Whether it is a natural disaster or a broken pipe, your home can quickly fall victim to flood damage that can lower the value of your home and leave you with a costly repair bill. Not only can your home get seriously damaged from a flood, but also many of your valuables can become permanently damaged. Items like old family photos, heirlooms and other valuables may be irreplaceable. Many homeowners believe that their home can never be flooded, but unless your home sits at the highest point on top of a mountain and your yard slopes downward, you are a potential victim for flooding.
Limiting Midwest Flood Damage
While stopping a tornado or tsunami from happening is impossible, there are specific steps you can take as a homeowner to limit the amount of damage that a flood will cause to your home. Every area has an expected flood level, so you can be proactive and raise switches, sockets, circuit breakers and wiring at least one foot above the expected flood level in your area. You can also modify your furnace, water heater and any other anchored indoor equipment so that it also is sitting above your property’s expected flood level.
Protecting Your Home from Flood Damage
You can take the same type of measures on the outside of your home as you do on the inside too. Fuel tanks, air conditioning units, and generators should all be anchored and raised above the expected flood level in your area. Some homeowners go the extra mile and store sand bags in the garage or storage shed should a flood pose a serious threat of getting into their home. While this may seem like a great deal of extra work that requires serious time and energy from you, in the long run you will be glad you went the extra mile to protect your home from serious flood damage.
How Does Water Flow Around Your House?
Another important step to take as a homeowner in defending your home against flood damage is to determine how water flows around your house. The angle of the ground around your home will direct water to or from your home. Of course it is best if your home was built so that water drains away from the structure. Take the time to notice what way water is flowing to or from your house the next time that it rains so you can take extra precautions if needed when there is the threat of a flood.
