Flood risk
Flood boards are stacked in the garage and were not offered up to the doorway. What fit and what seal were not shown?
The fit and the seal were not shown. Flood boards are stacked in the garage and were not offered up to the doorway, so the visit never saw whether they meet the frame or whether the seals close the gap. A stack is storage. It is not a demonstration. The survey has recorded the boards where they lay. It has not measured flood depth and has not watched a defence on the opening.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Offering a board up is the only way to see the practical questions: does this board belong to this doorway, do the clips reach, does the seal compress, is a piece missing. None of that was done. A public flood check can tell you about area risk in its own terms. It does not pick the boards up and fit them. The home survey did not either. Stacked boards can be complete, incomplete or for a different opening, and the visit could not say which.
Ask the seller to offer the boards up to the doorway if you need the fit and the seal seen. Tell the solicitor that demonstration did not happen. Do not inform an insurer that flood boards were proved. Keep any flood-risk search as its own enquiry, beside a report that only found boards stacked in the garage. Stacked boards are not a fitted seal.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Were the flood boards left stacked, and not offered up to the doorway?
- Which fit and which seal were therefore not shown?
- Was flood depth left unmeasured on the day?
What are the typical next steps?
- Do not treat a stack of boards as a fitted defence.
- Ask to see the boards offered up to the doorway.
- Keep flood-risk searches separate from this unfitted stack.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the boards are numbered, was the seal shown?
Numbers mark pieces. They do not show the seal compressed against the doorway. The boards stayed in the garage and were not offered up. The fit and the seal remain undemonstrated. Markings do not compress a gasket, and they are not a demonstration.
Does a high threshold replace the missing demonstration?
A threshold is part of the door, not a test of the boards. The survey did not offer the boards up and did not measure flood depth. A step does not show the seal that was never fitted. The step and the boards are different.