Building a new home? Congrats! While there are a few measures you can take to protect a home that’s already built from flooding, starting from scratch on a new construction poses some advantages. Here are a few things you can consider to protect your new construction from flooding:
Don’t build on floodplains
The only thing that cannot be changed once a home is built is its location. Building on a floodplain doesn’t only represent additional risks, but you will have to be extra cautious of flood-proofing your home. Flood insurance premiums will also be higher.
Evaluate a location’s flood risk by checking out FEMA’s flood map.
Raise your home on stilts or piers
Even an inch of flood water can damage your property. If you’re building your home – especially if you are in a floodplain – elevating your house on stilts will raise the house’s flood level.
Install foundation vents or a sump pump
Once there’s water in your home or basement, these two strategies minimize possible flood damage.
Flood water can put significant pressure on walls and basement windows. A foundation vent will allow water to flow through your home, relieving this pressure by providing an outlet and minimizing damage.
Sump pumps will pump water out of the basement. Consider that you will need to dig a hole in your basement, have electricity, and run pipes through a wall to install a sump pump. Plan for a sump pump early in your construction project to avoid additional costs and rework.
Install check valves on your pipes
To prevent a flooded sewage system from backing up into your home, make sure that all pipes entering your house have valves. Prefer gate valves because they provide a better seal against water pressure.
Apply coatings and sealants
Apply coating and sealants to your foundation, walls, windows and doorways to help prevent flood water from leaking into your house.
Raise electrical outlets and switches
To prevent electrical damage in the case of a flood, install outlets, switches, sockets, and circuit breakers at least one foot above flood level.
Make space between mulch and siding
Keep a space between mulch and siding to prevent wet mulch to rot the house’s siding, which in turn can lead to leaks.
Point downspouts away from your home
This might seem like an insignificant detail but if your gutter runoff is pointed toward the house, water may pool around the corners eventually creating leaks in the basement.
Even in newly constructed homes, flood insurance premiums can add up. Contact us today to see if we can help you save money.
It’s so smart to try and install some pumps in the basement or ground floor that can get the water out quickly. My wife and I are building a new home in Florida and we are well aware of how common flooding is. Getting some flood insurance will really help our minds be at ease if our home unfortunately floods.
We’re based out of Tampa, FL so on behalf of the NFE Team, Welcome to Florida! As for the insurance we can actually write that as well. You should send us a review and let us a take a look, we’re always happy to give out a little advice before you take on a big project like that. Good to have all the ducks in a row 1st.
I like the idea of having all the electrical outlets raised up above the flood level. I could see how that could prevent any damage to my family or our possessions if the water could get electrified. I’ll talk to the builder about rasing those up a bit if I end up building a house in the summer.
Glad we could be of service. Flood is just something that gets overlooked with everything else, but it’s the most common disaster on the planet. Try to do what we can to help.
I loved your tip of applying coating and sealants to your foundation and walls when building a new home. My wife and I are wanting to build a new house and we want to make sure that the new home doesn’t flood anytime soon. I’ll tell my wife that we should apply coating and sealants to the foundation before we move in.
It is a unique method of protecting against leaks and bad drainage, but keep in mind it’s not going to hold out a flood event. If you’re in a floodplain your really should reach out, otherwise stay safe and dry out there!
I like the idea of having a coating that would help prevent floods. I feel like if all the cracks in your home that potentially could let water in were sealed up, then it would dramatically reduce the amount of damage from a flood. I shall look into some coatings I could apply to my house so hopefully, I don’t have to worry about water damage.
Glad we could give you some food for thought. We try to help any way we can.
Wow, I thought it was interesting when you explained that all it takes to flood your home is an inch of water. I would be interested in learning more about the machines that are used to lift an entire home. I would imagine that it requires some really powerful machinery.
There are some wild services out there and while we don’t usually start with something so invasive, it is definitely an option in certain cases although we would suggest using another firm. We try to start at cheap, simple and knowledge. Believe it our not, about 4 times out 5, there’s something just wrong with the data that exists and we’re excellent and finding that for free.
My spouse and I are trying to do some renovations on our home after a recent flood that ruined parts of it. We want to prevent this from happening in the future by following your tips. I’ll try to make sure all of our pipes leading into the house have valves so that we can turn off the water if we need to.
Great to know we could give some helpful information!
Have the oldest and most obvious way to build a flood proof house. Keep up the great work! Thank you so much for sharing great posts.