Home Flood Defence

Flooding remains one of the major risks to homes across the country, driven by heavy rainfall, overflowing rivers and coastal storm surges. As the risk of flooding rises, so does the importance of insurance and flood prevention measures to protect homes and communities in high-risk areas.

Flood insurance in many cases, is included as standard within building and contents insurance policies. While flood insurance isn’t legally required, it is generally considered essential for homes and buildings in high-risk flood areas where the financial impact can be devastating without adequate cover.

Flood Re and the Build Back Better Scheme

If your property has already experienced flooding, you may be entitled to additional support through Flood Re’s Build Back Better scheme. If your insurer is a part of this scheme and you’re an eligible policyholder, you can take advantage of up to £10,000 as part of your flood damage repairs to install flood prevention measures on your property that reduce the impact of future floods.

The Build Back Better Scheme is designed to encourage the installation of property flood resilience (PFR) measures during repairs post-flood. With Fernco’s flood protection range, United Civils Supplies offer a comprehensive set of practical and reliable PFR solutions to help protect properties before, during and after flood events. These include:

Anti-flood air brick

This innovative airbrick features a self-sealing float valve that activates automatically when water levels rise. As the floodwater begins to rise, the internal valve is lifted to secure a watertight barrier to prevent any water flow through your ventilation openings. Once the water levels subside, the valve is released, and your important subfloor ventilation is restored.

Non-Return-Valve

Also known as a Backwater Valve, it allows wastewater to flow in one direction while automatically closing to prevent backflow during floods or sewer surges. Acting as a physical barrier between your property and the public sewer, it also helps prevent foul smells and harmful pathogens from traveling back up the drainage system. Fernco also offer to the market and internal NRV to be installed when connecting to a manhole chamber. This alternative provides ease of access to inspect the NRV if necessary whereas a traditional unit may be buried underground and a dedicated inspection shaft may be required.

Floodbag

The Fernco Floodbag is filled with a highly absorbent polymer which absorbs the floodwater to create a firm and mess-free flood bag that can last for months. Once the bags have absorbed their 20l capacity of water, they then provide an 18cm (7 inch) barrier to protect your property.

With the aid of these measures being installed, families can return to their properties within a matter of days rather than months post-flood.

Flood Protection Certificates (FPC)s

In the same way Energy Performance Certificates provide a simple but accurate rating of how energy efficient a property is, the Flood Protection Certificate is designed to provide a rating for a property’s flood preparedness. They have huge potential to accelerate the uptake of PFR measures and improve the resilience of the nations housing stock. The FPC would also reflect in house prices and insurance premiums in future adding further incentive to flood prevention measures on homes.

Summary

With the ever increasing and intensifying weather events we are experiencing in the UK, and the need for less resilient land to be adapted to housing purposes we find ourselves searching for solutions to this potential hazard. The Flood Defence Range satisfies both the human and financial cost of flood disruption to homes and with the introduction of FPC’s, the incentive to act has never been more appealing.