As you know, a home emergency can strike at any time. You can be sipping a cup of tea on the sofa when there’s a bang in the kitchen or a pop in the bathroom and the entire floor is flooded. Or maybe you’ve noticed a weird smell coming from the house recently, or maybe the lights keep flickering or the place won’t warm up, no matter how much you turn the heating on?
These could all be emergencies in the making. But don’t panic – no matter what you might be experiencing, you can be proactive! After all, there are a lot of things you can do in an emergency to prevent a small issue turning into a big problem, and we’ve listed some of the best below for you. Put a plan together, know what to expect, and then take action.
Get to a Safe Space
The first thing to do to ensure the emergency doesn’t become something truly threatening! If your home has caught fire in any way, or there’s a big storm raging outside and you’ve been issued a warning, be sure to get to a safe space first of all. You can take care of the house later on – for now, get your loved ones out. Alternately, if there’s just a small problem in your home, such as faulty electrics in one room, you can avoid using that space until you get the issue repaired.
Always Call Out for an Emergency Repair
An emergency repair is the first port of call when an emergency strikes. Of course, if the problem is a result of a nearby disaster the best thing to do is evacuate, but if it’s localised, you can start by getting in touch with your insurance company. They should have reliable tradesmen on the books if that’s a part of your policy.
If not, don’t worry, you’ve still got options! For example, you should already know of a few Residential Maintenance Plumbers in your area, or if you recently had a renovation done, you’ve probably still got the numbers of some repairmen in your phone. So reach out – it’ll save you a lot of time, worry, and money!
Keep in Touch
Whether you have to evacuate or not, be sure to regularly communicate with the people around you when a home emergency strikes. Chip pan fire, flooded basement, part of the roof ripped off – it doesn’t matter what’s happened! Just update someone on the situation as it progresses, even if you’re not personally worried.
Designate an Emergency Exit
And a quick tip to round off; designate an emergency exit for next time. You never know when you may become trapped inside your home and have to climb out a top floor window! You may even need to invest in a ladder for doing just that, if the ground floor becomes a worry, so keep that in mind.
Home emergencies can be dealt with, no matter how shocking they can be!
