What Makes Flood Solutions Insurable?

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!

Nano coatings are available for stone and wooden products to prevent long term water penetration

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.

Wall floor flood detailing

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.

Energy Efficiency Rating Table

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.

要查看或添加评论,请登录

John Alexander的更多文章

  • Flood Emergency Response Plans (FERPs)

    Flood Emergency Response Plans (FERPs)

    What is a FERP? In its simplest form, it is one of these… Flood Survival Kit … a go-bag of essentials ready packed for…

  • Why do people not protect themselves from Flooding?

    Why do people not protect themselves from Flooding?

    With wildfires and floods occurring worldwide almost daily, should we ask why people and businesses are still so…

    9 条评论
  • Community Flood Protection

    Community Flood Protection

    Community Actions We've discussed solutions and strategies for individuals to protect their homes and businesses from…

    6 条评论
  • Where Next for Flood Insurance?

    Where Next for Flood Insurance?

    In the previous newsletter, I described an ambition to derive Property Flood Certificates (PFCs) to prove the efficacy…

    8 条评论
  • FloodRecover 3R Piecemeal Strategy

    FloodRecover 3R Piecemeal Strategy

    It's best, like most things, to provide prevention rather than cure. It is possible to build a floodproof house from…

    3 条评论
  • Floodproof Buildings - what is possible?

    Floodproof Buildings - what is possible?

    There are many ways to floodproof a building. 1.

    1 条评论
  • I-REACT mobile application launch for early warnings

    I-REACT mobile application launch for early warnings

    Following the field trial of I-REACT that some of you attended in Ipswich earlier this year we are glad to announce the…

  • Wet side Vs. Dry side deployment of temporary barriers

    Wet side Vs. Dry side deployment of temporary barriers

    Being able to deploy only enough barrier and from the dry side can lead to fewer deployments, reducing operational…

  • Rapidam Rigid temporary flood barriers.

    Rapidam Rigid temporary flood barriers.

    One of the key benefits of the Rapidam Rigid temporary flood barrier is to deploy along the entire defense line with…

    1 条评论
  • Aquobex Joins I-REACT

    Aquobex Joins I-REACT

    Involving more than 20 partners worldwide, I-REACT is an international project that will help prevent and manage…

社区洞察