Home. That word represents peace, security and happiness. When it’s disrupted by maintenance aggravations or wear and tear, often you don’t know what to do first. It’s important to be ready to deal with the problem in the moment, in addition to learning some prevention, cost ranges and even some insight into insurance claims. Whether you’re planning ahead or dealing with a disaster, save these tips to help you come out with as little permanent damage as possible.

Plumbing Emergencies
If the plumbing pipes in your house get clogged, everything slows down and you may have a disaster on your hands. Take control of the situation and learn to prevent the consequences by following some of these guidelines.

Right-Now Tips
• Water is overflowing from the anywhere in the toilet: Use the shut-off valve; it’s usually below and to the left. It looks like a handle that you might find on a sink.

• Toilet is overflowing from the bowl: Use a plunger.

• Toilet is overflowing from the tank: Call a plumber.

• You only have hot or cold water throughout the house:

• Natural gas: Check the pilot light.

• Electric heater: Flip the circuit breaker once. Then call a plumber.

• Call a tankless specialist.

• You only have hot or cold water at a faucet or showerhead: You may have a clogged supply line, or the valve is clogged at the supply line. Call a plumber.
• Leaky sinks: Check the seal between the sink lip and the counter. Sometimes water splashed there can drip down and look like a leak. Dry and clean the lip and recaulk it. Call a plumber.
• Your septic tank overflows: Call a septic tank specialist, not a plumber.
• A pipe bursts: Shut off the water at the meter or connection to the house. Call a plumber.

• Your dishwasher or clothes washer overflows:
• Turn off the system and water connection.
• Switch off the breaker.
• Lay down towels or use a wet vacuum to soak up as much water as you
can as soon as possible. Call a plumber.

• Your pipes freeze: Use a blow-dryer, space heater or heating pad to warm them. Don’t use a blowtorch, kerosene or propane heater, or any other open flame. It can cause the water to boil and explode.

• Accidental overflows are covered by homeowner’s insurance

Tree Damage
Trees add value to your property and help you save on your energy bills in the summer. But when those swift winds and heavy downpours wreak havoc on your house and lawn, the resulting tree damage can be hard to handle. Keep reading to find out how to mitigate costly tree damage and how to minimize fallen-tree risks.

Right-Now Tips
• During heavy winds: Don’t sleep in upstairs rooms. Sleep in the basement or in the center of your house, away from windows and the roof.

• Don’t attempt to remove trees that have landed on the roof, in the window or in your lawn. You might pick the wrong limb to grab and cause the tree to roll or crash further into your home.

• Cover the hole, window and tree with a tarp until the storm passes and call an arborist to remove it.

• A tree falls on your roof: Try not to climb on the roof. Pack a tarp or several tarps into the holes. Call an arborist and roofer.

• Block off the root pit left by the tree with stakes and string.

• A tree lands in the road in front of your yard: Wait until the winds have died down. Then, tie a white rag or t-shirt at eye level to one of the limbs so drivers have an extra sight aid.

• Always watch for live wires around trees.

• Which way will a tree fall? Predicting this is not a science for amateurs, but the direction of the prevailing wind is a place to start. Don’t rely on that prediction during a storm.

• No matter where the tree originates, your homeowner’s insurance pays for your damage. If the tree is your neighbor’s (and there is no property line dispute), your insurance company can file a claim with the neighbor’s insurance to cover your deductible.

Water Emergencies
Small floods like those from burst pipes, a laundry or dishwasher overload, or a forgotten running faucet in the sink or tub can be nuisances at the least and disasters at the worst. If you don’t want to be waterlogged, follow some of these guidelines in a water emergency.

Right-Now Tips
• You flood a room:
• Don’t attempt to walk on the worst sections.
• Open windows and doors.
• Create a current of air throughout the room with fans.

• Water damages your carpet:
• Open windows and doors.
• Pull up the carpet from the wall.
• Call a carpet cleaner that specializes in mold remediation.

• You have a small flood from a leak: Try to use a wet vacuum to clean up some of the mess. Call a plumber.

• You get a hole in your roof from heavy rains or plumbing leaks:
• Get a tarp and patch the hole from inside temporarily.
• Use a large plastic container to contain as much of the leak as possible.
• Call a plumber and roofer.

• Turn the main water supply off at the house connection during a natural or plumbing flood.

• Don’t wade through water in your home; the electrical systems could be shorted out, and electricity travels fast through water.

• Don’t drink tap water after a drainage break or natural flood until you get word from emergency services. If you must use tap water, boil it for one minute first.

• Homeowners insurance does cover accidental overflows, but it does not cover floods due to nature.

Fire Damage
The Bronx fire that killed nine children and one adult in March might have been prevented if the people inside had batteries in their fire alarms. When a fire of that magnitude catches you off guard, you forget simple things, like remembering to test the door before you open it. Here are some things to keep in mind if you find yourself in such a situation.

Right-Now Tips
• To remove minor soot stains from candles or minor accidents: Use an upholstery brush or horse brush. Use a product like Simple Green and a soot sponge to try to get off the rest. Cleaning methods don’t always work due to the electrical bond of the soot to the wall, so you may have to paint or replace the area.

• You have an electrical meltdown: Put out the fire; don’t move any items. Turn off the electricity at the circuit breaker. Have a certified electrician handle the fallout.

• How to treat fires:
Make the fire department your first call. Grease: Smother it with a lid and baking soda (not baking powder). The force of an extinguisher might make the fire larger. Electrical: Use a Class C extinguisher. Shut off the electricity. Gas: Use a class B extinguisher. Shut it off at the valve. Chimney fires: Close the glass partition, then call the fire department and leave the house. (These often go undetected until there’s smoke, but you might hear a train sound or a roar.)

• Buy an extinguisher that is Class ABC.

• During a large fire you can’t put out:
You’re trapped in a room: Open the window from the top, so smoke travels
up and out, not down and out.
You are trying to get out: Close doors behind you to prevent the smoke and fire from spreading.

• Homeowners’ insurance coverage plan A covers property damage and repairs. Loss to personal property due to fire falls under plan C.

Electrical Damage
Between overloaded computer systems, downed power lines or floods, both nature and people find ways to wreak havoc on modern electrical circuits. And since energy can be unpredictable, here are some tips to keep the shock value away.

Right-Now Tips
• Power companies are responsible for: the power lines attached to your house.

• Homeowners are responsible for: the meter socket as well as the wires going up to the corner of the house, and the eyebolt to which the power company connects.

• Call the power company and an electrician if the power has been out for more than an hour.

• Unplug everything practical. Lightning is most likely to course through the phone and cable lines than any other part of the house.

• Don’t flip breakers more than once. If the breaker does not appear to be the problem, one of the most common issues is a loose connection.

• Do move shorted cords out of the way of other cords with wooden tongs if absolutely necessary.

• Never test a power line with your hands or any part of your body because you don’t know when or if the power company has restored power.

• Don’t go out onto a wet road when a power line is lying on the same gravel.

• Don’t touch an electrocuted person. An electrical shock can paralyze your hand into gripping the conductor more tightly. Call 911.

• If you’re in a flooded room, test the door with the back of your hand. If it’s energized, it’s easier to pull your hand away from the metal.

• Check your homeowner’s insurance plan to see what it says about lightning damage.

Things to Know About Insurance
• Call the insurance company claims department when you have a claim, not the person who sold you the insurance.
• Expect to be contacted within 24 hours. If not, call them back.
• Take pictures of damage to your home as soon as possible.
• Insurance adjusters assess damage by looking at: national weather service data, contacting utility companies, conducting interviews if necessary, reading police and fire department reports, looking at available photographs and taking their own, and factoring in the property valuation.
• Know the difference between the replacement cost value and the actual cash value: ACV=RCV-depreciation. For example, if you installed a roof five years ago that is supposed to last 25 years, the roof has depreciated (lost, aged) 20 percent. That 20 percent is a withheld amount, usually until the roof is replaced.
• Deductibles apply for each claim.
• Types of homeowners insurance:
Coverage A: Dwellings
Coverage B: Other structures such as a detached garage, storage shed or fencing
Coverage C: Personal property
Coverage D: Additional living expenses. For example, if your home becomes inhabitable due to a fire, storm or other covered loss, then you have money for hotel stays, food and possibly more.
Coverage E: Liability covers accidents, incidents or other liabilities that are your fault.