Flood Risk

Ellis Belk is based right on the Poole/Bournemouth coast, so it’s no surprise that we get involved in flood risks and flood alleviation!

In general terms (and setting aside larger scale flood alleviation measures which would fall under civil engineering), the only way of guaranteeing a building’s water tightness under flood conditions would be to fully tank the walls internally and to replace the windows and doors with specialist units. The cost of doing this is prohibitively expensive for most property owners but there are still effective measures to help prevent flood water from entering a building which the following case studies explore.

Under flood conditions, water will enter a building: 

1.     by backing up the foul and surface water drainage;

2.     through air bricks and weep holes;

3.     through window and door openings;

4.     and eventually by soaking through the external wall and the party wall of the adjoining property.