Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Category:
Home Improvements
As the UK experiences an extreme cold snap, Halifax is advising homeowners to protect their properties from the elements.
It has been revealed that 16 percent of Halifax home insurance claims between December 19th and January 4th were for burst pipes, compared to 11 percent between December 1st and December 18th. Such an incident can cause significant structural problems and electrical faults; reportedly leading to an average repair cost of £2,000.
Senior Claims Manager, Martyn Foulds, commented: "The average cost to repair damage caused by a burst pipe is around £2000, so it is worth ensuring the home is properly insured, taking steps to prevent frozen pipes, making sure you have adequate insurance in place and also knowing what to do to limit damage if a pipe does burst."
Halifax has offered the following tips to avoid burst pipes:
- Insulate the attic, all water pipes and the sides of your water tank.
- Leave the central heating on low when leaving your property empty for any length of time during the winter months.
- Frost protection thermostats can be found on many boilers, which turn on automatically when the temperature falls beyond a particular level.
- It can be worthwhile asking a friend or trusted neighbour to call in on your property to check that all is well.
- Ensure that you are aware of where the water mains stop tap is, and make sure that it can be easily turned off in the case of an emergency.
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Homeowners whose properties are in need of work in order to adequately protect them from the elements could consider taking out a
secured loan to facilitate any projects required. One of many finance options available, a secured loan for home improvements could allow borrowers to fully insulate their property for example. Furthermore, an ineffective central heating system could also be replaced with a new and improved counterpart. Borrowers may also wish to re-decorate their property at the same time – particularly if it has fallen victim to water damage in the past.
