Sand bags - practicalities

zagmund

Topical issue, but I haven't seen to much discussion of them so far. We had a close call when a mains drain backed up and popped a manhole about a hundred meters up the road from us on Monday. All the water went through one neighbours garden, so the rest of us were safe, but there are other manholes along the road, including one outside my house. This has focused my mind somewhat.

I've seen threads which talk of filling the sandbags on demand (i.e. when you have a flood to prevent right there and then), but that just isn't going to work for a number of reasons, not least of which is that I have nowhere to store a large freeform pile of sand. I would be happy enough to have them all filled in advance and ready to roll, with all that is necessary being to move the bags from my store to the front gate.

Is there a good reason *not* to have them prefilled and stashed away as is suggested in some of the threads ? The only thing I can think of is something to do with them going mouldy after a while, but I reckon I can live with that.

I've seen empty bags for sale, but no mention of specific sand types. I'm not great on the oul DIY front, so knowing me I would order something that would set when exposed to water. Can anyone advise what sort of sand is required and suggest anywhere in south Dublin or nearby that could supply & deliver ?

Thanks,

z

Posy

I know a few people around my way used cat litter to make sand-bags with. It's especially made for absorbing liquid so that could be worth a try?

martinr5232

It doesnt matter what type of sand you use but if you leave sandbags filled they will just rot so when you really need them you will be just left with a pile of sand around your boots

zagmund

Roughly how long would you expect a set of filled (and hopefully dry) set of sandbags to keep ? Would they last from one side of winter to the other ?

z

aujopimur

Keep bags stored clean dry and away from sunlight, fill as required

Quiet you

I hope I don't get in trouble for this seeing as I posted the same link in the survivalism forum but I think there might be a fair few people out there interested in this, or a similar product.

http://www.falconflood.com/index.html

Seeing as sandbags require a fair bit of effort and warning to set up and aren't foolproof when I saw these guys at the ploughing championship I figured they'd be worth remembering.

Basically, the idea is that you spend an hour or so on the initial set up and then remove it and wait for the flood (obviously you put it back then). From looking at the demo model they had I'd say it wouldn't take longer then ten minutes to have it re-installed.

The only draw back I could see from using it is if you have a home with suspended floors. They don't have anything that would block the vents so water would just come in through them and the same damage would be done.

danjo-xx

The Wall brackets look life plastic which would make sense, do they come in different colours so you don't notice them in normal times.

I suppose there is still going to be some leakage, would you have to be on guard all the time!

Quiet you

danjo-xx wrote: »

The Wall brackets look life plastic which would make sense, do they come in different colours so you don't notice them in normal times.

I suppose there is still going to be some leakage, would you have to be on guard all the time!

Nope, they're metal as far as I could see. They had a neoprene gasket on the edge that presses against the wall. The panels that slot in have the neoprene gasket too so leakage would be at a minimum. Certainly less then what you'd get from sandbags considering there's a skill to laying them.

The brackets are removed. Fixing holes are all pre-drilled so all you have to do is line up the holes and winde in the fixings.

Buataisi

Sand bags tend to leak after a while even if stored indoors. Outside the elements do them in and for some reason birds like to peck at them. Thinking about it, I haven't seen them last more than a year without some damage.

byhookorbycrook

on the Sunday Times today there was an alternative to sandbags..off to rootle.

here you go
http://purchase.ie/waste-managment/hydrosacks/

richiekilkelly

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

on the Sunday Times today there was an alternative to sandbags..off to rootle.

here you go
http://purchase.ie/waste-managment/hydrosacks/

I have tried these, they are good, also if you put a pre inflated bag inside the door it will catch any seepage.

sealgaire

+1 on the rotting remark

Unless the sand going in is bone dry and you store them in a dry shed they won't last 5 months

650gs

A company called Glenbeigh fire and flood sell asorbie bags very cheap even cheaper then sand bags and you can store them in your knicker draw till needed these are very small till expaned