Raise Electrical Devices to Prevent Flood Damage

We’ve been talking this week about preventing flood damage to your home or business and what you can do now to prevent massive flood damage later. We’ve seen our share of flood damage over 40 years, and we really want to stress how important it is to adjust for flood damage now, before your building or home has a flood.

One thing that really helps make a difference in speeding up clean-up and repairs and reduces the chance of fire is to physically raise the electrical components in your home. If you are building your home, this is a perfect time (and much easier) to address right now.

What are electrical components? Everything from your fuse box to meters, outlets, switches, and more. If any of these is underwater, you’re probably going to have to replace them. Furthermore, the risk for fire caused by short circuits jumps dramatically when your electrical equipment is directly exposed to floodwaters.

Also, from a repair standpoint, entering a home with a working electrical system (one with the system high enough to have not been significantly affected by the flood) makes the repair process go much faster.

Where to Install Electronic Components to Circumvent Flood Water

If you remember our post about 100-year flood levels, the recommendation would be to install all electrical systems and components at least one foot above that level.  This may seem like a lot of work when just looking around your home, but it becomes tremendously easier to do as soon as you are doing other work in your home—repairing drywall or adding an addition is a perfect excuse to raise your electrical system.

Again, this work should be performed by a professional, according to code. Also, you or a contractor will need to check with the power company as to the maximum level you can raise the electric meter.  Even if you are not ready to redo your entire home, please keep this in mind any time you go to make adjustments or repairs—anything you can do is better than nothing and just might help protect your home in the event of a flood.

Sincerely,
Henry Duckstein Jr.