What Home Elevation Can Do For Your Flood Risk

a flooded kitchen and dining room with chairs

It is about that time of year when floods are prevalent, and everyone is dealing with the reality of needing to prepare to deal with flood damage or look into ways to try and prevent the flooding from happening. One way to prevent flooding is to make an investment into home elevation. Home elevation is a key way to keep flooding from wreaking havoc on your home, though many do not consider it as an option. While costly, over time, the benefits can far outweigh the negatives of having to spend a large sum of money to meet elevation requirements. 

Negate Flood Risk

Home elevation, quite obviously, reduces your flood risk. By raising the home above the level of expected flooding, it is far easier to avoid flood damage when the house is out of the range of flooding. It can be hard to determine at exactly what height to raise a home – but a good rule of thumb is to investigate the local floodplain heights, and go slightly higher. When building above even the floodplain height, you are ruling out the possibility that something catastrophic could impact your foundation, like a hurricane. Not only is a foundation in danger when it comes to flood risk, but so is the rest of the house. Water damage can cause a large amount of mold, which not only puts the structure in danger but creates health risks. 

Negate Financial Risk 

While raising a foundation is not an inexpensive task, it can save money in the long run. It can cost up to $14,000 to raise a foundation one foot – but it can cost up to $10,000 to repair a foundation, which could potentially need to be done multiple times if flood damage continues to interrupt the stability of a home. Doing repeated foundational repairs of up to $10,000 can add up quickly, when it may be simpler and cheaper, in the long run, to raise the foundation and prevent flooding from impacting the home any longer. Once outside of the flood zone, you save yourself the probability of repairs due to flooding – both in regards to the foundation, and to the flooring, walls, or other pieces of the home. It is even less expensive when building a home. The cost added to the cost of building a home is about a third of the cost of raising the foundation later.  

Negate Health Risks

As mentioned above, health risks are a part of flood risks. Flooding can cause a large amount of standing water or water damage related to the flooring or walls of the building. These kinds of repairs can cost thousands of dollars, and leave homeowners stranded in a hotel while mold experts attempt to remove the mold and repair the damage done while trying to remove the mold. There are also health risks to having an unstable foundation. If a natural disaster were to roll through, the consequences of an unstable foundation could be potentially deadly. With climate-changing constantly, it is harder to predict what kind of weather could roll through, and when. It is much better to be prepared for the possibility than have to repair afterward. 

In the end, an investment into home elevation can make the difference when situations arise where hurricanes roll through, or even just yearly torrential downpours can cause irreparable damage to a foundation and the inside of your home, leaving you with thousands in repairs anyway! For any questions on whether or not home elevation is the right choice for you, do not hesitate to reach out to Allied Foundation today. We have plenty of home lifting experts who are ready to answer your questions or give you a free estimate on foundation repairs. Give yourself peace of mind in the future by calling today.

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