Investigating Disaster Insurance

Homeowner’s insurance plays an important role in protecting your home and everything within it. With any luck you’ll never actually need it, but it provides a nice safety net in case the worst comes to pass. But did you know that there are some things that can happen to your home that aren’t covered by homeowner’s insurance?

If your home is damaged by a natural disaster such as a flood, earthquake, or tornado, you may find that your existing insurance policy doesn’t cover these natural events. In some cases, even man-made disasters may not be covered if the damage was caused by something like an explosion or a riot. Regardless of the cause, recovering after a disaster can be very expensive. To help protect against these costs in the event of a disaster, you usually have the option to purchase additional disaster insurance that gives you additional coverage beyond what your standard homeowner’s policy provides.

The Limits of Homeowner’s Coverage

Some homeowners believe that their existing policies cover everything that could happen to their homes, only to find out at the worst possible time that they aren’t actually covered. This usually is the result of an exceedingly rare occurrence such as flood damage, earthquake, or wildfire. Even insurance policies that claim to cover “all” damage typically make exclusions for a few types of disasters since those disasters aren’t localized to one specific property or home.

If you aren’t sure what sort of disaster coverage your existing insurance has, take a moment to review your policy or contact your insurance agent. Within your policy you should find the specifics of your coverage, as well as any exceptions that the policy doesn’t cover. If you want protection from those uncovered instances, you’ll need to pick up additional coverage.

How Disaster Coverage Works

Depending on your insurer and the type of disaster coverage you want to get, there are a few different ways that you could get this additional coverage. You may be able to buy blanket disaster coverage that covers multiple disaster types, though even it may have a few exceptions built in. If this isn’t available or if you want coverage for specific types of disasters, you may be able to buy single-disaster policies that only cover individual disaster types. Depending on your insurer and policy availability, your disaster coverage may be available as separate policies, or it may simply be an addition to your existing homeowner’s insurance.

Once you’ve taken out your disaster coverage, it will function similarly to your existing insurance. Should a disaster occur, your claim will be filed against your disaster policy or any disaster add-ons you’ve purchased instead of your standard homeowner’s insurance. Depending on the type of disaster and any other damage that may have occurred, there may also be claims made against your health insurance, vehicle insurance, or other insurance types; disaster insurance won’t replace or supersede any applicable insurance, it just helps to close gaps that previously didn’t have coverage.

Do You Need Disaster Insurance?

Whether you want to pay the additional costs of disaster insurance largely comes down to personal preference. By their nature most disasters are pretty rare, though some areas are more prone to disaster than others. The more likely it is that you could wind up in a disaster, the more beneficial disaster insurance would be to you, but keep in mind that disasters can still strike in locations where they aren’t common. It is also worth noting that if you live in an area where occasional disasters are likely (such as a flood plain that has a track record of heavy flooding during certain seasons) then you may not be able to get some types of disaster insurance or may have to pay higher premiums.

Top Landscape Plants for Fall

As the days are gradually getting shorter and the nights grow a little cooler, it’s a good time to start thinking about how you want to handle your fall landscaping. It’s possible that you’ve never really put much thought into what your fall landscaping will look like; after all, many people see fall as a time to start prepping for winter and let the look of their landscaping kind of fall by the wayside until spring. With a little bit of TLC, though, you can transform your landscaping and create a striking contrast between spring and fall without having to break the bank or spend all your time working in the yard.

One easy way to do this is to add some new plants to your landscape as the season change approaches. There are a wide range of autumn-hardy plants in both flowering and ornamental varieties, so you should be able to find some options that you like regardless of your preferences.

Flowering Plants

While many people think of flowers as a big part of spring, there are a number of flowering plants that absolutely flourish during the autumn. Many of these flowering plants are available in a wide range of colors, and some are even perennial, so you’ll get to enjoy them year after year. Here are just a few of the fall flowers you might add to your landscaping:

• Autumn Crocus
• Blue Mist Shrub
• Shasta Daisy
• Aster
• Chrysanthemum

Many summer-blooming plants also have varieties that bloom into early fall as well. There may be other options that are available locally on top of these, so be sure to check with your local nurseries to see if they have any recommendations for autumn-blooming flowers that do well in your area.

Ornamental Plants

Flowers are always a welcome addition to landscaping, but there’s something to be said for colorful and hardy ornamental plants as well. Some of these do well throughout the fall and even into the chill of winter, making them favorites when it comes to building up landscaping that will survive colder nights and chilly autumn winds. While this is far from an exhaustive list, here are a few ornamental plants that you might consider for your fall landscaping revamp:

• Chinese Lantern
• Cotoneaster
• Ornamental Kale
• Purple Fountain Grass
• Winterberry Holly

Many plants that work well as ornamental pieces in the fall will also produce beautiful flowers in the spring or early summer, making them staples of your landscaping year-round. Some also produce fruits that local wildlife can enjoy as temperatures drop and they start preparing for the winter. In most cases they can be planted either directly in the soil or in containers for an additionally striking look. As with flowering plants, be sure to check to see if there are additional options that grow well in your area and thrive in your climate zone.

Landscaping Redux

In addition to changing out the flowers in your yard, the fall can be a great time to make other changes to your landscaping as well. Everything from adding garden paths to installing outdoor lighting or planting and removing trees can be done as part of an autumn revamp to your overall landscaping. This can be done alongside floral and ornamental planting to get the most out of your autumn, and by starting in late summer or early fall you can be sure that everything is in good shape before freezing temperatures or other problems arrive.

Smart Tags Help You Find the Missing Pieces

Day to day life has a lot of moving parts. Unfortunately, this sometimes makes it a little too easy to misplace some of those things that we use every day. This can be a real hassle, causing you to spend time looking for the various things you need instead of using them. Most smartphones come with a “find my phone” feature, so wouldn’t it be great if everything else had a similar function?

With the advent of smart tags, this is actually possible. These tags make it easy to locate lost items around the home and can even provide extra security against theft or loss while you’re out and about. The specific features and functions depend on the brand of smart tags that you use, but regardless of brand you’ll find that there are some features that are universal.

How Do Smart Tags Work?

Smart tags are small battery-powered devices that you can connect to with a phone or some other smart devices. When you’re looking for an item with a smart tag attached, the smart app can either show the location or cause the tag itself to make a noise to make it easier to find. Items with attached tags that are outside of Bluetooth range can still be tracked using the smart tag app as well. Many smart tags also feature GPS features, and even those that don’t tend to show their location the last time they were detected by the app so that you at least have a starting point in finding them.

Depending on the manufacturer and the specific model of smart tag you’re using, there are a few different ways that you can attach smart tags to items. Some tags are designed to attach to a keyring, carabiner clip, or similar attachment point, while others use adhesive backings to stick directly to objects. Specialized holders for smart tags can also be used to further customize your experience and keep track of the important things in your life.

Using Smart Tags in the Home

There are a wide range of items that you can use smart tags to keep track of around the home. Attaching smart tags to your keys seems like something of a no-brainer, saving you the time it takes to track them down when you’re already running late. Tablets, wireless home phones, remote controls, and purses are also good candidates for the smart tag treatment. Wallets featuring built-in smart tag holders or custom holders shaped like credit cards can make your wallet much easier to find as well.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to finding uses for smart tags in and around the home, however. Small tags can be attached to screwdrivers, hammers, or other tools that see frequent use around the home. Beloved toys can also have a tag attached, giving you an easy way to check that they aren’t left behind when traveling or visiting others on playdates. You can even attach a tag to your phone in case it’s lost, or for some models you can double-press a button on one of the tags and it will ring your phone to help you find it through the app. The usefulness of smart tags is limited only by your needs and your imagination.

Are Awnings Making a Comeback?

Awnings have been around for a long time; examples of awnings date back as far as ancient Egypt, and their use was common in the height of the Roman Empire. Despite their lasting popularity, modern awning use has really dropped off in recent years. Some blame gentrification, others think that it’s just a shift in design sensibilities, but whatever the reason, there haven’t been nearly as many awnings in use for a decade or more.

Is this a continuing trend, or is awning use starting to turn around? What are the reasons that people might want to get awnings? While a lot of the use of awnings comes down to personal preference, here are some of the reasons that awnings fell into disfavor… and why they just might be making a comeback.

Why the Awning Hate?

Once upon a time, awnings were all the rage. This peaked somewhere around the 1950s, where you just about couldn’t find a home or business that didn’t include awnings in any renovation plans that came up. This popularity actually played a large part in their falling out of fashion, however; awnings were so ubiquitous during this period that homes and other buildings that had awnings in place began to appear dated with a “1950’s look” that was contrary to more modern design sensibilities.

A big contributor to this was the way that many awnings of the time were made from either aluminum or fiberglass. Though the materials were popular at the time, they didn’t translate well to changing design aesthetics and ended up being synonymous with older and less popular design styles. More and more remodels opted to remove awnings as a way to update the look of buildings and make them appear more modern, resulting in a slow but steady decline in awning popularity.

Advantages of Awnings

Even though they were becoming less popular year after year, awnings still carried some significant advantages. They provide shade over windows and glass panels in doors, helping to cut back on cooling costs during the summer months. Awnings over doors also serve to block rain and other unwanted precipitation when coming or going or trying to lock or unlock the door. Despite the decreasing popularity of awnings, they also do serve a decorative purpose; much like decorative shutters, they provide a space for color or patterns on what might otherwise be a bland or single-colored wall.

Awnings can do more than protect a doorway or window, too. Larger awnings (especially retractable ones) can also be used to create shaded areas outdoors, covering a patio or otherwise giving you some added room outdoors to grill or lounge without the heat of the direct sun beating down. Some of these awnings may even have cloth screens attached to their supports, giving you a bug-free outdoor space that you can enter and exit easily.

Is It Time for an Awning Renaissance?

While some consider awnings to be a dated look, awnings themselves have actually come a long way since the era that caused so many people to dislike their appearance. A lot of awnings are made from waterproof canvas or other cloth materials these days, providing a more stylistic look that can be printed on or otherwise modified to better accent your home. Gone are the days when awnings were fading eyesores; modern awnings are intended to offer both style and substance, and many are created to be more easily updated or retracted than older versions.