Tips to Minimize the Severe Climatic and Weather Effects on Your Home and Family

Obviously, a home is meant to provide refuge against the severe climate effects, but it may not meet this need when the weather changes abruptly. Sudden climatic changes do produce adverse effects on our house as well as on the members of our family especially the kids and the old. The best way to cope with all the severe effects caused due to the sudden changes in the climatic conditions is to take some essential preventive measures when constructing a new house or altering an old one. These measures are likely to keep the house comforting us all the time, possibly for its whole life. Moreover, you may keep yourself well aware beforehand of all the expected climatic as well as weather changes through various apps like weather alert software, etc. It will help you a lot adapt yourself and your concerns as per demand of the situation. Anyways, following tips will go a long way towards minimizing these severe effects on your home and family.

• Adaptive Strategies for the Building Design

Designing a building compatible with the weather and climatic conditions of the region is the most sensible move. It is very much wise to keep the design flexible so that it may readily adapt to the abrupt climatic or weather changes without much fuss and expenses. The examples of such flexible adaptation pathways in the house may include:

1. Ensuring enough space to include extra water storage in case water availability changes.
2. Making a strong footing under a deck so that it may support the weight of a roof in future in case more shade is needed due to a rise in temperature.
3. Ensuring the roof design to be simple, minimizing the likelihood for the embers to be caught in the roof.

• Passive Thermal Properties of the House

These can be improved by:

1. Designing the house to allow increased air flow and ventilation during the summer months so that it may be kept cool without much dependence on the air conditioner.
2. Using the most energy efficient electrical home appliances to decrease the internal heat gains.
3. Using reflective glazing, roofing and external shading along with green roof design.
4. Increasing insulation and adding thermal mass.
5. Constructing your house in proper orientation to the sun.

• Cyclones, Thunderstorms and High Intensity Rainfalls

All these can be coped with by:

1. Designing buildings so as to minimize the extraordinary pressure of the wind loads.
2. Using the impact resistant materials for the external cladding.
3. Using the water proof building materials and a very effective leak-proof drainage system.
4. Ensuring internal and box guttering system to be strong enough to withstand an acute rainfall.
5. Installing window protections with moisture resistant materials.
6. Capturing the extra rainfall and using it to irrigate it the green spaces.
7. By keeping a tool like real time lightning detector, etc. at home to inform you prior to the thunderstorms.

• Flood

The risk of flooding to homes can be reduced by:

1. Building multi-storey homes with the lower portion being used as a non-living area.
2. Using water resistant materials and ensuring the swift drainage of water.
3. Building a levee round the house.
4. Redirecting water through building a garden.

Hence, these are the tips to minimize the severe climatic and weather effects on your home and family.