All these 20 FloodSax alternative sandbags came from this one easy-to-carry box FloodSax are incredibly space-saving to store in these handy vacuum-wrapped packs of 5 FloodSax are versatile and multi-purpose and can be used inside to soak up drips, leaks and internal floods These FloodSax soak up an internal flood in a cottage as water poured down the walls from a leaky roof

Compulsory escape of water insurance excess now £500 on many home insurance policies but often ‘hidden’ in the small print

There seems to be a two-tier approach to home insurance by many of the big names in the industry … with two separate compulsory excesses that many policy holders don’t know about until it’s too late.

When you take out an insurance policy you naturally check what the excess is and many companies impose a compulsory excess of around £100.

But what you probably don’t realise is that a separate excess has slipped in for flooding and escapes of water which has been there for a while and has now soared over the last year.

Many have doubled it, such as AXA home insurance which has doubled its excess from £250 to £500 over the last year.

Just looking at home insurance on comparison website Compare The Market, the top one is Admiral Gold for combined Homes and Contents insurance and it says the compulsory excess is £100 which is described it as the ‘total excess’.

But right down in the Compare The Market small print it warns “don’t forget to check for additional excesses” and only when you’ve gone to Admiral itself does it state that the compulsory excess for escape of water is £500. Many will probably buy the policy without spotting this and will only realise they have to pay out so much after they’ve suffered an internal escape of water or flood.

The problem is that escapes of water are the biggest costs of insurance claims by far.

According to the Association of British Insurers, £1.8m is paid out every DAY for water damage claims in the UK. Almost one in five claims made on buildings and contents insurance is for damage caused by leaks.

An escape of water means it has come from a water source within your home such as a burst pipe or a leaking dishwasher. A flood is water coming into your home such as torrential rain or a burst water main.

Amazingly, it’s now more than three times cheaper to protect your home with FloodSax than it is to even pay the excess for flooding on your insurance policy.

FloodSax come vacuum-packed in packs of five and in their dry state are ultra-flat with a large surface area which makes them ideal to soak up drips, leaks and spills indoors, especially in hard-to-reach places such as beneath boilers, below radiators and underneath pipes.

But immerse them in water and the gelling polymer inside absorbs the water and then retains it, making the FloodSax miraculously inflate to become an instant sandbag but without any sand. They are then easy to stack into a highly effective flood barrier.

They cost just £140 for a box of 20 via FloodSax Express so are a fraction of the price of your escape of water insurance excess.

So, it’s well worth checking your insurance policy to see what the flooding excess is and make sure you’re ready for any flooding emergency to prevent the damage in the first place. Water damages everything it touches wrecking carpets, floors, furniture and electrics which are all very expensive to replace.

And, once you’ve made a claim, your future premiums may well soar so preventing it in the first place will save you money long-term too.

According to the Association of British Insurers: “The smallest of leaks can quickly become a torrent and cause some very expensive and disruptive damage.”

The average insurance claim after a flood in a house is £31,000 and just an inch of water can quickly rack up a £20,000 repair bill.

FloodSax were devised and are manufactured by Yorkshire company Environmental Defence Systems Ltd.

EDS PR manager Andy Hirst said: “We strongly suspect that people have no idea they face paying such huge excesses until it’s too late and the water damage has been done.

“They will probably think they’ll only have the first £100 to pay on the claim and will be shocked and devastated to learn the excess is actually five times that – money which people simply be unable to afford.

“There is an old saying that prevention is better than the cure and that’s certainly the case when it comes to internal escapes of water. Every bit of damage you can prevent is vital and FloodSax are an ideal way to do that as you can have them in action soaking up a leak of water in seconds.

“And because they are ultra flat with a large surface area they can fit in the most inaccessible of places such as underneath complex pipework in sinks or even below floorboards.”

Andy added: “I’d strongly advise everyone to check the small print on their insurance policies to find out just what their escape of water excess is and some policies will have a separate excess for flooding too.”

People searching for FloodSax online call them floodsacks, floodbags, flood_bags, sandbags other, alternative sandbags, sandless sandbags, gelbags and polymer bags but there is only one multi-use FloodSax.