Preparing Your Home For Hurricane Season

As Florida’s number one furniture retailer with locations in 16 communities throughout the state, when hurricane season starts, we get ready. We want all of our customers and neighbors to prepare so that if disaster strikes, we can all weather the storm together. These five tips will help are intended to help you safeguard your property.

The bottom floor of any building is the most at risk for flooding. Rooms with windows are the most vulnerable to high winds. Even if you have hurricane-impact windows, there is always the chance that tornado winds can crack or blow out even these reinforced windows. If you live in a two-story residence, you should move important possessions upstairs. 

This room featuring the Tommy Bahama Home Ocean Club Paradise Point Bed has a beautiful view that’s rare even in Florida, but it’s not a place where you or your furniture should weather a storm — at least not without shutters.

If you hide your family photos in a shoebox or photo album under the bed, you may want to consider finding higher grounds for these valuable possessions during hurricane season. Most people justifiably worry about their home being structurally damaged, but the heavy rains of a hurricane can flood your home, even if the walls and roof remain intact. 

A piece like the Hooker Furniture Casual Storage Server from the Serenity Collection can give your valuables more than a foot of elevation above the floor — more if you use the upper drawers. Any truly valuable or delicate items should be securely stored, of course.

You can mitigate any potential damage by stacking chairs and other lighter furniture on tables and bigger pieces. You can use towels or sheets to prevent you from scratching the finish. Ideally, you would want to move this entire dining set to a safe location, but by placing these chairs atop the Montauk Rectangular Trestle Dining Table, if the house does flood a few inches, the chairs will be safe.

Even high-quality, all-weather furniture is vulnerable to high winds. If you are under a hurricane watch, you should try to secure all items, regardless of size, but even if you are just expecting a bad storm or occasional gusts, bring your furniture inside. 

While this Stillwater Cove Contemporary Accent Table by Tommy Bahama Home is an elegant, attractive piece of patio furniture, it can make a deadly projectile in high winds.

If you haven’t been through a hurricane watch in the past, one of the things you’ll discover is that all of your friends and neighbors will be busy preparing their own places. Unfortunately, you may be on your own. By purchasing a few packages of furniture sliders from your local hardware store before hurricane season, you can slide all of your heavy pieces away from windows. For instance, this Chateax D’Ax Queen Leather Sleeper is a heavy piece, as most sofa beds are. With siders under the feet, you could move it away from those tall windows behind it deeper into the living room.

There will be a rush for supplies once the National Hurricane Center has declared a possible landfall. It’s always a good idea to buy your supplies before the start of hurricane season. Here are some extra items you may want to pick up.

Remember that the most important thing in a hurricane is to look after yourself, your loved ones, and your pets. Do not delay your own evacuation trying to prepare your home for the storm. Ultimately, everything you own can be replaced.