The Hurricane-Season Maintenance Checklist for Northwest Florida Homes

If you’ve lived through a Florida hurricane season, you know there’s no such thing as a “minor” storm preparation list. The difference between a small inconvenience and a six-figure insurance claim often comes down to maintenance work the homeowner did — or didn’t do — months before.

This is the checklist we run on our own homes every May, and the same one we offer as a service to our maintenance-plan clients. Most of it you can do yourself in a weekend.

Roof and attic

The roof is the single most expensive thing on your home that a storm can damage, so it gets first priority.

• Walk the perimeter and look up at every slope. You’re looking for lifted shingles, missing pieces, exposed nails, damaged flashing around chimneys and vents, and any patches that look different from the rest.
• Check the soffit and fascia for any soft spots, separation, or staining. Hurricane winds find weak soffit and rip the whole edge off the house.
• Climb into the attic with a flashlight on a sunny day. Look for daylight through any roof gaps and any moisture stains on the decking or insulation. Both are catch-it-now problems.
• Service the attic fan if you have one. A failed attic fan can cause heat-related shingle damage even without a storm.

If anything on the roof looks questionable, get it inspected by a licensed contractor before June. Reroof and major repair lead times jump to 3–6 weeks once a storm forms.

Gutters and drainage

A clogged gutter during a Cat 2 storm is a flood inside your walls. Spend the hour.

• Clean every gutter — yourself, or hire someone. Don’t skip the corners or downspouts.
• Run a hose through the gutter system and confirm water actually drains away from the foundation. Pooling at the base of the house is a sign of either drainage failure or downspout disconnection.
• Check downspout extensions. They should carry water at least 4 feet from the foundation.
• Look at the yard grading. Water should flow away from the house in every direction.

Windows and doors

The biggest predictor of catastrophic interior damage in a hurricane is window/door failure. Once wind gets inside the envelope, the roof can fail, the walls can fail, the whole structure is at risk.

• Inspect every window and door seal. Look for cracked caulk, gaps, or torn weatherstripping. Re-caulk and re-strip anything questionable.
• Test every operable window for proper closure. Latches should engage fully.
• Check garage door tracks and rollers. Garage doors are the single most common failure point in homes that lose their roof — wind enters the garage, lifts the roof from inside. If your door isn’t hurricane-rated and isn’t fully tracked, consider an upgrade or bracing.
• If you have hurricane shutters, take them out, test the mechanism, replace any bent or rusted hardware. Don’t wait until the cone of uncertainty is over your county.

Trees and landscaping

Almost every “tree on the house” call we get traces back to a tree the homeowner had been meaning to trim for months.

• Walk the yard with a critical eye. Any limb overhanging the house, garage, driveway, or neighbor’s property is a liability.
• Hire an arborist for selective trimming of anything large enough to hurt the house. Don’t try this yourself with hardwoods.
• Remove dead trees entirely. A storm will take them down for you, and rarely in a convenient direction.
• Trim small palms away from the house. Palm fronds are surprisingly destructive missiles in high wind.
• Stake new plantings and small trees that haven’t established root systems yet.

Loose objects and structures

The yard is full of projectiles in a 90 mph wind.

• Make a list of everything in the yard that isn’t bolted down: patio furniture, grills, planters, kids’ toys, garden tools, decorative items.
• Plan where each item goes when a storm is forecast — garage, shed, or brought inside. Don’t decide on the day.
• Check shed and outbuilding anchoring. Many were installed by previous owners with inadequate ground anchors.
• Look at fences and gates. Wood fences that have rotted or come loose at the posts are likely to fail and become flying debris.

HVAC and electrical

• Service the AC before June. You don’t want a system failure in a 95° August week with no shutoff possible.
• Inspect the outdoor unit’s anchoring. Some installers don’t properly secure units to their pads; high wind can dislodge them.
• Test the generator if you have one. Run it for 15 minutes under load. Stock fuel and oil now, not the week before a storm.
• Locate your main breaker and your gas shutoff and make sure every adult in the house knows where they are and how to operate them.
• Photograph every room and the electrical panel. Send the photos to yourself in email. If you ever need to make a claim, this documentation is invaluable.

Documents and emergency supplies

Building damage is recoverable. Lost paperwork and lost time aren’t.

• Insurance policy, declarations page, and agent contact info — in a waterproof bag in a location you can grab in 60 seconds.
• Home inventory — at minimum, a video walkthrough of every room narrated by you describing what’s there. Most policies require this for serious claims.
• Emergency kit for at least 72 hours: water, non-perishable food, flashlights, batteries, first aid, prescription medications, cash, important documents copies.
• Evacuation plan — know your route, know where you’re going, have it agreed in the family.

Annual maintenance plan

Most of the items above take a day or two if you stay on top of them. They take a week or two of frantic catching up if you don’t. And if a storm hits while you’re behind, they take six months and a six-figure insurance claim.

We offer an annual maintenance plan for clients who want this work handled on a schedule — twice-yearly visits in May and November that cover pressure washing, gutter cleaning, exterior inspection, soft-spot probing, caulk and weatherstrip checks, and a written report on anything we noticed. It’s the cheapest insurance against expensive surprises.

If you’re not sure where to start, or if you want us to run through your home and tell you what we’d worry about, we’d be glad to come out. The first walkthrough is free.

Request a hurricane-prep walkthrough →