New job. 130 new builds.
The ground floor sockets are at 600mm above the floor level so that they are above the flood level.
So I have to ask
Ha! What is in place to keep the flood below 600 mm?
Because the developers have got planning permission. Why the council granted that permission is a more pertinant question.
And the plaster. Presumably the floors and walls are constructed from something suitably waterproof?
Not at all.
I've seen some planning permissions in flood risk zones, where as well as socket heights, other conditions such as plasterboard being laid horizontally to minimise any future re-furb costs, no downstairs bedrooms, always keeping a "flood response" kit available.
Why not just build it on stilts, or with a ground floor just housing garage and storage space?
it comes down to cost not common sense, if they can save even one layer of brick they will do so.
Apparently a lot of Canadian houses are built like this, garage and utility rooms just built of blockwork.
Good idea to use the space for storage too: you can have a good clear out of stuff you never really needed to keep anyway when you have a flood!
Cost, of course.
Last year I went to see the new houses they build in New Orleans to replace those that were destroyed in the floods. The old ones literally floated away - constructed in the usual American way: rectangle of concrete foundations with the house sitting on top held by a few screws.
All the new houses are on stilts - some going down very deep, and the houses are raised if required.
In message , ARW writes
We have a small and rather expensive estate of houses here, built around
15 years ago, on what everyone knew to be a flood plain. 'Executive' type houses which were popular and sold well, until Dec 2015 when the river flooded. Most of the houses were flooded to at least 4 feet. WTF do they keep building on flood plains?
Well they have fitted the plasterboard horizontally on the ceilings.......
It's almost 10 years to the day since we had a flood.
The building shown at 14 seconds in is the Scout hut.
It was ruined.
Now on the video at 1min 30 second you can see the newish Pharmacy. That was built after the 2003 floods. That was fine
I thought the raised height of sockets on new build was more to do with disability access than flood protection.
Although the only reference I can find is in this rather elderly thread.
disabled access ....
Part M of the building regs applies for what you are saying. That means sockets are higher up than they used to be and switches are lower than they used to be 13 years ago.
In this case the first floor sockets are at "normal" part M regs ie
450mm above floor level. The ground floor sockets are at 600mm due to the flood risk.
Built down to a price.
Because you can once you get planning permission. It is often land that has been left vacant for a reason - locals know that it floods!
Anyone who doesn't know the area.
I can think of some built in my region where they had to stop building for most of one winter because the entire building site was under water but now they are pristine looking show homes and the shortage of affordable places to live makes them "desireable". I don't wish to be sued by well healed lawyers but when it does flood I will point it out.
The next catastrophic flood is not a question of if but when!
Only if you can get a wheel chair in a rowing boat.
Near where I used to live they have built new houses along the river bank. The area is well protected from flooding, but they still put the ground floor about 1 metre above ground level.
The land is cheap. What is particulaarly stupid is when they build houses on a flood plain and a large car park up the hill, which AIUI is what happened in Uckfield.
In another part of the same town, there are basements that flood every decade or so. Quite a few came on the market after the last flood, but they all sold. I assume they were also cheap.
I read recently (Knauf site?) that plaster board has *directional strength* due to the method of manufacture and horizontal fitting is preferred. My recent experience fitting 8x4s is that there is never a convenient stud when you need one.
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The council doesn't have a free hand. If they refuse planning permission but lose on appeal they have to pay the developer's costs.
And of course there is massive pressure for new housing. So it's meant to be a matter of risk assessment/mitigation. Broadly, you build in low risk areas if you can, but if you can't ('cos there's no such land available) you go to medium risk and mitigate. And so on - so last time I looked we are still building over 1 in 20 new homes in high risk areas (the ones in dark blue on the Environment Agency's flood maps).
In message , Graeme writes
Because town planners don't like developments on hills. Too visible. They like to pretend we live in a green and pleasant land, unspoiled by neighbours.
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