If you think that the right insurance is enough from keeping you safe from a possible flood and the damage it can cause, we will explain why this is just not enough.
In this article, you will learn how to build a flood wall around your house step by step. This way, you can be prepared and keep your family safe.
Did you know that flooding is a common natural issue that happens in the USA? To reduce the risk of your house getting flooded, we will need just a little bit of free time, proper materials, and some energy for a heavy load of work. And, of course, some knowledge - which you can get right here.
The first thing you should know is that there are different ways to build a flood wall, and that depends on your choice. You can choose from pre-constructed flood walls that require little installation. And, of course, you can do it all from scratch.
Before we start with this entire process, let's see what statistics related to floods look like.
Statistics definitely look frightening. Yet, keep in mind that many things can be prevented. Therefore, we have prepared a long and well-researched article that will help you understand everything related to flood protection.
First, let's talk about those emergency situations where the flood has already occurred. Is there something you can still do?
Yes, there is! Bookmark this article so you always have it in the case of an emergency.
We haven't mentioned that sometimes you will find yourself in an emergency situation where you'll need to build any flood barrier as soon as possible. For that purpose, you will have no other option than to use the dirt you have in the backyard.
The second thing - think of your property's terrain topography. It is very important to consider the entire yard's expanse because this way you'll be capable of routing the flood in the proper way. The most important advice here is to leave enough space between your beloved house and the barrier you're making.
How to build an earthen levee?
Total Time: 1 day
Don't just pile up dirt because building a trench first will provide a sturdy base. You will have to dig a two-foot trench in the place where your levee will be.
Fill in your base with sand in rock. By using denser material such as rocks you can be certain that your foundation is less likely to be swept away by the flood.
Use the dirt from the trench to start building a mound. Add layers and pack each layer down. With the help of your wheelbarrow you can grab extra dirt from areas that you see fit to take from. Build your wall as high as you expect that you need too.
Sufficient compaction is key. Heavy machinery will definitely make this task easier, but if you don't possess any - use your own hands, feet, and shovel blade. Constructing a flat levee is possible if you make it three times wide as its height.
Okay, we're almost finished, cover your barrier wall with plastic. This will make it more resistant to the weather.
Tools:
Materials: Dirt, sand, rocks from your backyard and plastic sheeting
But, what if you don't want to wait for the flood to appear? What if your idea is building this wall as insurance against natural disasters? Amazing! We're happy to hear that!
For that purpose, people use self-rising floodwalls. Here are the best options on the market that can help you stay prepared against floods:
1. Water-activated flood barrier. These incredible flood walls are capable to increase their height within just a few minutes. You can expect to get 3.5 inches high barrier whenever water arrives. It can be used either alone or combined with other wall-related products against flood. You can find a water-activated flood barrier from 5-foot to even 17-foot in lenght.
2. Pre-constructed flood bags. When facing the water, these are also capable to raise in height and length, protecting your property. People claim that Quick Dam Flood Bags are the best for this purpose. Super simple to install, yet very effective.
3. Self-rising water gate floodwalls. This is the premium solution for floodwalls. They are expensive but if you live in an at-risk area they can easily pay themselves off.
Certainly, there are. We will represent to you all other possibilities you can use to keep your family safe from natural disasters. Here is what else you can do:
1. A waterproof veneer Adding this to your exterior walls will definitely add a bonus layer of safety.
2. Flood-resistant materials. When it comes to building your interior, it is always a good idea to use flood-resistant materials. Those are capable to stop water from retaining for up to 72 hours.
3. Think about your fuel tanks. Be sure to secure these if you don't want to have big issues. It is always best to anchor them down.
4. Back-flow valves. Are sewage backups your worry? It's always a great idea to install back-flow valves.
Now we have learned a lot about protecting your home from floods and building different sorts of flood protection, it's a good idea to hear what people worldwide do about this problem.
If your home is located near a river or sea, it's a great idea to be sure that your house is above the water levels. Obvious and the oldest solution is - elevation! Building your own house on stilts is known within many traditions and cultures, but you can also build your home on a raised platform. Beach houses usually look this way, and you must admit - they're simply gorgeous!
Are you ready to build that floodwall from scratch, or are you thinking about buying some of the newest and easiest versions of it?
It doesn't matter what your choice is, the most important thing is to keep your home and family safe from this natural disaster.
There comes a time in everyone's life when moving from their parents' house becomes necessary. Even though the thought of an independent lifestyle could be exciting for some, it is also quite terrifying for others, especially for those who are scared to deal with responsibilities on their own.
The latest statistics show that 52% of young adults in the US with ages between 18 and 24 still live with their parents. These people choose to share their home for various reasons - they want to save money, have exhausting jobs, have kids on their own to take care of, or are simply frightened of the stressful and challenging process of moving out.
But what exactly does this process entail, and where should you start?
If you're wondering how to move out of your parents' house, you've come to the right place.
Multi-generational living is not uncommon nowadays. Nonetheless, there are mixed opinions about it - some move out immediately after becoming students, others live their entire 20's in their parents' house, and others never think about moving out.
Of course, the situation is different for each person, which is why you should focus strictly on the reasons why YOU want to move out of your parent's house.
Therefore, the first thing you should do before deciding to move is to analyze the pros and cons of living with them.
Save money — There is no better reason to start with. Depending on the family, living with parents can save you from paying partial or total rent and many costs such as bills, groceries, and other household expenses. For this reason, if you plan to save for a new car or even a place to live on your own, sharing the home with your parents for a while can be a great start.
Fewer housework responsibilities — Many people living together means fewer responsibilities in the household for you. If you have a demanding job or are still a student and struggling with dozens of exams, living with your parents will save you from many daily chores, so you will have the time to enjoy other activities after work/class.
Unlimited homemade meals — Another perk of living with parents is that you won't have to cook for yourself all the time or order food - which can be quite expensive if you take into account the three regular daily meals. That will save you both time and money.
Free babysitting — If you have children, your parents will be the ones who will enjoy the most spending time with them. Of course, this could also happen if you do not live with your parents, but sharing the same house will be easier for them to always be close to their grandchildren.
Emotional support — Having your family close in challenging situations can be very helpful. You can always rely on your parents whenever you encounter difficulties in life, either financial or emotional.
Limited space — Not your house, not your rules - that means you can't just break the wall in your room to expand, or to bring things that take up a lot of space, at least not without approval.
Lack of privacy — If sharing all aspects of your life with your parents is not bothering you, then living together will never be an issue. But if you're not much of a talker, consider that it will be hard to live with your parents without them wanting to know what you're doing with your life constantly.
Limited control — Living with your parents as a young adult is like sharing open space with all your neighbors. It will be hard for you to bring friends home, play your music loudly, or cook at three in the morning because you are in the mood to eat french fries.
Fighting the generation gap — Different opinions between generations are common among families. There is a good chance that you do not have the same beliefs and values as your parents, no matter how solid your relationship is. That will make a living with them difficult and stressful in the long run.
Slowing down your progress — It may be surprising, but all the advantages of living with your parents can make a huge disadvantage together - you will slow down or even stagnate the progress of becoming an independent adult.
Sure, free meals and no bills to pay is the dream, but what will happen when you have to do all this yourself? And it will definitely happen at some point in your life.
If you were convinced by the cons and not the pros, that means you officially decided it's time to move out of your parents' house. In this case, we recommend arming yourself with a lot of patience, because there are some initial costs you will have to consider and some that will require planning a monthly budget.
Take a look at our checklist and see if you are ready to cover all the costs involved in moving to a new home.
How to move out of your parent's house:
Start saving a couple months in advance of your move out. There are cases where you will have to pay the rent for the first month, the last month, and a security deposit - this means a total of 3 months' rent in advance. More than that, you may also need to pay the renters insurance if your landlord or the building requires it.
If you decide to move to another city and have many personal belongings to transport, you will need help. Unless you have some friends willing to support you on this step, you will need some money to turn to a professional movers company.
You can either rent a moving van or truck and let your friends help facilitate the move!
Go to your favorite furniture store and pick out what you need. By paying an extra handling fee you can have the store deliver straight to your new house. When you move for the first time, you will feel that your parents' house had them all. On the other hand, your next home may not have all the things you are used to. Therefore, you will have to make a first-time investment in furniture and some appliances.
Supply:
Tools:
Materials: Lots of patience and planning
✓ Rent. The average monthly apartment rent in the U.S. 2017-2021 is $1,124, so you will have to think about whether you can afford to rent before you leave your parents' house. One rule of thumb states that you should spend around 30% of your gross income on rent.
✓ Bills. You will need to have a budget for monthly bills such as electricity, gas, and water, in addition to internet and TV service. However, there are some cases in which, if you rent a place, these bills will be included in the monthly rent.
✓ Health insurance. This is an expense you don't want to ignore. Without insurance, the average cost for an emergency room visit is $150- $3,000 or even more, depending on your condition and the performed diagnostic tests and treatment.
✓ Transportation Costs. If you are a driver and own a car that you use regularly, consider paying for the fuel, the auto insurance, and vehicle registration. Moreover, you may have to pay for a parking space.
If you are not a driver, there will still be transportation costs arising from the use of taxis, flights and all those related to daily commute costs.
✓ Emergency savings. Without your parents around, you will need to build an emergency fund by yourself, which you will use only in emergencies, as you probably already noticed by its name. Depending on your monthly income, and usual expenses, you should put away 3-6 months for the emergency savings before moving out.
✓ Services & memberships. Now it's your turn to pay for services such as the internet or TV, as well as other streaming subscriptions that you used in your parents' house. By putting all this on a list you will probably feel the need to give up a few.
💡 Key Insight: If you have a pet, you will have to pay an additional deposit to cover the possible damages caused by it during the rental period. This fee varies depending on the landlord and can be around $35 or less.
Now that you know what costs to expect once you move out of your parents' home, let's talk about the things you should avoid.
Do NOT move out of your parents house if:
You have not set a budget. If you make a hasty decision and leave your parents' house without an already established budget, the chances of going back in just a few days are very high. Therefore, you should consider absolutely all the start-up costs involved in moving to your own place and the ongoing ones that you will have to take care of monthly.
You don't have a secure income. Even if you have a budget ready to move into a new house, you will need a stable income to cope with all the expenses. Unless your parents are willing to help you with a monthly amount of money for bills and other costs, having a job it's a must.
You don't have an emergency fund. As we said before, the emergency fund should be mandatory when leaving your parents' house. If you question the need to save at least three months for this, think about the expenses resulting from unexpected events such as a car breakdown or a pipe network issue.
You are planning to move to an expensive place. Nothing wrong with moving to a costly place, but how expensive can it be? If you choose to move to downtown New York or San Francisco, and living there will cost you more than 25-33% of your income, you should consider your decision.
You want to save money. Except for the case when your job is ten times your rent, moving out of your parents' house won't help you save money, at least not in the first few months. If you plan to save money to fulfill some pricey goals, you should wait to do this first before moving out.
💡 Key Insight: Usually, apartment and house leases have a term of 1 year. So, if you are not ready to rent for at least a year, you should reconsider that decision.
All things considered, moving out of your parents' house is an important step that should not be treated superficially.
If you make a hasty decision without having the necessary budget or informing what it means to live on your own and all the involved costs, it is possible to regret moving out too soon.
To learn even more about how to move out of your parents' house, watch the following video.
There is no right age to move out of your parents' house. This decision should be entirely up to you, and you should only move out when you are ready. However, according to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 exploring the experiences of young millennials, their median age at the time of moving out of their parents' home was about 19 years.
This amount can cover the rent for several months and some initial expenses. Nevertheless, if you do not have a steady income, a budget of only $5000 will not be enough to live on your own after moving.
If you are afraid of huge expenses when moving out, you should consider a roommate. Sharing rent and other expenses with another person will help you save more money over time.
Finding a cheap rental is rare but not impossible. Cities like Omaha, Tucson, and Springfield have an average studio rent of $615- $841 per month. Despite the advantages of cheap rent, keep in mind that apartments with small rents could be positioned in areas far away from your zones of interest or even your workplace.
When considering buying or selling a home, there is a variety of situations that require a home inspection – just to ensure the home is in the expected order and the sale can go ahead. In this case, the inspection includes a review of the mechanical, structural, and electrical aspects of a home as a means of identifying any flaws.
Despite the stated importance, however, the inspections are not in fact required by law – rather, they can be used as a tool for a smoother and more efficient sale, making both the seller and the buyer more satisfied. For the seller it ensures that the buyer will not have any unexpected surprises after the sale, thus no time-consuming complaints to deal with, and no additional administrative work and paper signing – every seller knows this is good news.
For the buyer on the other hand, the quality of the home they are buying is usually absolutely crucial – it may be one of the biggest investments they will ever make, and as such ensuring the house is in the order, they expect it to be is more than essential – and there is no better way to guarantee no surprises, than a home inspection.
So, if you are on either side of the equation, keep on reading to find out the most important things to know about a home inspection, including of course, the length and how to make it as not time-consuming as possible.
💡 Key Insight: Even though you can circumvent a home inspection, unless you are a professional cash home buyer then we would suggest getting one--that applies to both parties--the seller or the buyer
Despite the fact that we have already outlined the main principles, it is crucial to understand why a home inspection should always be an investment to take before the sale of a house. In today’s market, quality is everything – and therefore to even make an offer and succeed in attracting a buyer, the inspection is more than necessary.
And this even though the mistakes and flaws of the house are often what the seller is trying to get rid of. Keep in mind that if you are selling a house, the way to go is never through secrecy – if the owner finds undisclosed flaws, they may have a standing to even sue, depending on the size of the surprise.
As far as the buyer is concerned, it is likely that he or she will demand an inspection – as the property market is highly competitive, if the seller fails to satisfy their needs, they can simply go to another one. Sometimes, however, this inspection may take place only after the buyer has signed the offer, thus being highly unbeneficial to them – if flaws are additionally found, they may or may not have the standing to retract their contract, but the overall likeliness that they can take back their signature is low.
As such, if you are the buyer, you should always require a home inspection beforehand, so that you know there are no surprises waiting for you.
💡 Key Insight: A typical real estate contingency is the inspection contingency. This means if that the buyer is able to re-negotiate repairs into the contract or back out altogether if there are many problems that come up in the inspection report
It is essential that the home inspection is done sooner rather than later in the sale process, as it gives both the buyer and the seller time to make any additional important decisions. If the inspection is pushed back in the purchasing process, the seller may be rushed into having major repairs done.
This may actually be more costly to the seller – as due to the time pressure they may choose the wrong contractor, or the contractor may even charge more money for managing the repair in a shorter time period.
For the buyer, the reason for an earlier inspection is quite straightforward – the issues which need repairing will be solved earlier in the purchasing process, so they can have more confidence they have made the right decision. Further, there will not be any additional surprises when they finally move in.
Some buyers rather prefer to look at the property themselves, thinking they will not overlook any issues, just because it will save them money. In the short term, it very well may, but there is a wide variety of subtle issues that an appliance may be about to break or is not functioning which an amateur may simply overlook. And in the long term, these ‘little’ issues may build up and actually end up costing the buyer a large amount of money for repairs – far more than a simple inspection would have cost.
On the other hand, if the buyer takes their time and invests in a home inspection before the sale of the house, they can not only withdraw from the deal if they do not like the house anymore but may actually pressure the seller to pay for the repairs themselves, therefore saving far more money than was spent on the inspection.
And even if it in fact turns out that the house does not need any additional repairs and is in perfect condition, the inspection was still worth it – it gives the buyer peace of mind that this will actually be a good investment and that they have chosen the right home, and that no surprises are awaiting them.
Additionally, the inspection can prepare the buyer for any further changes they would like to make to the house in the future. For example, the roof may be starting to show age, or there are other issues that are not necessarily pressing and will not be paid for by the seller, but the buyer can account for them when planning future budgeting, therefore, there are essentially disadvantages to the inspection, and the buyer is highly advised to undertake it early in the sale process even if paid from their own pocket.
💡 Key Insight: If you want the real estate process to go smoothly and quickly then get the house inspection at the beginning of the process
There are numerous variables that will influence the length of a home inspection, from the conditions of the house to its size or the agency conducting the inspection. The more issues there are within the home, the longer the inspection is, obviously, expected to take to be completed. A normal house inspection is expected to take anywhere from three to four hours, but it is essential that you do not consider this to be a rigid number, as explained before.
If you are wondering whether to be present during these three to four hours or not, it is important to note that it is not a requirement, however, both the buyer and their agent are expected to walk with the inspector – as it is a key part of the process. This way, they have an indication of precisely where the issues of the house are and are directly explained the crucks of the issue by the inspector.
The inspector will be examining both the interior and the exterior of the house thoroughly and in a comprehensive manner, or at least is expected to. Inspectors are in particular looking for issues within the foundation of the home, doors, and windows, electrical system, cooling system, roof, structure, and plumbing in order to ensure that a costly problem doesn’t occur shortly after the home is sold.
💡 Key Insight: After the inspection is over then you will receive an inspection report. The report will list any problems and state the general condition of the property
Afterwards, a detailed report will be written by the inspector, allowing the buyer or the seller to take steps with the information they acquire. The seller can make additional repairs and therefore increase their chance of getting a buyer in a largely competitive property market, while the buyer can demand the seller either pay for any repairs needed, or if they are unwilling to do this, demand the price is lower. In the worst-case scenario, the buyer can always pull of out of the deal, if the inspection is done before a contract, and therefore save their well-earned money for a better home and a better investment.
