How much damage does flood water do to homes.

[MKT2005]

I see homes which appear almost compleatly submerged. Once the water is drained out should these home be livable again, or will they need to be rebuilt.

[temujin]

I see homes which appear almost compleatly submerged. Once the water is drained out should these home be livable again, or will they need to be rebuilt.

I have experience with floods, and in most cases, homes are livable afterwards. I know of one home that has been in 5' of water at least three times and is currently occupied.

It all depends on how well the house was constructed and how much force the house was subject to. In many cases, the foundations will be taken out and the building will need to be reinforced.

[thunderchief]

All appliances and personall property will be destroyed. The drywall and carpet will rot, as might the studs if the water stays their long enough.

It might as well be a total loss.

[wlfpack81]

Remember though some of these homes in the poor sections were probably sub standard to begin with. I doubt many of them may be savable if water sits in there for a week or two.

[temujin]

Remember though some of these homes in the poor sections were probably sub standard to begin with. I doubt many of them may be savable if water sits in there for a week or two.

Oh yes, my experience is with flash floods. I cannot imagine that homes under water for days and weeks will be worth living in.

[wayoutfront]

Most are repairable, some are not.

[NC George]

The average time here from flood to re-inhabitability was about 2 years. The house essentially has to be gutted down to the frame, then rebuilt. Plus, if 100 year flood lines are changed after this storm, the house may have to be raised in order to be rebuilt at all. To top things off, if a house is more than 50% damaged, it has to be rebuilt to modern building codes, a lot of these houses will be very expensies to do that to (new electric, etc.) Many people in our area took cash and rebuilt elsewhere.

[inotherwords]

Good info. Just a thought, there were a lot of historic homes in the area affected. I don't know about the LA and MS historic district designations but here if you have a home on the local or national historic register you are exempt from that 50% rule and can restore your home. I have a 1920s home and live in a flood zone, which is one of the reasons I had my home put on the local register.

When I had my original heart pine floors worked on last year, I called in an expert. He took one look at the floorboards and told me that at one point there had been water in this entire house. He could tell this because where the planks came together on the short ends, the edges were blackened. I got kind of a sick feeling in my stomach; hope that never happens again here. Of course here it would also be a fairly short term scenario given that any excess waters recede rather quickly, within just a few days or less.

[wayoutfront]

To top things off, if a house is more than 50% damaged, it has to be rebuilt to modern building codes, a lot of these houses will be very expensies to do that to (new electric, etc.) Many people in our area took cash and rebuilt elsewhere.

That varies from state to state.

[BaltimoreGirl]

One thing that I didn't see mentioned is the "mold" problem after a flood. After Isabel in 2003, although we weren't flooded out completely like some of the homes down south-we thought we were lucky with only water surrounding our home. Then-we got a funky mold that started growing at the foundation of the house and then grew "up" the house, behind the walls, under the floors. Unfortunately, the problem wasn't discovered for a few weeks and not right after the storm. The house needed to be completely gutted and professionally cleaned and treated several times to kill this mold. All the interior walls/floors needed to be replaced. After 2 years next month, we are still not done rebuilding.

My heart goes out to these folks that were devastated by Katrina.

[eolian]

Baltimoregirl is exactly right. Here in western NC after Ivan all the homes that were flooded had to be gutted down to the shell. That mold will grow behind the plaster or sheetrock and cause breathing problems as long as anyone tries to live in the house. Its almost the same expensewise as building a new home. plus everything in the house starts growing mold on it as well.

[DESTRUCTION5]

Iff its in FL you start over the mold and humidity makes day to day living unbearable...Been there done that...Plus these home are not just flooded with standard clean water were talking about 2-3 ft of mudd and soot after drainage...

[HurriCat]

From my experiences working in and around schools, you can bet that those poor houses will be busting with every kind of mold and crud. Those portable classrooms infesting most school playgrounds load up with mold without even getting flooded - just the humidity and condensation do it. I think what will happen in most cases is that the house has to be gutted to the cinderblocks, if any. The roofs I saw on TV looked intact for the most part (at least in the New Orleans areas), so MAYBE they will be salvaged. But, if the attic was loaded, then the insulation and wiring are done, and if the water hangs around any time at all, the rafters themselves will get waterlogged and rot in the humidity.

[TexasStooge]

It's bad enough that cars were flooded out. I know, back in 2001, a clogged storm drain near an apartment complex where my family and I live at only caused minor flooding in a few cars.

If the flood reached any home, it's not pretty.

[RU4REAL]

PLEASE be very careful about living in homes that where flooded, it took 4 months for ours to dry out enough to begin remodeling, that was 5 years ago, about 1 year ago my oldest daught smelled something in her room, we could not find it, we took up the carpet and realized it was coming from UNDER the floor, my husband removed some of the flooring and we found mold, please be careful and BTW...there is a cleaning chemical called..SUNSHINE in it available at commercial cleaning houses, it is WONDERFUL, it will kill mold and help dry out your home, if you have a problem finding it please email me and I will try to get some to you, Good luck, my prayers are with you..

[scostorms]

All I know, is during the Ontario severe weather outbreak of August 19, 2005 that floods filled basements up to the roof, and water was even covering the first floors. Several friends of ours are not allowed to live in their homes until they remodel just about the entire house. Also, two 1 mile wide tornadoes raced across southern Ontario that day. Thank God one missed Fergus, a city og 17,000, by about 100 feet.

[BaltimoreGirl]

Plus these homes are not just flooded with standard clean water were talking about 2-3 ft of mudd and soot after drainage...

There's also a lot of other nasties in that water too. Oil from tanks, gasoline from flooded cars, sewerage, and if you live in anywhere near an industrial area, you also have the possibility of having all sorts of chemicals.

After Isabel, the grass in what was left of our backyard was floruescent green and greasy and grew like crazy. I can only wonder what hubby and I were swimming around in when we were trying to save some of our stuff from the building behind our house that housed all of our business equipment. Both of us has some funky skin problems by the time all was said and done. We both mentioned it when we were watching the news last night and were watching some folks "playing" in the water.

[ncbird]

I seem to remember having herd that NO has had some problems with some kind of termites. Years ago when I visited that beautiful city I seem to recall many older wood structues. Seems to me that there may be alot of damage from the little critter, and with the added problems of flood waters weaking the structure itself, many of the buildings may be beyond repair.

RU4REAL mentioned a product called SUNSHINE and I can also confirm it great for problems with mold and was one of the few products I was able to use that did not set off breathing problems for me.

[cjrciadt]

Dont forget the large amount of mold that will grow especially with home almost submerged. Tearing down and rebuilding from new is sometimes the better option as seen here in FL after our storms.