Whenever I hear about the poor b*ggers waiting for months to get back into their flood damaged houses I always wonder whether the repairs shouldn't just stop at "repair" but should be aimed at making a house flood resistant.
By this I don't mean "keep the water out" as I suspect that this is actually very hard to achieve. I'm thinking more of waterproof non-absorbant walls (possibly tiled) downstairs, all electricty cables coming from upstairs (or from the loft) *down* rather than from under the floor up, solid concrete floors downstairs and maybe even a floating "raft" floor on top of the concrete floor for your furniture that would float on top of flood waters keeping your valuables dry.
How much of the above is practical? Would it be terribly expensive? What other measures could one incorportate to make recovery from a flood in a flood prone area just an inconvenience rather than a disaster?
I recall a program where someone had done just that. It seemed to work well. Tiles for the first 3-4ft downstairs, Electrical sockets further up the walls. I can't recall what they did about kitchen units, unless the kitchen was upstairs. I also know of a pub which is regularly flooded, though I expect they have far more stainless steel items. Each time it takes 3 or so weeks to re-open. Where there's a will there's a way.
Wonder how *fast* the water comes in in situations like this? i.e. would concrete floors and a drainage channel around the perimeter, leading to a sump/pump do the job - or would the pump just get overwhelmed? (There's the issue of where to pump *to* of course!)
But we live in a world where planning control give a maximum roof height, which tend to make the ground floor lower than it should be. I know of one building which was flooded as a direct result of this.
Flood resistant houses with tiled walls and electrics installed at first floor level are common in the Netherlands in areas where achieving the national standard of protection against flooding is not practicable.
Everything from water gently lapping up at your house and rising imperceptibly slowly, to mudslides and tidal waves.
Sewers overflowing back into properties is a particular danger (in emergency use sandbags in the loo), so automatic valves or "sea toilets" may be necessary.
There was a suggestion on telly after a previous round of floods of a giant condom which you raised around the house as water approached, but I bet you'd then find the rubber had perished at the folds.
Another idea from Holland shown around the same time was the whole house built on a raft that floated up and down on poles.
The real solution, if you insist on living in a flood plain, is to live upside-down, i.e. the living space with its expensive electrical goods and irreplaceable family treasures are upstairs, and bedrooms and bathroom downstairs. Keep a pile of black bags in the bedrooms ready to get the clothes upstairs PDQ and use rugs not fitted carpets. Water alarm in case it comes at night.
snipped-for-privacy@proemail.co.uk wibbled on Monday 23 November 2009 23:35
Garage at ground level under the rest of the house. The car's going to bite the dust anyway - at least it would be the only thing of significant value. Easier to hose out a garage and buy a new car on insurance than deal with the mess those poor sods are finding.
Problem that some people overlook is flooding isn't just about a bit of muddy river water coming up - by the time that happens, the sewers are breached and you've got crap everywhere - as one report put it, after the waters had receeded, "the street was littered with faeces" (amongst other things).
- Understairs tanked to ceiling, shelves for bedding, clothes, flood pump & door seal
Cleanup aids.
- Central drain for house/room
- Simple hose-down, disinfect, dehumidify
1st-floor.
- CU and even DNO cutout on 1st-floor
- Possibly block n beam construction
- Possibly steel stairs with inset wood
A blend of modernist, minimalist & practical.
2 - Removal of PP restrictions on height to permit more logical 80cm floor height.
3 - Dredge the ruddy rivers properly
Victorians built much of the UK 's infrastructure AND regularly maintained the rivers, we are not doing this. We are treating the effect with multi-million pound barriers pushed by enterprise rather than civil servants tackling the cause and being held to account for not doing so. We are failing to manage waterflow just as we failed to manage transportation.
USA is about to hit the same problem head-on, monumental amounts of bridges, roads even basic utility structures across America are in dire need of repair, replacement & maintenance. It too is about to find "post-empire" is an expensive world of compromises.
4 - Downstairs Contents Insurance guaranteed to =A32.5k
"Upside down" house should be able to secure specialist cover of =A32500 for =A3100/yr, perhaps varying =A350-200/yr. Indeed one could say the same is true for "normal" houses - it comes down to risk, insurers like too easy a life.
New Build on flood plains which has been rampant under New Labour really should have been "upside down". Instead we have had "build anywhere without due consideration of the risks, feel the finance in your fingers not the water round your toes".
Vanishingly small is true for us but for a location less than 20' above the normal water level it's anything but.
Build in that zone and the chances are you will get flooded at least once in a lifetime. If you are only a foot or three above the water level then you'll get flooded far more often.
The simple answer is don't build on flood plains. But if you have been daft enough to do so live it. Don't come crying to me post flood because "they" didn't warn you, "they" haven't built adequate defenses, "they" won't insure you. Want that nice riverside appartment, don't buy the ground floor one...
The Victorians didn't pave huge areas so the water would run off into the rivers as fast as it fell from the sky. The Victorians didn't build big barriers on the sides of rivers that made the huge volume of water flow down stream too fast for the downstream areas to handle. The Victorians didn't build on flood planes.
I have little sympathy for people that decide to live on existing flood planes. I have a bit of sympathy for those that find they are on a new flood plane caused by someone "fixing" an upstream problem. The best solution is to demolish the houses that keep flooding.
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