How to floodproof your home: Man dodges major damage with smart renovations

A Brisbane architect and homeowner has shared his best tips on how to floodproof your home to save money, time and stress amid the next flooding disaster. SEE THE TIPS

A Brisbane architect who narrowly dodged the worst of February’s flood damage after he renovated his Wilston home just three months earlier, saved himself a 30 per cent insurance hike and a year’s worth of repairs.

Despite being located in one of the hardest hit suburbs during the South East Queensland floods, Sam Bowstead’s house came out relatively unscathed after he flood-proofed his home in November last year.

“We dealt really well comparatively with other people in our neighbourhood. We had two metres of water in our downstairs area,” he said.

“It was a substantial amount of water, however there was really only minor damage to the house.”

Sam Bowstead renovated his house to make it floodproof.

Mr Bowstead said the only real damage the house had was the switchboard and the hot water system going under, both of which could be temporarily replaced in the interim.

With a few precautionary measures in place, Mr Bowstead said the clean up was “simple” and he and his siblings, who co-own the house together, were back in the house as soon as the power was reconnected.

“The disruption was so little because of the changes we made. It took about a week to get the power back onto the street, so it’s a week versus a year maybe in terms of getting back into the home,” he said.

The floodproofing, which involved raising the house by 1.2m and switching key building materials, saw the home’s insurance premium drop by 30 per cent following a manual assessment that found it was less at risk of damage.

“We knew what we’d have to do when we bought the property, and understanding the risk was one of the key things we considered when we were buying in a flood zone,” he said.

The home is an example of floodproof design.

Mr Bowstead already had weatherproofing knowledge from his work as an associate for the architect firm JDA Co., which was an advisor to the Queensland Government’s Resilient Homes Program.

“The main idea of flood resilient design is to let the water flow through and make it easier to clean,” he said.

Meanwhile, the director of JDA Co., James Davidson said governments and local authorities need to invest more in flood-resilience programs as a “matter of urgency”.

“Homeowners need access to this type of information now more than ever,” Mr Davidson said.

“There are more than 150 built examples of flood resilient design in Brisbane and Ipswich that went through the recent floods, and they’ve all been extremely successful with most homeowners back in their homes within a few days.”

During construction, he said replacing materials and raising appliances will not only benefit insurance costs, but also the interruption, stress and added costs that come with a severe weather event.

“The strategies recommended are relatively straightforward, very practical and still allow you to get a lot of use out of your home,” he said.