Ways to Protect Your Home From Flooding
Taking measures to protect your home from flood damage must top your priority list. Consider examining and assessing your foundation, carrying out renovations such as applying sealants to cracks, if any, and installing a residential flood control system. Here are some more tips to prepare your home for a flood in order to limit structural damage.
Evaluate Your Risk
Determine the specific flood level of your home. Ideally, houses should be built above their flood levels to be protected from flood damage. When your area experiences heavy rainfall, evaluate the surface runoff. Take note of whether the water flows towards or away from your home. Notice whether it pools around any doors or basement windows. This will help you assess your home’s flood risk. You can also use your findings to identify areas that may benefit from dry-proofing techniques.
Get Flood Insurance
Your standard homeowners’ insurance policy will not protect you from the risk of flooding, which is why it is important that you invest in flood insurance. Make sure you have enough flood insurance to cover the items in your home.
Prepare Your House for the Worst
Once you have assessed your home’s flood risk, take steps to flood-proof it. Here are some effective ways to protect your home from flood damage.
Raise Your Home Above the Flood Level
If you are building a new home, raise it on stilts. Remember even an inch of water can cause significant damage. Raising your home’s flood level will cost you good money, however, this will pay rich dividends in the long run.
Install Foundation Vents or Use a Sump Pump
Foundation vents are designed to prevent water from pooling around homes. By allowing water to pass smoothly through your home, your foundation vent will help reduce the pressure that water can put on your walls and windows. Consider investing in a sump pump designed to help pump out water from the basement.
Leave Space Between Your Mulch and Siding
Wet mulch is a recipe for disaster as it can rot your home’s siding causing leaks. To ensure the base of your home gets enough time to dry after a heavy downpour, leave some free space between your mulch and siding.
Seal Leaks
Over time, leaks and gaps develop in different structures in homes. To prevent water from entering your home through cracks, apply coatings and sealants to your walls, foundations, and doorways.
Grade Your Lawn
Use a heavy soil to grade your lawn away from your home’s foundation. This will help ensure that the surface runoff empties in an appropriate place (away from your home), such as a gutter.
Preventive Steps to Take Before a Rainstorm
- Turn on your sump pump to remove water as quickly as possible
- Unclog gutters and drains
- Block any gaps that may lead to flooding with sandbags
- Move precious items such as furniture, rugs, and electronics to higher floors
- If you are worried about the water reaching the electrical system, shut off your electricity at the breaker panel
Was your home flooded recently? Flood damage can affect your home in more ways than you could possibly imagine. Our team at West Coast Fire & Water has successfully restored several homes after floods. We are one of the most sought-after water damage restoration companies in Santa Rosa. We use the latest equipment and time-tested methods that always deliver results.