Draftsman - Hunting Camp Plans - Flood Insurance Question

You need to consult a competent insurance agent and the surveyor you use to produce pre and post elevation certificates.

The definitions of base flood elevation, lowest horizontal structural member, unfinished space/breakaway walls in a V flood zone is clear in the NFIP manual.

"Any type of enclosure" does not equal effectively lowering the house. You can close in unfinished storage space that allows unobstructed water flow without limitation. You can install screened wooden lattice panels that go all the way to the ground that allow water to flow through the storage and drop outlets in conduits from the second floor. A local electrician and plumber will know how to get water and power down to the storage space and be compliant.

Build at a positive height to base flood elevation to save money if you buy flood insurance. The best advice is do NOT add post-construction / post-elevation certificate fixtures on the ground floor. Adding unpermitted fixtures will effectively lower the house, e.g. toilets, showers, electricity, drywall.

I've encountered more than a few clients that added a potty/shower/outlets/walls under their lake house after construction. The flood claim is denied because of the material alterations from the final certificate, plus they got a retroactive bill for that year's flood insurance at the new lower elevation for $10,000+.

If you're building a lake house in Mississippi in Harrison or Hancock county, you're going to pay $5,000+ per year even at a +2 foot elevation for max limits. The NFIP changes make insuring second homes in V zones prohibitively expensive. I would not buy flood insurance on such a house. 10 years later, you've paid $50,000+, just put the money in a CD instead every year.

You can put in water reliefs and not insure the bottom floor usually. It sounds like you just want to make it thief proof since it's a camp. Treat it like a garage. They basically require holes every so far and you can back them with something like screen material to keep small rats and critter out.

The main objective is that FEMA does not consider the ground level area in their elevation calculation.

How do you construct wood, block, or metal walls below that are not part of the 'structure' so FEMA doesn't include it?

Thank you

If I'm not mistaken, top of bottom floor in your flood elevation is conditioned space. Have you ever been to the beach and they have the garage under the home? It's like that. They have a separate line on the flood elevation. They usually make all the walls under non load bearing, but they can be load rating, they just have to be treated lumber if under the flood height.

quote:

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Build the raised structure
Get flood insurance
Then build enclosure around the bottom

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Terrible advice above. This scenario will result in $0 in flood insurance claim recovery, a multi-thousand dollar premium bill at the new lower elevation for the current policy period and possible charges of insurance fraud. I have seen this claim scenario before multiple times professionally and it doesn't end well when you break rules/laws.

Just hire a competent builder, surveyor and insurance agent who know the rules, which are very clear, to do it right instead of asking people on the internet who clearly don't know what they're talking about.

Or forgo flood insurance altogether, as it will be $4,000 ~ $5,000 per year in your location for a maximum possible recovery of $350,000. Risk retention is the most efficient risk management strategy in this case, versus risk avoidance or risk transfer via insurance.

I can design and produce a construction set of plans for your camp. And provide architectural stamp. Also have info on breakaway walls.
Send me a email @ truhomedesign@ymail.com or give me a call @ three three sezen - 692-5369