Coming home or downstairs to find your house flooded is heartbreaking. It is likely that you will have put your heart and soul into transforming the house into a home. It is not generally a cheap process! However, renovating your home is the perfect opportunity to consider flooding and tales steps to prevent it from being an issue
1. Fit Basement Pumps
If you have a basement then you have the perfect spot to fit high-quality mine dewatering pumps. These are basically submersible pumps that sit in a pit in your basement. If water penetrates your house it will go to the lowest point, that’s the pit in your basement.
As soon as the pump sensors detect the water the pump will start working. It will suck in the water and pump it out through an outlet pipe that you have laid, taking it far away from your home.
2. Check The Flood Charts
It is a good idea to check the flood charts at your local office. These will show you which areas are most prone to flooding and how high the flooding generally gets. By taking a look at this you can identify which parts of your house are most at risk of being flooded.
You can then take steps to protect your home. This may be as simple as having sandbags available. It can also provide you with the time to create additional walls that will keep the water outside your home.
3. Grade Your Yard
Another important preventative step you can take is to grade your yard. Your yard and all the land surrounding your home should be slightly sloped or have channels that take the water away from your home. The gradient and channels should rely on gravity, ensuring they will work regardless of whether you have power or not. This can help to keep all the water away from your home, dramatically reducing the likelihood of a flood happening.
4. Check Drainage
Just as the gradient takes water away from your home, so does your drainage system. It is important to schedule inspect this regularly to ensure that the drainage system is clear and can cope with extreme weather, and have tank inspections to make sure there are no issues there. This doesn’t just help to take rainwater away from your home, it will also ensure that you don’t have clogs and the resulting floods of sewage backing up inside your property.
5. Raise Items
It is also worth considering raising items. Although it is probably impractical to raise your house on stilts, there is no reason why you can’t elevate the items from the lower parts of your house. Instead of storing items at ground level move them two or three feet above the ground. It may not stop the flood but it will help you to hold onto your most valued or treasured items.
Floods happen and, with good insurance cover, the physical issues can be quickly resolved. What you will really need is clothing to wear, allowing you to get on with sorting it all out. That’s why it pays to have spare clothes stashed somewhere else, just in case the worst should happen. Of course, with the above preparation, this may never be an issue.
