Protect your home against flooding

Find out how to protect your home from flooding - or at least reduce the cost of repairing the damage if it does.

Doors and floors

To keep the water out, buy purpose-built flood boards that can be fitted when flooding is likely. These usually consist of two slots either side of a door, and a board fitted in between so that the opening is sealed.

For your floors, simply replacing carpets with tiled or vinyl flooring can help to lower premiums because carpets often need replacing after a flood.

Protect your walls

It’s a good idea to raise damp-proof brick courses. You should also dry-line walls, but use horizontal plasterboard or lime-based plaster instead of gypsum to do this. 

Always fit water-resistant skirting boards or varnish them to stop the water getting in.

Drains and pipes

Since most flooding involves ‘dirty’ water being forced back up through your toilet pan and into your home, fitting non-return valves to drains and water inlet and outlet pipes can make a significant difference in preventing this method of flooding. These devices are cheap and easy to fit.

Air bricks

If you have air bricks, plastic covers are easy to place over them and could provide an extra foot of clearance in the event of a flood by sealing in under the floorboards.

Sometimes they can make the difference between being flooded or not. You can pick up these covers at most DIY stores.

Basements

If you have a basement or cellar, you could consider a method known as tanking – where the floors are lined with waterproof seal. This can prevent water rising through the ground, although it doesn’t come cheap.

It’s also worth fitting a pump in your basement to extract flood water.

Windows

To reduce the amount of damage floodwater might cause, install synthetic or waxed windows (and doors) or varnish them.

Electricals

If your home is frequently at risk, raise electrical sockets, fuse boxes, controls and wiring so that they’re at least 1.5 metres above floor level. This will prevent a short circuit and will prevent your home from needing a complete rewiring if any electricals get damaged in a flood.

Kitchen and bathroom

Where possible, try to use water-resistant materials such as stainless steel, plastic or solid wood, rather than chipboard. It’s also a good idea to raise fridges and appliances on plinths to stop the water getting to them.

Shelving and home entertainment

Make sure all valuable or irreplaceable items are placed on high-mounted shelves. All entertainment equipment, such as your television, should be fixed to the wall about 1.5 metres above floor level.

Important documents

Keep all insurance documents as well as other important items, such as your passport, in a safe place on the highest floor of your home.

The costs

Unfortunately, the cost of making your home flood-proof can be pretty high. However, it will help to reduce the amount of damage done to your home and therefore you’re less likely to have to deal with costly repairs.

The cost of purchasing and installing products to keep the water out of your home will depend on how big your house is and the type of flood you’re trying to protect against.

According to the Association of British Insurers, for periods of prolonged flooding, protecting your home is likely to cost you a considerable amount – between £20,000 and £40,000.

However, protecting your home against shallow flash floods will cost a lot less - between £2,000 and £6,000.

Even if you can only take a few preventative measures, this could help to slash your home insurance premiums considerably, as well as your excess. 

What’s more, you may find insurers are more willing to give you a quote. And of course, as we've already said, it could prevent you from having to fork out thousands to rebuild and refurnish your home.

Buying products

You can find a comprehensive list of the products you can buy to protect your home in ‘The Blue Pages’ directory on the National Flood Forum’s website.

You should always make sure you check whether a flood product has been properly tested - it should display the BSI Kitemark or equivalent accreditation.

Thanks to homeprotect and the Environment Agency for these tips.

This article has been updated.