Helpful Tips To Keep Your Home Safe From Floods
Due to global warming and pollution, more adverse climatic conditions lead to significant disasters than ever experienced before, including heavy storms and flooding. There is nothing scarier than when being approached by a storm and your house has an imperfect drainage system. Therefore, it is essential to construct or renovate your home in such a way that it will accommodate all the adverse climatic conditions.
As a homeowner, your primary duty will be to construct the essential features to keep your house safe from floods and leave the rest to nature. Ensuring that your home withstands these harsh conditions makes it safer and reduces the costs of repairing it after damage. This informative article will discuss helpful tips you can use to keep your home safe from floods. Check on the list below.
Ensure the House and Landscape Provides Proper Drainage
Do you know that most waters that flood your basement and the pathways come within your house? When you don’t prepare your home well and have proper drainage to lead water out of it, you will experience flooding in heavy rains. It is essential to start by preparing your house and then have features that will redirect water out of your compound. As highlighted by the team at a gutter installation Minneapolis company, you will first need to install gutters, which redirect the water from the roof to the drainage away from your house. The construction of drains doesn’t have to be complicated. With the right installers, you will have effective gutters and drainage pipes to ensure rainwater doesn’t destroy your walls or flood your basement.
Keep the Foundation in Good Shape
Water that floods into your house to destroy things gets through the openings or foundation walls. Once the foundation walls are weak, water will quickly find its way through your home, destroying everything in it. You will need to keep the foundation in shape to avoid this. One way of doing so is by checking vulnerable areas, including cracks and gaps, to repair them before the onset of rains. When the foundation is damaged, water can easily carry away the stones, blocks, or soil, finding its way into your house. Water getting into your home is a serious problem, especially if you have a basement. If your foundation is weak, have it raised or reinforced with cement to avoid water getting through.
Install a Backflow Valve
If you live in areas prone to flooding, you might experience water coming through the sewage outlet. One thing you will never wish to see in your home is the sewage backing up, being pushed by the floodwater. This not only causes water damages and nasty scenes but also leads to a health hazard. If living in such areas, you should consider installing a backflow valve. How do these valves work? Backflow valves only allow sewage water out of your house and block it from coming back. The valve automatically closes when the sewage starts coming back. The valves are cheaper and easy to install and will significantly help deal with regular flooding, especially in toilets and bathrooms.
Have the Roof Inspected
While water from the roof doesn’t cause flooding, its leaking can cause massive damage to your house and its contents. The damage can be extensive, same as flooding if you experience heavy rainfall. Therefore, it is crucial to have your roof inspected regularly. Then, the roof experts can either repair it or recommend replacing it altogether, depending on the damages. Also, if living in areas prone to storms, a weak roof might be your most inconvenience. It can either lead to more leakages or get blown out altogether. No matter the situation, the damage will be massive, and it’s essential to repair it before the onset. To relieve the pain caused by these situations, have your roof checked at least once a year.
Have an Evacuation Plan
In some areas, regardless of the measures you take, you cannot prevent floods from reaching your house. If you cannot vacate the place, the best thing is to have an evacuation plan during the flooding season. You can start by changing your electrical system to be above the flooding levels and finding ways to keep your items safe during the flooding period.
With safety measures, you will reduce the flooding damages that usually happen to your home. You can put measures such as securing your basement items, waterproofing your basement, and setting up a powered pump to drain water from your home. These measures will ensure your home will still stand after the floods.
A house is a huge investment which you should protect at all costs. This means you have to also protect it from natural disasters, including storms and flooding. The above are some of the measures you need to practice with the help of experts to keep your home safe.
