What Makes Flood Solutions Insurable?
In a word – EFFICACY.
An insurer or underwriter wants to know what risk they are insuring against. If they can’t measure the risk, they will price the premium high, but if they know what the risk is and assess it as acceptable, they will underwrite it at competitive rates.
The proof will need to come from numerous sources and be verified with facts and documentation.
INVESTIGATION: Did the flood risk assessor fully understand the flood risk to the property? This will include details of the flood type*, its depth, flow (rate and direction), duration, and onset or warning times.
*This is a crucial factor in understanding and eventually solving the flood risk. All the property owner sees is water, but the detail of how it got there is important.
If groundwater floods, for example, it is a result of saturated land. This means it will rise around and under the property, come through the floor, and circumvent any perimeter barriers you have in place. Equally, groundwater and surface water can be of a long duration, and any flood event that brings water into contact with the fabric of the building’s walls for greater than 24 hours will necessitate remedies to prevent it from permeating through.
If it is riverine flooding, it is likely to have long warning times, so manually deployed barriers may be suitable. However, if it is pluvial flooding causing flash flooding, then it is clear that passive, automatic, or normally closed solutions are essential.
Flood depth is the other crucial factor in determining the flood mitigation strategy and this is normally defined as being above or below 900mm as the decision point, for most properties.
DESIGN: is the range of flood mitigation solutions suitable for the property, flood type, and its occupants?
PRODUCTS:If there are available standards do the products chosen conform to them?
There are international standards for flood barriers/gates/doors and local country standards for solutions that connect to sewers and water supplies. There are also country specific building codes for construction materials but these fall short of informing of their ability to withstand a flood event. A common mistake is to assume a product that is marketed as being waterproof will also be floodproof. They rarely are!
INSTALLATION: Even when you have a proven strategy and accredited products it can all be undone with poor workmanship or by using contractors who are not familiar with flood mitigation installation practices. To be honest, it is not rocket science but it does need to be done with care and attention to detail. Contractors who provide and install below ground flood protection solutions are currently, in my opinion, best suited for this above ground work as long as they remember that they could well have flood water on both sides of their solutions.
It’s the attention to detail that is important. In the design below, there are multiple layers: 1) a polyurea coating, 2) closed cell insulation, 3) manganese oxide floodproof boarding, 4) hardwood timber skirting to the walls and 5) 3 coats of epoxy resin to the floor.
The fixing detail has not been specified but you can be sure it won’t be nails and screws. It will likely be a glue, but specifically one that won’t dissolve in water.
Special fittings are available to allow the fitting of cupboards, radiators, etc., to the finished wall surface without compromising the integrity of the wall installation.
DOCUMENTATION – Each stage of this implementation must be photographed as evidence that the products have been installed and that they have been installed correctly. These photographs along with product specifications, user & maintenance guides, warranties and installer accreditation will need to be brought together into a PROPERTY FLOOD CERTIFICATE (PFC).
This is an important document. Not only to prove the efficacy of your solution to your insurer but it should also form part of your house conveyancing package should you decide to sell your property.
This documentation storage and evidence base is an ideal candidate for a Blockchain application – watch this space!
Simplifying the PFC to mimic the energy efficiency rating scales (see table below) will make it easy for all stakeholders to understand where they are and how to make improvements.
MAINTENANCE – As with anything, it needs maintaining. Don’t wait until the next flood to discover that something isn’t working or has broke.
Tying annual maintenance routines into insurance renewal is paramount for continued flood insurance cover.
