The state of Florida is offering free wind inspections that will make recommendations on how to hurricane-proof your home. These inspections may make you eligible for homeowner's insurance discounts.

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The Firm’s Bartow office is located in the Historic E.A. Law Building located just two blocks from the Polk County Courthouse.

Lower Your Homeowner's Insurance Rate with Hurricane Inspections

 While none of us can prevent hurricanes, there is much you can do to limit the amount of damage a hurricane can have on your home.  Florida’s Department of Financial Services has instituted the My Safe Florida Home program, which offers suggestions for “hardening” your home to hurricanes.  The state of Florida has set aside $250 million for this program, which funds the inspections and also offers matching grants of up to $5,000 to help defray the cost of the recommended improvements.

The first step is to take advantage of the free wind inspection offered by My Safe Florida Home.  The program offers free inspections to any Florida resident with a single-family, detached, site-built home.  You can have your home inspected by calling 1-866-513-6734 or by clicking here and filling out an online application.

The inspection will provide you with:

-          An outline of improvements that may be made to your house to increase resistance to hurricane wind damage

-          An estimate of how much each improvement would cost

-          An estimate of insurance discounts available to you

-          A “Hurricane Resistance Rating” that compares your home’s current strength to the strength that the recommended improvements would offer.

Seven simple improvements that may be made to your house include:

-          Improving the strength of your roof deck

-          Upgrading exterior wall-opening protections

-          Upgrading your exterior doors

-          Reinforcing roof-to-wall connections by installing metal tie-down straps

-          Creating a secondary water barrier to prevent water intrusion

-          Upgrading roof singles

-          Bracing gable-ends in your roof framing to lessen the chances of roof collapse

After receiving and evaluating the suggested improvements, you can apply for a matching grant of up to $5,000 from Florida to help pay for the improvements.  Grant funds must be used to protect openings, protect exterior doors, replace garage doors, or brace gable ends in your roof.  To see if you will be eligible for a grant, click here.

Finally, homes that have been strengthened by hurricane-resistant improvements may be entitled to a wide range of discounts on their homeowner’s insurance premium.  These discounts will be individually outlined in the free wind inspection report.

 

Lilly, O'Toole & Brown, LLP
Lakeland Office: (863) 683-1111
Bartow Office: (863) 533-5525M
Sebring Office: (863) 471-0003
Lake Wales Office: (863) 676-1991
Haines City Office: (863) 422-1282
Wauchula Office: (863) 767-1111

Also providing legal assistance to clients from:
Wauchula, Lake Placid, Avon Park, Plant City, Brandon, and Valrico, Florida.

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