Pioneering sandless sandbags have solved a problem with a huge building’s ventilation system.

Belgium broadcasting company VTM has a flat roof on its building in the city of Vilvoorde in Flanders which meant that when it rained water was getting into the system.

They are looking for a permanent solution to the problem which could potentially damage the system but in the meantime discovered that FloodSax sandless sandbags would stop the water.

FloodSax are transformed from being as light as a pillowcase to become more effective than traditional sandbags in around three minutes.

To do that, all you need to do is add water and watch them miraculously expand.

The semi-porous inner liner within FloodSax contains a special gelling polymer  which absorbs the water to become taut.

They were installed by our partner company in Belgium, Aquasorb, which is run by Adel Oueslati.

He said: “We used five boxes of FloodSax and they have certainly solved the problem for now so will be left in place for the foreseeable future until a permanent solution can be put in place to ensure the ventilation system is not damaged by rain getting in.”

Adel is always coming up with new ways to use FloodSax which can be used as barriers to stop floods or inside homes and businesses to soak up leaks and spills, especially in hard to reach places.

Adel’s successes have ranged from saving a water-logged international show jumping contest from being cancelled through to helping DIY giant Ikea and a major car park chain protect their property from floods. 

Adel even spotted a problem in the basement of a care home in Belgium and sorted that out too with his FloodSax before water could have wrecked the home’s computer servers.

The Longines Spring Classic of Flanders is staged at Lummen in Belgium each year but it rained and rained which meant the organisers faced the nightmare of having to call it off.

With competitors and spectators travelling in from all over the world the cancellation would have cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. 

Adel strategically placed 260 FloodSax around the sodden course on the puddles on either side of the jumps and within 30 minutes they had soaked up all the water and the three-day event went ahead. 

It’s now opened up a whole new potential sports market for the product. 

The biggest car park provider in Belgium – and one of the largest in Europe - now relies on FloodSax to clear up floods, leaks and spills. 

Interparking has 70 car parks in Belgium – many of them multi-storeys – providing 42,777 spaces. 

The Belgium Government now insists that car park companies have something to absorb anything that gets onto the car park surface and this can range from floodwater through to fuel. 

The company now has 400 FloodSax sandless sandbags which it has distributed to its car parks around the country. 

Store giant Ikea used FloodSax … to repair its leaking car park. 

The car park at the Mons store is on two levels but water was pouring from the upper level into the lower one. 

So they used FloodSax to surround the problem and stop the water pouring through while the problem was repaired. 

And finally … FloodSax provided by Adel saved a care home from suffering thousands of pounds damage. 

The computer server for the Belgium home is in the basement which was vulnerable to flooding yet had not been put on a raised floor. 

The problem was spotted by Adel, who said: “Water was actually around the bottom of the server and if it had got in the damage would have been exceptionally disruptive to the home as well as being very expensive to repair.

 “We have protected it for now with FloodSax sandbags which absorb all the water.”

* Written by Andy Hirst at AH! PR http://www.ah-pr.com/