Flood proof homes

Seattle Times, Louisiana professor proposes idea for making houses floodproof.

My dad tried to build our house on Marchand to be flood resistant. The first floor was mainly a garage and utility room. It also featured a large living room which was mainly tiled so you could rip the carpet up and hose the tile down and call it a day.

Unfortunately there were many things we did not anticipate when a flood did occur:

  • Triple pane windows exploded due to water pressure.
  • The ground heaved:
    • Causing the floor joists to be disrupted which threw everything off including the tile.
    • The sewage pipes burst (I was the one who found the leak by digging underneath the poured floor and having someone upstairs repeatedly flush the toilet. Lying in a pool of sewage for a few hours was so much fun!)
  • The water took a long time to recede so everything had to be riped out and the guts had to be bleached clean because of mold.
  • The solid oak moldings all warped.
  • External siding had to be pressure washed and re-stained.

…Just to name a few.

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One Response to Flood proof homes

  1. ken says:

    Hi, sorry to hear about your unfortunate situation.
    I’m thinking about water proofing my home. I would like to ask you a question, since you did put a considerable amount of thought into barricading your dad’s house. I was wondering if the house is securely barricaded, how deep can the water go underground, and can the water reach the house if the barricade is four feet from the house? If the water can travel four feet underground reaching the foundation, what damage can it cause if any? One more question, did you think of a way to stop the water pressure from the sewage pressuring it’s way to the house?

    Once again, I’m sorry to hear about the damage done to your father’s house. Did he have insurance? I tank you if you do help me with some info, if not, that’s ok. Hope you recover well from this missfortune.
    kenny777@shaw.ca

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