FLOOD RISK ASSESSMENT

To do it well you have to consider at least five major issues.  There may also be other problems specific to your property.

1. Will water come in through doors, windows and other openings?  The answer is almost always yes.  Unless they have been built specifically to prevent water ingress (unlikely), you have to protect your building apertures.

2. Will water come in through my walls?  The answer may surprise you, but quite often it is also yes.  It may not be commonplace knowledge outside of the construction industry but most bricks and more often the mortar joints are porous – they let in water after a surprisingly short time.  So if floodwater is liable to persist more than half an hour it may well come in through your walls. .

3. Will water (or worse, sewerage) come through downstairs drain outlets, like toilets, baths and sinks? Unless you have protected those outlets the answer again is probably yes depending on the depth of floodwater and back pressure.  You have to consider protecting your drain inlets.

4. Will water come up through my floors, through rising groundwater levels? It may or it may not, depending on the geology of the ground around you and the structure of your floors, even foundations.  If your house is built directly on to an impermeable material such as clay then rising groundwater will probably not come up. 

5. How strong are my walls? If you stop water coming into your building then its weight bears against the building perimeter walls.  They have to be strong enough to take the expected weight of water or they may suffer damage in flood conditions. 

So what should I do?

In short, if you suspect you are at risk of floods, then you should carry out a comprehensive flood exposure assessment and then make educated decisions on protecting your property from flood.

Start off by completing and submitting one of our Risk Assessment Surveys.

Flodef have professional staff with the specialist knowledge needed to carry out flood-protection surveys and recommend solutions which are indemnified.  It has its own unique Kitemarked products - the only ones on the market tested to the UK ’s highest standard for flood protection along with tried and tested products and systems.