on a lot of contributing factors. Complex as it is, wind forces vary according to wind direction, height, and speed. Natural factors also include the properties of the air and ground surface variables. Even the building’s structure affects how the wind may damage it. This includes the structure’s physical properties, height, shape, and location. Altogether, these bring different damages to diverse properties.

Since there are various contributing factors, there is also a variety of effect. It can go from forcibly opening doors and windows, breaking glasses, tearing off roofs, causing walls to crack, causing tree branches to fall, and a lot more. Some winds are strong enough to tilt your homes. This happens when a strong wind pressure approaches a property in a shearing motion along the structure’s foundation. When the wind moves in an upward motion under the home’s roof pushing it upward, or over the roof pulling it upward still, it’s called uplift. Also, wind can be strong enough to overturn a structure, rotating it off its foundation. When the wind moves in a forward direction pushing the property hard causing it to fly off the foundation, it’s called overturning. Damages like these can cause a lot of money, and worse, injury to people.

It is impossible to stop the wind from hitting your home. More so, it’s not possible to stop a natural calamity. What we can do is to protect our homes with safety measures, build stronger foundations and safer infrastructures. It’s hard to measure the amount of damage we’re expecting every time we are anticipating a calamity to happen. But, we can be cautious and prepared. It’s better to prevent further damage than not do anything at all.