As this summer is proving, extreme weather is now happening far more frequently in the UK. July’s heatwave quickly turned into a washout with severe downpours causing flash flooding and chaos right across the country, damaging hundreds of homes.
Worryingly, this is unlikely to be the only summer dampened by severe flooding. Scientists are predicting a warming world will lead to higher and more frequent rainfalls in the UK, leading to greater flood risks.
So, if the worst happens and your home gets flood damaged, here is a five-point guide to the repairs process and what action to take.
1. Claim on your insurance
If your property has suffered flood damage and you need to claim on your insurance, contact Sarrani directly and our expert team can manage the entire process for you, ensuring your home or business premises is reinstated to the highest standard with the least possible stress.
We’ll work with your insurer to make sure you receive everything you’re entitled to, and your property is correctly reinstated without cutting corners. We are also able to provide you with access to highly skilled loss assessors if you would like assistance handling your entire insurance claim from start to finish.
If your home or possessions are damaged, our experienced surveyors will be able to tell you precisely what needs to be replaced and what can be restored. A loss assessor will be able to confirm whether the repairs and/or replacements are covered by your policy.
A loss assessor will also be able to advise you on which items can be thrown away and which ones must be kept to support your claim. For example, carpets and furniture should usually be retained until they have been assessed.
If you do not have insurance, there are hardship grants available and specialist charities that may be able to help you, which your local council can advise on.
2. Clear up quickly and safely
The steps taken in the first 48 hours after damage occurs are vital to minimise the loss and time taken to restore your home or business premises. However, care must be taken when trying to clear up after a flood.
The flood water may have caused structural damage and could be contaminated. Protective clothing such as gloves, masks and wellington boots are essential.
Ensure a qualified person switches off the electricity at the mains and when standing in flood water, do not touch sources of electricity.
Pumps and generators, which must be positioned outside, can be used to pump water out of your property. However, this process should only begin once flood levels outside are lower than inside to reduce the risk of structural damage.
By contacting Sarrani, we can be on site within 24 hours to help you with this process, offering a full range of repair and restoration services for flood damage. These include water removal, cleaning and decontamination of the affected areas, and implementing advanced drying techniques to minimise the likelihood of further damage caused by prolonged dampness and mould.
All water damage restoration work is fully documented to validate the professional drying process and is carried out in accordance with industry best practice.
We will also check the building for any structural damage and assist with drawing up an inventory of damaged items and a scope of repairs for your insurer.
3. Reinstate your Property
Once your home has been assessed and the repairs have been approved by your insurer, the reinstatement process begins. These steps are outlined in detail by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and include:
Cleaning and stripping out:
Silt, debris, wet furnishings, and damaged plaster and woodwork are all removed to enable the property to be cleaned and dried out thoroughly.
Disinfecting and drying:
As floodwater can penetrate deeply into walls and floors, this process can take anything from a few weeks through to several months, and must be completed before repair works begin to prevent future problems.
Repair and construction:
Repair and reconstruction work should only start after your home has been issued with a certificate confirming that it is fully dried out. At this point, you will also be able to establish whether any repairs could be carried out to make your home more resistant to future flooding. You will not be charged for these changes provided they don’t cost more than repairing your home to its pre-flood condition.
All of these steps should be carried out by specialists in restoration with the relevant qualifications and accreditations in their field. If the contractors don’t fully understand the work involved, you could be faced with further problems down the line which risks insurers refusing to pay out to correct issues caused by poor workmanship.
By instructing Sarrani to help with reinstatement, you will have access to our vast network of heavily vetted contractors and partners, containing some of the most highly skilled experts in the industry. You will also be appointed a dedicated project manager to coordinate the work from beginning to end.
4. Protect from future risks
The Environment Agency has published a leaflet providing lots of advice on how to reduce the effects of flooding on you and your property.
Homeowners at the highest risk of flooding should also check whether they qualify for ‘Flood Re’ – a joint initiative between the Government and insurers that aims to make the flood cover part of household insurance policies more affordable.
Every insurer that offers home insurance in the UK must pay into the Flood Re Scheme, which helps to cover the flood risks in home insurance policies. You buy home insurance in the usual way but Flood Re covers the flood risk and that helps to keep your premiums down.
