How Lightning Travels Down Your Roof

If your home or building has been hit directly by lightning, make sure you call 911 asap! you could have fire in the attic or in the walls that may not be visible at the time. Lightning presents three main hazards to a building if hit directly: fire damage, power surge damage, and shock wave damage. Fire from lightning usually start s in the attic or the roof and quickly spreads throughout the rest of the home. There are many times that the fire starts or travels inside the enclosed spaces that may not be seen right away. Wood or others flammable materials in the building can easily ignite anywhere an exposed lightning channel comes in contact with them.

How to Stay Safe from Lightning Strikes

Lightning is one of the most prominent weather-related risks that can cause property damage, downtime, and injuries. While the chances of getting struck by lightning are low , your facility has a far greater chance of experiencing damage from direct and indirect lightning strikes. You can never predict when it may happen. Therefore, having adequate lightning protection is key to minimizing risks and maximizing safety. To understand the gravity of this risk for your facility, you should educate yourself with the types of lightning damage. Knowing how lightning damage occurs will give you a better idea of how important it is to implement safety measures in advance.

You’re not safe either if your facility is made of steel and concrete. Concrete never quite dries out as there’s always latent moisture in the material. When exposed to the high temperatures associated with lightning strikes, this moisture turns to steam, expands, and damages the structure. The shock waves produced by lightning strikes can also fracture concrete and damage equipment. Lightning is also capable of sending electricity through electrical wires and metal reinforcements in concrete structures.

Tweet each year, lightning is responsible for tragic deaths, devastating injuries and costly property damage. Lightning strikes the united states around 25 million times each year. In the first quarter of 2019, severe thunderstorms and inclement weather were responsible for a record $6 billion in insured losses in the u. S. According to the national weather service. Protecting your property lightning and surge-related over voltages are the leading cause of damage and downtime for solar equipment like combiner boxes, inverters and data lines. Lightning can be risky for all types of businesses without proper grounding provided by a safety standard compliant lighting protection system.

If lightning chooses any of the house’s electrical wiring as its primary or secondary path, the explosive surge can damage even non-electronic equipment that is connected. Even if most of the lightning current takes other paths to ground, the home’s electrical system will experience enough of a surge to cause significant damage to anything connected to it, especially electronic equipment like computers, laptops, tvs, stereos and home entertainment systems. Surge protectors are ideal for protecting sensitive home electronics from lightning strikes that produce power surges and spikes that can damage your pcs, laptops and accessories. They do not provide the additional battery backup protection of a ups system , but are still a good investment if you want to safeguard home electronics against surge damage.

Protect, restore, and repair your home with confidence

By james armitage • 19 jul, 2023 water damage in your home can be a stressful and overwhelming experience. Whether it's from a burst pipe, roof leak or natural disaster, acting swiftly is crucial to minimize the extent of the damage and prevent further complications. Irish weather can be difficult to predict. Water damage can be something that is covered in your home insurance. In this blog, we will outline the steps you should take if you find yourself facing water damage in your home, along with common mistakes to avoid during the process of making an insurance claim. 1.

Visible Fire Damage on the Roof

The damage to the roof was so extensive that the entire chimney required replacement along with the entire roof required replacement. The lightening strike had damaged the entire flue liner and following a cctv survey replacement was required. The lightening caused damage to the internal electrical wiring even causing the sockets to explode off the wall, the intruder alarm and gas fired boiler suffered extensive damage and required replacement, also the majority of the appliances had been damaged beyond repair. In our experience, we have found that up to 50% of the damage is not obvious from the outset and only surfaces after further investigation.

Damage from hail, flooding and tornados are our greatest concerns during a thunderstorm. But let’s not forget about lightning. Many of us believe being struck by lightning is rare. Though this is true, we still need to be protected in the event it strikes on our property. Lighting can cause grave amounts of damage to a home or business. These electrical currents could cause a fire, damage a roof and destroy appliances. Filing an insurance claim will help you recover the money you need to repair the damage, but you will have to deal with your insurance company first.

Lightning causes florida property losses of as much as $1 billion every year. Besides costly damage to home electronics, fires can also be started by lightning strikes. It may not be practical to simply unplug your computer, tv and other electronics every time a thunderstorm approaches your neighborhood. Many homeowners use standard surge protectors for their electronics year round, and uninterruptible power supply (ups) surge protectors have become increasingly popular in recent years. However, depending on the strength and exact location of the lightning strike surge protectors may not provide enough protection. Depending on your home’s location and contents, a complete lightning protection system (lps) may be recommended.

Power Surge or Electrical Damage Inside Your Home

Even the broadest homeowners insurance policy won’t cover everything that could go wrong with your home. For example, you can’t intentionally damage your house and then expect your insurer to pay for it. Policies also typically exclude damage from other causes such as: flooding from external sources like heavy rainfall or storm surges. Drain and sewer backups. Infestations by birds, vermin, fungus or mold. Wear and tear or neglect. Nuclear hazard. Government action, including war. Power failure. However, you can buy separate coverage for some of these risks. Flood insurance and earthquake insurance are available separately, and in hurricane-prone states, you may need or want windstorm insurance.

Standard homeowners and business insurance policies cover fire and other damage due to a lightning strike. Some even cover damage due to a resulting electrical surge - check with your company for details. If you carry comprehensive on your auto policy, it covers lightning damage to your car. Claims cost lightning strikes cost about $674 million in homeowners insurance losses in 2013, down 30. 5 percent from 2012, according to the insurance information institute (i. I. I. ). An analysis of homeowners insurance data by the i. I. I. And state farm found there were 115,000 lightning claims in 2013, down 24 percent from 2012.

What makes these states more prone to lightning-related damage than other states that didn’t make this list? it all boils down to how prone each state is to more frequent thunderstorms. Lightning strikes and thunderstorms are inherently related, and once lightning occurs, thunder usually follows. As expensive as insurance may be, it’s still advisable for homeowners who live in these high-risk states to invest in the proper plan that can compensate them appropriately for lightning damage incurred. Damage caused by lightning, such as fire, is covered by standard homeowners insurance policies. Some homeowners policies provide coverage for power surges that are the direct result of a lightning strike.

When lightning strikes a home or building near your home, it can cause damage to your electrical equipment. Lightning that strikes causes a peak in the power network. This high voltage can also enter your home through pipes and cables in the ground. The sudden high voltage may be too much for the equipment connected to it, causing it to break down. In these cases, we speak of indirect lightning strikes. Many insurers call the damage caused by indirect lightning strikes induction damage. The devices show many defects or no longer work at all. Often there are hardly or no traces of lightning to be seen.