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7 Ways to Prepare for a Flood
Did you know that in the United States, 14.6 million properties are at risk of flooding? And of that number, as many as 6 million aren’t in FEMA’s flood risk zones.
That should be a good enough reason to prepare your home for a flood, even if it’s not on a floodplain or a high-risk area.
To that end, we created this guide on how to prepare and protect your home from floods. So, read on to learn what they are so you can implement them as soon as possible.
1. Purchase Flood Insurance
No matter how much you prepare your home for flooding, some degree of damage may still occur. That’s why it’s better to be safe by purchasing flood insurance for your home. Remember: Most standard homeowners’ insurance policies don’t cover flood damage.
Flood insurance can cover your property’s structure itself and its contents. You can and should get it for your home, business, and rental properties. Read more here to learn how to save when purchasing this coverage.
2. Ensure You Have Positive Yard Grading
Positive yard grading is a landscaping method used to alter the soil around a house. It aims to create a downward slope from a home’s foundation.
With positive grading, your home sits on higher ground than the rest of your yard. That helps prevent rain or flood water from moving towards your house. Instead, the slope helps direct the runoff away and into a nearby drainage system.
To check if your yard has good grading, you need the following tools:
- A couple of sticks (such as a pair of disposable chopsticks)
- A piece of string, such as yarn, at least 11 to 12 feet long
- A ruler or a tape measure
Insert one of the sticks into the soil next to your home’s foundation. Tie one end of the string around it and push the knot down until it touches the ground.
Next, move 10 feet away from your home and put another stick on the soil on that spot. Grab the other end of the string and tie this to the second stick at a 90-degree angle.
Get your ruler or tape and measure the distance between the second knot and the ground. You have adequate grading if it’s over six inches. If it’s less than that, your best bet is to call a professional landscaper to regrade your yard.
3. Keep Your Yard Organized and Clean
Two feet of flood water can lift and carry a small car away. So, it’ll be easier for the water to lift lighter objects like bikes and garbage bins.
If that happens, you can lose those items forever or see them crash into your home and cause damage. For instance, they can break glass doors and windows. From there, they can let even more flood water into your home.
That’s why it always pays to keep your yard tidy, especially in preparation for storms and floods. For added security, tie loose objects like bikes and bins to permanent structures.
You should also regularly check and clean outdoor drains to ensure they’re clog-free. You want them that way, as blocked drains can’t divert rain and floodwater away from your home.
Also, consider building a sandbag barrier around your home’s perimeter or put some water barrier rentals houston. Do this as soon as you get a flood warning. You can place them across doorways, including garage doors.
Sandbag barriers don’t guarantee 100% water-tight seals. However, they can help minimize flood penetration into your home.
4. Fix Damaged Exterior Walls
Cracks and holes in exterior walls let water from outside seep into interior walls. The penetrating water can also pool by your foundation, exposing it to water damage.
Flood water is even worse since it takes longer to recede, so more can pass through the damage in the walls.
Therefore, part of your house flood plan prevention should be to fix all those cracks and holes. Start by patching up the damages with high-quality filling compounds. Once they harden, sand away any excess or protruding filler.
Finally, apply waterproofing materials to your exterior walls.
5. Get Some Flood Vents
Also known as flood ports, flood vents are permanent wall openings where water can enter and exit. They help minimize the hydrostatic pressure of flood water, especially flash floods. You want to reduce that pressure as it can be powerful enough to damage walls and foundations.
The best places to install flood vents are garages and foundation walls. You can also place them in unconditioned crawl spaces.
6. Invest in a Sewer Backflow Valve
Also called a backwater valve, a sewer backflow valve is a device that can sense sewer backups. If it detects a backup, it automatically shuts and closes your home’s sewer line. That helps keep sewage from a public sewer from entering your home’s plumbing system.
Public sewers can cause such backups at anytime, but they’re more common during storms. That’s because they can get overtaxed by rain and flood waters. As a result, they fill up faster and with more water than they accommodate.
A local licensed plumber is the best person to install a sewer backflow valve. For one, the pro can determine the area of your home most susceptible to sewer backups. Then, the expert will install the backup and flood safety device in that location.
7. Fix and Waterproof Basement Surfaces
Since the basement is the lowest floor of a home, it’s also where the most flood damage often occurs.
So, prepare your basement from flooding by inspecting all its surfaces for damage. Then, fill cracks and gaps with epoxy as soon as you see them. Once the epoxy is completely dry, apply a waterproof coat so that the surfaces can repel water better.
Prepare and Protect Your Home From a Flood
Please remember that one inch of flood water can leave your home with damage worth $25,000. Unfortunately, flooding incidents far more severe than that are occurring more frequently. So, the next one that may hit your home may be several inches deep.
Thus, it’s better to prepare and proof your home for a flood now rather than later. The sooner you do, the greater the flood protection barriers home you can give your home and loved ones.
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Kenneth is a proud native of sydney, born and raised there. However, he pursued his education abroad and studied in Australia. Kenneth has worked as a journalist for almost a decade, making valuable contributions to prominent publications such as Yahoo News and The Verge. Currently, he serves as a journalist for The Hear Up, where he focuses on covering climate and science news. You can reach Kenneth at [email protected].
