How to Protect Against Future Flooding

With flooding set to remain a very real threat to UK homeowners for the foreseeable future, how to protect against future flooding is a very real question being posed by many. So how can waterproofing measures assist those who are recovering from flooding, as well as preparing our homes against the threat of future flood events?

Serious winter storms are becoming an alarmingly regular event for UK homeowners to contend with in recent years. For some, their annual arrival acts as a firm reminder of the real threat posed by the seemingly increasingly disruptive UK weather. For others, the events of recent winters are still a recent and painful memory, a result of the havoc wreaked on thousands of residential homes across the country.

With flooding set to remain a very real threat to many UK homeowners for the foreseeable future, we examine how waterproofing measures can assist those who are recovering from, or facing the threat of, future flood events.

Cleaning Up After Flooding

It is when the waters recede that flood victims are left with the greatest challenge – how to make flood-damaged properties fit for reoccupation quickly, and how to protect our homes from a repeat of such catastrophes in future?

Frequently, the post-flood cleanup can be as frustrating and torturous as the flooding itself, and making affected properties habitable again can take a lot longer than expected. In fact, a whole host of factors can prevent occupiers from returning to their homes, such as:

• health and safety assessments
• flood damage assessments
• flood characteristic investigations
• future flood risk assessments
• stripping out of unrepairable fixtures and fittings.

Drying Out the Structure

Even after all of the above processes are completed, one of the most torturous delays to the reoccupation of flood-affected properties is the unavoidable requirement to allow saturated structural walls to dry out.

This can be as painfully slow as one month per inch of wall thickness. Furthermore, the process cannot begin in earnest until all contaminated finishes and organic materials have been removed and a ‘Decontaminate Building and Sanitation Certificate’ has been issued.

Either expediting or circumventing this part of the flood recovery process is therefore a crucial element in ensuring swift reoccupation of a property.

Flood Management Strategies

Designing an effective and achievable flood management strategy is vital to being able speed up reoccupation. Solutions such as cavity drain systems, comprising of membranes, drainage and pumps, can be a key contributor to success.

The High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) membranes employed as part of such a system are designed with a cuspated profile, creating an air gap between the membrane and the surfaces to which it is applied. Once installed with specially sealed fixings as part of a comprehensive cavity drainage system, the membranes have two major benefits for flood-affected properties:

1. By providing a barrier that is completely impermeable to water, the membranes separate the damp structure from the internal environment, allowing new internal surfaces and finishes to be installed immediately. They are also permanently effective against damp, salts, staining, and moulds, just a few of the potential side effects of the drying process that can impact internal environments.
2. Secondly they use positive vapour pressure to ‘move’ dampness out of the property. Internal vapour pressure in the air gap created by the cuspated profile of the membrane is greater than external vapour pressure outside. The result is a vapour pressure equalisation process, where internal pressure moves out to the external environment. In doing so, dampness in the external walls is moved outwards of the property.

Reoccupation After Flooding

By maintaining the status quo of the structure whilst simultaneously protecting internal environments, an effective cavity membrane system allows finishes to be applied with the peace of mind that the membrane will prolong their longevity and allow the walls to dry naturally behind.

Most importantly though, in most cases the property can be reoccupied significantly earlier than if the walls were required to dry naturally to a point where new finishes could be applied.

Furthermore, when installed as part of a comprehensive Cavity Drain System that also employs suitable drainage, the system will have additional benefits beyond just providing a solution for post-flood damp proofing. Once installed, the system will assist in future-proofing the property against further flooding, forming an integral part of an overall designed flood remediation solution.

By depressurising water as it enters the structure, the system is able to manage and drain it to a sump, before safely pumping it out and away from the structure, protecting both the occupants and their possessions for years to come.

How to Protect Against Future Flooding

Contact Newton Waterproofing today for expert guidance on selecting and implementing the ideal waterproofing system for protecting your property. Alongside our nationwide network of specialist contractors, we have a record of protecting homeowners from potentially devastating floods – check out our case studies in both Kent and Oxford for recent examples.

If you need assistance, our team of specialists is on-hand and prepared to provide tailored solutions that ensure the long-term safety of your home.