BATON ROUGE -- With this week marking 20 years since Hurricane Katrina and being right near the peak of hurricane season, WBRZ spoke with experts on ways to prep a house that people might not have thought of.

"One of the things that we find beneficial is to have water collection devices in the attic, should a branch come through your roof," Michael LeBass of the Homeowners Association of Greater Baton Rouge said.

The experts said that people can use cost-friendly items they may already have at home, such as a bucket or a kiddie pool. Putting it in the attic is a great way to help with water. They advise multiple people to help bring the water out as it could be a lot heavier than people would realize. 

Another thing they recommend is knowing how to turn off the home's water, gas, and electricity.

"When houses are constructed, there are disconnect valves installed on the outside of the house. I wouldn't turn it off before the storm. I would know where the disconnect valve is, just in case the need arises," LeBass said.

Another strategy is to tape the seams of doors around its perimeter. The experts say that this will help keep water from coming in. They also recommend taping the windows as well.

Additionally, propping something like a two-by-four up to the door handle will help keep it from flying open during strong winds.

In Louisiana, French doors are fairly common, and as Matthew Holmes of Holmes Building Material says, they are prone to leaks.

"A French door is a double door unit. It usually has an active door and a stationary door. They are prone to leaking, especially during a high-wind event. It would be beneficial if you had something to stabilize the door with and or towels on the ground. Most warranties and insurance coverages will not cover wind driven rain," Holmes said.

Experts say to also look out for items outside of the house that could fly from heavy winds. These include toys, bird feeders, wood and chairs. 

The experts also want to remind people about common preps, such as checking the generator to make sure it's effective before a storm. 

"When they're prepping their home, generators are the biggest thing to have prepped before disaster occurs. if your generator's been sitting up, you need to clean the fuel out of it, filters, make sure it's up and running. Run a tank of gas through it," Holmes says. 

Broken glass is always a threat during a hurricane or any severe weather threat. That's why Holmes also talked about boarding up windows.

"What you want to do anytime that you're boarding and securing your house before an event like this is you definitely need things like sheet goods, whether they be OSB or plywood. All of those come in handy when securing your house."

WBRZ also spoke with roofing experts about what they have learned in the 20 years since Hurricane Katrina.

"We have learned that the roof system is very important to keep the water out of your house. If your roof blows off, and you don't have certain things that have been done to your roof system, the water will intrude. Once it intrudes, your house is not going to have any power (to do) anything like that, so you'll have water sitting in the walls, unconditioned," ONEROOF Louisiana's Ray Mills said.

Mills discussed FORTIFIED Roof, which was developed by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety to strengthen roofs against severe weather such as high winds.

"It allows people to come in and do what's called a code plus system. We go in and we re-nail your decking. We take a tape or a fully adhered ice and water system and put it on top of that, and what that does is it stops the water from coming in with the seams of the plywood, so you don't have water dropping in all over your house," Mills said.