Lightning can cause serious damage to your home. The two biggest issues are the risk of fire and power surges that fry electrical items.
According to the Insurance Information Institute, your home can protect you during a storm, but you need to protect your home from lightning. There are a couple of things you can do to reduce the likelihood of lightning damage to your home.
Electrical surge protection
Electrical surges occur when lightning strikes power lines or transformers that bring electricity into your home. When this happens, it causes a surge of electricity that can fry anything you have plugged into your electrical outlets.
While you cannot protect the elements of the electrical system outside your home, you can protect the items using electricity within your home. One option is to unplug everything when there is a storm, but this is not always practical.
A better option is to use surge protectors for your more valuable electric items, such as your television or computer. You can also install surge devices that will help to block surges.
Fire protection
If lightning directly strikes your home, there is a potential for it to catch on fire. One of the best ways to protect your home is to install a lightning protection system. This system using lightning rods and a grounding network to allow the energy from the lightning to travel away from your home. Such a system does require professional installation, but it can be a good investment for your home if you live in an area with a lot of lightning.