When hurricanes are in the forecast, homeowners worry about their roofs, windows and trees. But a home’s plumbing system will take a serious beating during the storm. Taking steps to protect your plumbing during a hurricane can help minimize the damage – and the clean-up after the storm.

1. Make Sure All Drains are Clear

Before the storm hits, remove any obstructions from storm drains to ensure that they can handle excess water runoff. Keeping these drains clear will also help relieve stress on pipes in water-logged soil.

“When a major weather event like hurricane Florence hits, your storm drains and pipes are doing double duty,” says VA Plumbing Pros. “Not only are they having to handle an excessive amount of water, they’re also dealing with the extra debris that large amounts of runoff wash down.”

Take the time to check all storm drains near your home and along curbs to ensure that they’re free of debris. Extra debris will put strain on these drains, so ensuring they’re clear before the storm will help relieve some of this stress.

2. Turn Off the Water

Locate your home’s main water valve, and turn it off before the storm. You don’t want to be outside searching for the main shut-off valve in the middle of a serious downpour. 

Starting an online clothing store is something we often see on Instagram but rarely successfully executed. A significant reason for this is that most overlook designing their social experience from the ground up, beginning with what someone will see when they first visit your page to them getting to your website on checkout. That’s why we’re going to go over a few tips on how to launch your store, so it’s Instagram-ready. Check them out below:

Focusing On What You Stand For

One of the most significant parts of starting a clothing store that resonates on social is first knowing just what exactly you’ll be socializing about. While on a practical level your main purpose will be to pick clothes, photograph them, and try to sell them through your Instagram on an online shop, unfortunately, there are plenty of other stores trying to do the same. That’s not to say it isn’t a good idea, however, it’s important to know how what separates you from the crowd, which starts with what you stand for.

A big part of knowing what you stand for is first knowing what the core of your belief system is. To establish this, most companies write a brand mission, statement, or mantra, which is an outline of the core reasons why they’re in business in the first place. This statement is something a lot of customers seek out first; as noted by Vision Critical, 91 percent of customers want to follow brands they consider to be authentic in their posts. Take the time to map out your values as a clothing store, as this will guide your content.

Home flaws, no matter how small you may think they are, will make it harder to sell your home. Most homebuyers understand that a home won’t be flawless, especially an older home, but they also don’t expect to pay thousands of dollars to make repairs without some sort of discount on the home’s price.

Sometimes, as a long-term owner of the home, you may start to ignore the slow draining faucet or creaking floor boards.

But others may not be able to ignore these small issues.

When selling your home, you’ll want to make the following repairs to boost your home’s selling value and make a sale faster.

1. Ripped Window Screens

A rather small repair that can make a big difference, a ripped window screen will happen naturally over time. These screens are difficult to replace, and many buyers will not budge and won’t repair the screen.

Buyers will often ask for credit so that they can have the repairs made.

Some buyers will back away from a purchase if the homeowner refuses to make the repair. Sometimes, a repair can be $5 for a screen that can be repaired, or it can be $100+ to have a professional replace the entire screen.