How many Sandbags??
Sandbags are a necessity in preventing floods, and we are recommending to everyone who lives in an area which is at a risk of possible flooding to keep some empty bags at home. Empty sandbags are cheep and take up no space and can sit on a shelf for years until they are needed! When they are needed they can be quickly filled with sand or even soil!!
An average household has three doors, of which each will need at least 12 filled sandbags to create an effective flood defence wall. Garages are also a potential opening for flood water. How big is your garage? Please bear in mind that even though an empty sandbag measures 75cm in length, once the sandbag is filled, it will measure approximately 50cm. So if your garage is 3 metres across, you will need 6 x 4 layers of filled sandbags, meaning another 24 filled sandbags will be essential to keep flood water from entering your garage.
How much sand does a sandbag need?
If the sandbags are filled with aproximately 25kg of sand, they become more rigid and less flexible therefore making building a wall more of a problem. It may be more difficult to securely position the filled sandbags so it is recommended to fill the sandbag with approximately 15 – 18kg of sand.
Secondly, if a sandbag is filled with too much sand, gaps may appear in the wall and therefore let more water through when water builds up pressure. Using filled sandbags containing around 15kgs of sand allows the sandbags to be pressed down to make a more effective water barrier
All of our filled sandbags are filled with 15 – 18kg of sharp sand, to enable effective flood defence walls to be built. If you are thinking of buying empty sandbags and filling them yourself, we would strongly recommend that you do not fill the sandbags completely – usually about 1/2 full!