Prepare now for fall and winter storms

For years now, at many of my speeches across the country, I've been teaching homeowners on how to prepare their homes for severe weather. My usual message is that the secret is to prepare your home well in advance of seasonal storms.

If you wait until a storm approaches before you do anything -- well, it's probably going to be too late to protect your home properly. As a reporter who covered the devastation in New Orleans and Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina hit, I've seen firsthand what a major storm can do.

With an expected direct hit, the best advice is to evacuate the area. I was happy to see so many homeowners follow that advice with the recent hurricane warnings. Chances are, most of us will not get a direct hit from a major hurricane, but we may find ourselves riding out bad weather in the fall or winter nevertheless. This type of bad weather is what we all can prepare for, since the major threats should be loss of electrical power, and basement flooding.

That said, here are my top three tips to protect your home and family from bad weather.

First: Loss of electrical power is the No. 1 concern for most homeowners. Many years ago, when things were not as complicated, most families could get through a storm-related power outage with candles and board games. Today, we live in a plugged-in society, and a loss of electricity, even for a few hours, could cause major problems for homeowners. Especially those who run a home businesses or care for elderly or other special-needs family members.

I recommend looking into installing a "standby generator" to protect your home from loss of power. A standby generator is a permanently installed outdoor appliance that runs on natural gas or propane. It's hardwired to your electrical system and will turn on automatically when utility power is lost. Usually, you'll experience a simple blink of the lights during a power failure, and then the generator takes over. If the generator is sized correctly, every appliance in your home can run as normal. Standby generators are a bit of an investment, but well worth looking into!

Second: Make sure you have a basement or crawlspace sump pump installed. This is a fairly inexpensive piece of equipment that every home should have. Sump pumps can really protect a basement from flooding by continuously pumping out the sump pit and removing water from the home. A battery backup is key if your home does not have a standby generator. See tip No. 1.

Third: Have on hand all the necessary odds and ends needed for a storm. I like to store everything I'll need in a 5-gallon bucket with a lid and then have it on the shelf for easy access. The bucket itself can be useful to store and pour water, and inside the bucket should be emergency items in the original packing. Items can include flashlights, batteries, landline phone, candles, matches, first-aid kit, duct tape and a small radio.

Also, consider adding to your supplies a disposable camera so you can take before-and-after photos of any related damage. This can help settle insurance claims and avoid a "storm of controversy" when you're looking to collect on a policy.

(Master Contractor/Plumber Ed Del Grande is known internationally as the author of the book "Ed Del Grande's House Call" and for hosting TV shows on Scripps Networks and HGTVPro.com. For information, visit eddelgrande.com or write eddelgrande(at)hgtvpro.com. Always consult local contractors and codes.)