JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Prepping your home ahead of a storm is more than just bringing patio furniture in. Experts say now is the time to double-check your insurance policies amid hurricane season.

Understanding and optimizing your insurance coverage now can prevent major financial loss and stress later, not just during hurricane season, but year-round.

Jon Ruggiero, with the insurance company Guardian Service, says now is the time to look into coverage because once a storm is named and tracking towards your area, insurance companies typically will impose binding restrictions that prevent new policy sales or any major changes to coverage.

This is to prevent people from only buying coverage when they know a storm is coming. Policies like flood insurance have a mandatory 30-day waiting period.

Flood insurance typically is sold as a completely separate policy, and the Insurance Information Institute reports that about 6% of U.S. households have a flood policy.

“Not all water damage is covered by your traditional homeowner’s policy,” Ruggiero said. “Your standard homeowner’s policy only covers water damage from rain that comes through a wind-damaged roof, but it does not cover flood damage, meaning water rising up from the ground, including storm surge, river overflow, or heavy rainfall that can cause surface flooding.”

Depending on where your house is located, you could already have wind and hail damage included in your coverage unless there’s a specific exclusion mentioned in the policy. Homeowners in coastal communities may be excluded from typical wind or hail coverage due to being in a high-risk area.

The source of the damage may also impact if your insurance will cover the damage. For example, mold damage is only covered if it stems from a covered water source. It’s a common coverage gap if the damage comes from floodwaters.

Ruggiero says homeowners want to be as accurate as possible in building up the policy around their home, so they can protect themselves in the event the worst happens.

“Carriers want to stick to that replacement cost estimator, so when you buy a new home, it really isn’t up to the homeowner to decide how much dwelling coverage to get,” Ruggiero said. “What’s up to the homeowner is to accurately represent to the insurance company the specifications of their home, so that the insurance company can do their best estimate on what the insurance coverage that is needed to have on that home.”

Think of checking your insurance as routine care for your home—just like a car or going to the doctor, and use your experience from the previous year to dictate if you should add more coverage.

“Policyholders should never just assume it’s in there,” Ruggiero said. “They should be reviewing that in great detail with their trusted advisor, so that they are confident in what is covered and what is not. And if it isn’t an exclusion, it is something that they should be purchasing separately.”

If you are in a coastal community, consider extended dwelling coverage for extra protection.