Making alterations to your home to defend it against flooding can not only help it survive a flood with less damage and inconvenience, but can also help mitigate the impact flood risk can have on the value of your home and the cost of your home flood insurance. If you have already been through a flooding event then you will already be aware how destructive and traumatic the experience can be, and will no doubt appreciate how much sense it makes to take adequate precautions.
An ideal time to implement flood resistance and resilience measures is before you go through a flood, but when it is too late hindsight is always 20:20. If you have just been through a flood event, you have the chance to consider undertaking improvements as part of any repair work that may need to be undertaken. The first thing you need to do after a flood has struck is phone your insurer and initiate the flood claim / reinstatement process.
When you make contact with your insurer, you should ask them if they will approve flood resistance and resilience improvements during the undertaking of repairs. An insurer will often be willing to consider allowing these measures to be taken if they will help reduce the cost of any future claims. In some cases the improvements will cost no more than normal repairs, so are even more likely to be approved by your insurer.
In other cases, flood defense improvements may cost dramatically more than a normal repair, so may not be totally covered by your <a href=” http://www.homeprotect.co.uk/home-insurance/flooding-insurance.aspx”>house flood insurance</a> policy. It may still be worth your time (and money) to go ahead and install the improvements, even if your insurer will not cover the expense. Sometimes an insurer will cover the cost of a resilience or resistance measure in part (if not in total), so it might still be possible to install them if you have a limited budget.
Some alterations can be particularly intensive, requiring extensive building work to install. When a modification is expensive you should always weigh up the current cost to fit it, against the likely future saving you will achieve with it installed. If you are at particularly high risk of seeing a repeat occurrence (homes at significant risk on the EA flood risk scale or Band 3 flood risk insurance rating) then it is likely that the cost of defences will be justified.
Several flood resistance and resilience measures might not only increase your home’s ability to weather a flood, but may include other inherent lifestyle benefits as well. Installing water resistant flooring such as tiling rather than carpet, is likely to have a positive impact on the value of your home for its aesthetic qualities alone. Replacing lower quality kitchen units with modern water resistant materials is likely stand up to flooding better and may make your kitchen a more inviting place to be.
