Your house is valuable to you, both in terms of the finances and your emotional connection to it. For that reason, you should do everything you can to protect your home. There are several steps you can take that will reduce or eliminate the impact of disasters like storms and fires, and these also tend to reduce the cost of home insurance at the same time. So while it may take some time, the improvements will pay for themselves eventually based on the insurance savings. In this article, we will talk about a few of the most popular ways to protect your investment.

Impact-Resistant Roof
If you live in an area that experiences strong storm activity, then you should consider an impact-resistant roof. These roofs are especially hardened to resist the impact of flying objects that have been tossed up in the air by powerful winds. This is a major threat from hurricanes and big storms- the winds can pick up miscellaneous debris and hurl them with extreme force. If you do not have an impact-resistant roof, you risk having holes punched in the roof material or getting shingles torn off. There are also roofs that are especially resistant to fire.

Shatterproof Windows
Just as roofs are vulnerable to flying objects, windows can also be broken if storm-tossed debris flies into them. This is dangerous, because glass shards will get everywhere. Windows are also expensive to replace. If you purchase and install shatterproof or impact-resistant windows, however, then the chances of your window breaking when something slams into it are much smaller. Every state has a department of insurance that regulates these modifications. If you check with them first, you can get a set from a company like Lifetime Exteriors that conforms with their requirements so that you get a discount on your home insurance premium each month.

There are a few other examples of home modifications that protect your investment in the long run, but they all have the same general idea: prevent the most common forms of damage from affecting your home to the greatest extent possible. It does cost money to make these changes, but you can recoup some of the cost by calling up your insurance carrier and asking for discounts. They might want to verify the installation, but the savings can be quite significant when you add them up over time.