It is a sad fact of life that, from time to time, natural
disasters occur, mostly but not entirely as a result of adverse weather
conditions. Most parts of the world suffer, as we do in the UK, EU, China, South-East
Asia and etc with floods, storms, unusually low temperatures and other very
damaging occurrences.
The damage is to our prized homes and gardens and our lives
are affected too.
Being able to cope with such disasters; knowing who to go to
for help; knowing what to do to reduce the damaging effect of the disaster
putting your life and property back together again, is vital. The purpose of
this leaflet is to provide you with helpful advice.
Flooding is particularly damaging since it can affect the structure
of a property, the fixtures and fittings in it and your own personal
possessions. The chances are you will not have had the opportunity to move all
your prized possessions to higher, safer places.
In the event of an unexpected flood, your first step should
always be to contact your home and contents insurance company. Advise them of
the occurrence and obtain their instructions on how you should proceed. Very
often they will provide you with their own safety guidelines, which will be
similar to much of the advice in this leaflet. Serious as the disaster may be,
you should always remember that your insurance company has plenty of experience
in flooding and will help you in every way possible, even arranging for your
stay in alternative accommodation if your property is totally uninhabitable.
Your local authority will also be able to provide you with both written and
practical help so contact them and find out what they are planning.
If flooding has been deep inside the property - several feet
up the walls - you should not attempt to re-enter the property until the flood
water has subsided. Structural damage may have occurred and saturated walls may
have been weakened. If water has reached ceiling height stay out until the
building has been inspected by a qualified Building Surveyor. Your insurers
will insist upon this.
An inch or two of water only will not normally have caused
structural damage but will, naturally, have affected timber floors and floor
coverings.
Doors will almost certainly have soaked up water, will have
swollen and twisted, and will be unusable. In due course they will have to be
replaced. If you have to force your way into the property, break a window
rather than a door and then obtain some OSB or external plywood.
Since your domestic water supply may have been contaminated
you should boil all drinking and cooking water before use. The same applies to
water used for cleaning your teeth.
You must not attempt to turn electricity supplies back on if
any flood water has reached under floor junction boxes or wall sockets.
Any part of the electrical system which may have been soaked
must be thoroughly checked by a qualified electrician.
If you have suspended timber floors remember that water may
still be trapped, unable to drain away. A pump may be required to remove it.
When, in due course, your property is put back into good order it is advisable
to ask your contractor to treat all the timbers of suspended floors with a wood
preservative to further protect against rot.
If you have a cellar this too will probably still be full of
water and this should be cleared a bit at a time - not all at once - since the
ground outside will be heavy with floodwater and the weight of this could cause
the cellar walls to collapse.
Once you are sure that the property is safe to enter, you
can start to clean up and dry everything out. You'll need buckets and shovels,
rubble bags possibly and brooms. A set of drain rods will prove useful to help
clear out mud and sludge from the main underground drains.
Remove everything you can from the affected part of the
property to leave bare floors and walls. If carpets and other items are beyond
recovery put them out in the garden but do not throw them away, your insurance
company may want to see them. If you have no garden, photograph them if you can
and then dispose of the items. It is also a good idea to photograph floodwater
tide marks on walls, to have record of the extent of the flooding. Disposable
cameras are cheap and easily available.
If you have decorative timber flooring such as laminated or
parquet flooring this will be beyond repair and will have to be removed but,
again, try to photograph it before it is lifted and put outside. Before
starting to dry out the interior please check around the outside to ensure that
the floodwater has not shifted soil or other debris against the property walls
to block airbricks. It is important to ensure that under floor ventilation is
restored to assist with the drying out processes.
Ventilation is important elsewhere too so open all the
windows that you can on dry days.
Don't rush the drying out by using high powered heaters.
Drying out too quickly could cause even more damage to woodwork. Use fan or
convector heaters once your electricity supply is safely back on. Wherever
possible ensure that the power supply to heaters comes from an RCD protected
source - perhaps as an integral part of an extension lead.
Dehumidifiers will prove invaluable when attempting to dry
out rooms but you will, in the early stages, need to empty the water collection
containers drainage to the outside of the house.
There is every chance that tiled concrete floors will still
be intact but obviously very dirty. Bare concrete which has been soaked will
take many months to dry out and you should not expect to be able to lay new
flooring for up to six months.
It is not all doom and gloom. Although any flooding causes
massive disruption and distress very little of the remedial work has to be
carried out by you. Your insurance company will have a register of trades’
people who will make repairs for you as quickly as they can or they will
approve a local builder and decorator. Don't be tempted to employ unknown
callers who offer to carry out repairs for you. Your insurance company may not
accept their charges. If something has to be purchased in an emergency, make
sure that you keep a receipt for the goods.
