Weatherproofing Your Home 101

Your dream luxury home is one of the most significant investments you will take on in your lifetime. As such, it is vital that you make extra effort to take care of your home and ensure that it can withstand the weather and forces of nature prevalent in the Philippines like heavy rains, stormy winds, or flooding.

Weatherproofing your luxury home will help you transform it into an all-weather property. You protect your home while at the same time ensuring that you and your family remain safe while living in it.

Weatherproofing your home may add some expenses to your new build or luxury home renovation, but it is a worthwhile investment, especially if you live in an area that experiences strong weather conditions. In this article, you will find the different techniques on how to weatherproof home and what weatherproof home features you should have.

Why Consider Weatherproofing Your Home?

The Philippines is a tropical country, and the climate is largely composed of high temperatures, high humidity, and abundant rainfall. The country experiences two seasons. From December to May, the Philippines experiences the dry season. The cool dry season occurs from December to February, while the hot dry season happens from March to May. On the other hand, the rainy season occurs between June to November.

Because of this climate, weather conditions can vary across the country. While Baguio weather is typically cool and mild, coastal communities may experience warmer temperatures and more storms.

As such, the type of weather in your location should be accounted for when it comes to designing and weatherproofing your beautiful luxury home. Living in a cooler climate like those experienced in Baguio or Tagaytay means you need to ensure proper insulation to keep your home warm and energy costs low and prevent higher utility bills. Living in coastal areas that experience strong winds and raine means you need to fortify your luxury house and lot against these weather conditions.

Another benefit of weatherproofing, aside from protection against the elements, is making your luxury house and lot more energy efficient. You can save so much on utility bills while also ensuring that you are doing your part for the environment.

How to Weatherproof Your Home

Make your dream home all-weather-ready with these tips and techniques. Apply these designs and weatherproof home features tp your new build or renovation project, picking the techniques that suit the typical weather patterns in your area.

Install Impact-Resistant Windows

The Philippines experiences several storms or typhoons throughout the year. And with the rising popularity of glass houses in modern home designs, you might want to consider installing impact-resistant windows and glass around your home.

Strong winds or impact from flying debris can shatter the glass windows around your house, causing a lot of injury or damage. To mitigate this, design your weatherproof home with typhoon-resistant windows and glass panels.

You can choose to have tempered glass installed. Tempered glass is a safer option as it shatters into small pieces rather than large shards of glass, which causes less serious injuries. Some forms of glass also have protective films that coat it, meaning the glass will typically remain intact despite strong forces.

Add Storm Shutters and Storm Windows

Windows can be some of the most vulnerable parts of your home, especially during storms. Under stormy conditions, wind and rain can enter your home, soaking everything and causing property damage.

To prevent water and high-velocity winds from entering your home and causing damage, you can add storm shutters to your windows. Heavy-duty storm shutters and storm windows are resistant to corrosion and high-velocity winds.

There are many different styles of storm shutters and storm windows you can choose from, depending on what fits the design of your house. You can have roll-down or accordion shutters. And you can even choose between aluminum or polycarbonate.

Build a Four-Sided Roof

Four-sided roofs are not as common in the country, but this type of roof is actually better at protecting your home from storms and typhoons. The structural design of a four-sided roof means that gusts of wind are able to flow smoothly, instead of ripping away at the structure.

Of course, a four-sided roof must still be properly installed and strongly attached, and welded to provide you with the best weatherproofing protection. Make sure to discuss this with your contractors when talking about designing and building a strong roof to weatherproof your home.

Try Stilt Foundations

Traditionally, houses in the country were built on stilts. These provided a dual purpose of elevating and protecting your home against flooding and providing sufficient airflow and ventilation in and around your house.

While we have moved away from traditional housing designs, you can still implement this type ways to weatherproof your luxury home. Maybe you live on uneven terrain like a hill or a slope. This way, you can explore the idea of having some areas of your home on stilt foundations. While strong stilt foundations can help protect the home from floods or land erosion, it can also be a energy efficient and cost effective way to cool down some parts of your home.

Resilient Exteriors

The exterior of your home is the main way you protect your family and possessions from the outside elements. Thus, it follows that the materials used for the exterior of your home should be chosen for their ability to help protect the home from the weather. Aside from shielding your home against wind, rain, or sun, the exterior materials can also protect your home from fire. It can also provide good insulation for both the hot and the cool weather.

Weatherproofing the exteriors of your home can mean using materials such as concrete, brick, natural stone, or steel.

Another way to weatherproof some of your home features can be by using resilient pavers or pebbles for your garden or outdoor pathways. These materials are durable in all weather conditions, leaving you with less maintenance to worry about.

Other Simple Weatherproof Home Features

Sometimes, you won’t need a huge renovation to make your home more weather-resilient. Here are some features you can easily add to your home.

Door Draft Stopper

If your home has centralized air conditioning, or if you live in cooler climates and have a home heating system, then door draft stoppers will be a great addition to your house. A door draft stopper is something you can add to the tops and bottoms of your doors, covering the gap between the floor and the door.

What this does is prevent a draft from coming through, which can alter the temperature inside your room or entire house. Having a draft stopper can protect your home against the cold air if you live in cooler climates, which means your heating system needs to do less work when it comes to heating the house.

Programmable Thermostat

One of the easiest ways to begin your smart home is by having a programmable thermostat to help control the air conditioning levels in the house.

Thermostats like this are designed to adjust home temperatures depending according to your preferred settings. You can schedule it to turn off or turn on air conditioning, especially if you leave or come home at routine hours.

You can use this with existing units, or with newer AC components. Most of them are smart home ready and can be connected to an app for more convenience.

Weather Stripping

Another quick energy-saving and weatherproofing home features is weather stripping. It can be attached to different parts of the house, such as windows, doorways, and electric outlets to seal the house from air leaks.

The type of weather stripping you use will vary depending on what you need to protect. Moving parts, such as sliding windows and doors, need different protection compared to fixed areas.Options include reinforced felt, caulk, open-cell foams, vinyl, and metal weather stripping.

Find Weather-Resilient Luxury Homes with Brittany

Luxury homes are an investment and a gift to your family, so make sure it lasts a lifetime. Put a premium on your dream home by investing in a beautiful Brittany luxury house and lot for sale!

Brittany Corporation is a leading expert in luxury residential properties and communities, and each home built under the Brittany banner is built to last forever through any weather. Browse our property listings and inquire about your next home with Brittany today!

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