A period of heavy rainfall always leads to floods in properties, but it is often the case that these floods can be avoided. Many of these floods are caused by blocked downpipes and drains, which are often the victims of poor maintenance. Dehumidifier Rental are experienced at dealing with penetrating damp from saturated walls; flooded warehouses from roof failures and also flooded basement rooms as a result of blocked rainwater drains.

Preventing floods from heavy rain

Heavy rainfall doesn’t have to result in flooding and damage to your home. By following a few simple steps and ensuring that your property is fully prepared, flood damage can be avoided:

1. Ensure a regular maintenance schedule is in place to clear gutters, downpipe hoppers and floor drains. Checking of silicone seals around windows and doors will help identify potential areas of penetrating damp. Also, visual inspections of roofs would be useful if possible, to identify possible areas of water ingress
2. Basement rooms, in particular, require vigilant checking of internal drains and inspection chambers, as these areas are particularly susceptible to causing flooding in the event of a deluge of rain;
3. Flood barriers should be considered for those areas with potential to be subject to flooding, such as lower ground floor levels and also those properties in low lying areas or near rivers. There are some good products on the market which can quickly be assembled to provide a flood barrier
4. Observations of the outside of the property should be made during rains, for example, this may show up gutter failures causing spillage of rainwater onto the outside of properties;

How to deal with home floods caused by rain

1. There are a broad range of problems that can be caused by rainwater, ranging from floods of basements to penetrating dampness over a longer period of time;
2. In any clean-up operation, proper sanitising should be considered. Rainwater can bring into properties grey water contamination from outside, as a result of dirt, grease and other organic compounds which can give rise to mould growth if not dealt with properly;
3. Those building materials that are damaged beyond repair should be removed in order to provide access to the full benefit of dry air from building drying equipment. Other preparation may involve cutting open plasterboard partition walls and removal of floor coverings, or in the case of penetrating damp it may be necessary to remove plaster & render coats from solid walls to expose the structure to faster drying;
4. A drying program should be set up with a combination of dehumidifiers and fans to circulate dry air around the affected areas.

If you’ve experienced water damage from heavy rain, do call us to discuss solutions to the resulting damp problems you may have – we’re happy to help advise on our wide range of dehumidifiers for hire as well as fans and drying accessories: 0207 760 7660

• What is Relative Humidity (RH) ?
• How to prevent and deal with Floods in Flats