Homeowners set to fork out £17 billion in winter repairs
Winter costs homeowners in the United Kingdom £16.7* billion every year, Direct Line Home Insurance has revealed.
Damage caused by each winter’s icy blasts costs the average home in the country £693.36 to repair each year.
It found the cost quickly totted up when you took into account the kind of chaos freezing temperatures and gale-force winter winds can bring.
Cracking pipes, flooded homes, cracks in the walls, slates blown from roofs and blocked drains and gutters all sent the winter repairs soaring. The biggest cost being damaged pipes, which cost £2,250 to repair.
A total of 51.4 per cent of men and 59.8 per cent of women had forked out up to £5,000 to repair damaged to their gardens, including fences blown over and smashed garden furniture.
Nearly one person in five has experienced a flooded garden, house or garage and 91.4 per cent of men and 93.9 per cent of women had forked out at least £100 to replace damaged plants.
A third of people have had to repair their roofs over the winter, with more than one in ten of them spending up to £250 to sort it out.
More than half of 3,000 people questioned said they worried that their home was more prone to damage over the coldest season.
But a staggering 59 per cent of men and 63.6 per cent of women took no measures to protect their home.
The Welsh are far more concerned about winter damage in their homes than anywhere else. 46.9 per cent of people believed their house was “definitely” more at risk of damage.
In the rest of the country, the average of those who believed their home was more at risk was only 27 per cent.
The least concerned about damage to their homes over the winter were those in the south west, with just 19.2 per cent concerned about the seasonal damage.
The most cautious were the Geordies with 53.6 per cent of families taking measures to defence their homes against the ravages of the cold weather.
Scotland proved itself the frozen north, with nearly one in five homes having burst or frozen pipes. With only 4.3 per cent of households in the North West suffering the same problem.
The leakiest gutters were in the West Midlands, with almost 40 per cent of homes dripping when it rains, with 15.6 per cent happy to let them continue dripping.
The West Midlands also came out top in the blocked drains table, with 37.5 per cent spending up to £500 getting drains unblocked.
Nearly three-quarters of gardens in the West Midlands had also been damaged, compared to 43.3 per cent in London.
Yorkshire and Humber homes were worst off from the winter winds, with 40 per cent of homes suffering roof damage costing up to £5,000, compared to just 24.1 per cent in the South East.
A quarter of homes in low-lying East Anglia had suffered from flooding, with 4 per cent spending a whopping £5,000 on repairs.
Nationwide, 62.2 per cent of homeowners take no action at all to protect their property.
Simon Ziviani from Direct Line Home Insurance warns,
“ With sever weather predicted this winter, Direct Line is advising homeowners to prepare and protect their homes and particularly those in high risk areas".
Direct Line Insurance plc. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Calls may be recorded. Conditions apply.
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