Flood and stormwater damage have been heartbreaking to countless home owners during the Queensland 2011 Floods. Tod Consulting empathises deeply with everyone who has suffered damage and loss from flooding or Cyclone Yasi. Before rushing into rebuilding, it's important to make sure your effort and capital isn't wasted. You don't want the repairs to fall apart or suffer continual mould and damp. It's also a good idea to think about the types of building materials you'll use in the rebuild - to make your home easier to clean up and get operational again should a flood or cyclone of the same magnitude occur in the future.
1. Enter and assess your home carefully
The Housing Industry Association has good points about dangers and what to watch out for when re-entering your home:- http://hia.com.au/hia/news/channel/Business%20Partner/region/QLD/article/MA/National/guidance_returning_flood_areas.aspx
2. Clean out and dry your home properly
It's very important that you let your home dry out completely, to reduce the risk of your rebuilding work being warped, buckled or becoming perpetually damp - particularly in the case of timber framed homes. Termites are attracted to wet timber also, so be warned. The CSIRO has an excellent guide about cleaning out and repairing a flood damaged home:- http://www.csiro.au/org/Repairing-Flood-Damage.html
3. Get good advice about setting up proper contracts with tradesmen and how to go about rebuilding
The BSA is holding rebuilding seminars around Queensland to help homeowners make the right choices in putting their homes back together. Their Disaster recovery website includes how to clean and dry out your home, how to set up a special contract with your repair tradesmen, and where & when they are holding their rebuilding seminars:- http://www.bsa.qld.gov.au/Pages/BuildingServicesAuthority.aspx
4. Consider rebuilding with water resistant materials to improve your home's resistance to flooding. It's possible that the house could be flooded in the future - why not make it a lot easier to clean out and recover? The Queensland Department of Infrastructure and Planning has a list of building materials with higher water resistance:- http://www.dip.qld.gov.au/resources/guideline/building/floods/repair-your-home-after-a-flood.pdf
5. Strengthen your home for cyclones
If you live in North and Central Queensland, you already know about cyclones. But is your home designed to withstand a Category 4 or Category 5 cyclone? The Building Code requirements for cyclones were introduced during the late 1970s / early 1980s. If you have a home that was built prior to this time, chances are it has little provision for cyclones, unless someone has strengthened it in recent times. The fact that it is still standing may be that it hasn't been hit by the full force of a cyclone before. Consider getting an experienced structural engineer or building certifier to inspect your home to check its cyclone resistance and to give advice for any recommended strengthening
6. Get a termite inspection and treatment
Homes are treated for termites in a number of ways, including post caps, visual barriers, chemical barriers or treated timber framing. That said, the greater majority of modern homes rely on a chemical barrier in the soil under and around the home to provide termite defence. It is probable that these chemical barriers have been washed/leached out of the soil, or are covered in silt and debris - either way, termites could find a way through to your home if action isn't taken. Timber Queensland gives advice on the effect of floods on termite barriers at the end of their Guide to Assessment and Repair of Flood Damaged Timber and Timber Framed Houses
Flood relief grants and payments
There appear to now be a wide range of grants and assistance available from the Queensland Government and the Australian Government. Most or all of these are summarised at:- http://www.communityservices.qld.gov.au/community/community-recovery/support-assistance/documents/financial-assistance-guide.pdf
These are listed in more detail at:- http://www.communityservices.qld.gov.au/community/community-recovery/support-assistance/support-assistance.html
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