"Home or High Water" is a two-part program that aims to educate viewers on how to protect their homes and businesses from water damage.

“Home or High Water: Preparation” is a fast-paced 30-minute how-to that illustrates what can be done to prevent damage caused by the elements. While some homeowners have dealt with issues directly related to rivers or lakes rising, “Home or High Water” addresses the more common problems that are caused by overland flooding, torrential rains and melting snow. The common theme throughout the show is summed up by Bertschi: “get the protection in place before the water comes.”
 
Landscaping contractor Stan Hoglund, has seen the damage that rain can cause. “Water can go right into your foundation — and it’ll find a place to come in,” he said. Driven by torrential sideways winds, “it’s amazing how water can go in all different directions,” adds Paula Boehm, a restoration contractor with Paul Davis Restoration.

These and other contractors, including Gary Sharp of Home Heating and Plumbing, demonstrate constructing sandbag levees; installing sump pumps; rerouting sump pump discharge during winter months; choosing drain plugs and building proper grade around property to keep water from overwhelming the foundation.

Part two, "Home or High Water: Clean Up" focuses on flood and water damage clean up. Often times, when the flood waters subside, the work is just beginning. Clean up often illicits the same level of urgency as preparation. There are sandbag levies to deconstruct and homes and businesses need to be dried out as soon as possible. Drying out your home is important to prevent the growth of toxic mold.

"This mold phenomena is partly hype," says Derry Pool, an estimator with Paul Davis Restoration, "but it is something that needs to be taken very seriously."
Derry is joined by other experts in the area including Julie Ball, a restoration technician with Paul Davis Restoration, Tim Bertschi of the Army Corp of Engineer and, Stan Hoglund of Hoglund Landscape. These experts demonstrate proper disposal of sandbags, extracting water and drying out your home, what to do with personal belongings contaminated with floodwater, dealing with appliances and electricity, safely removing toxic mold and building a floodwall to reduce future clean up.

DVD copies of “Home or High Water” are available for sale from Prairie Public Television.

Prairie Public productions like "Home or High Water" are made possible in large part by donations by viewers like you. If you would like to learn more about becoming a member of Prairie Public Television, please visit our membership page.

The "Home or High Water" programs are made possible by the Otto Bremer Foundation of Saint Paul, Minnesota, and the Minn-Kota Chapter of the American Red Cross of Fargo, North Dakota.

For more information on water-related issues and emergencies, visit: