Hope y'all can help me out with this. I live in Charleston, SC and we don't have too many house's with basements...Only some of the historic homes, which I've never had the opportunity to survey...until now...
From the exterior, this seems to be a normal two-story house on a ground-level crawlspace. There are 15 vents in the brick enclosure, but they are all greater than 1' above adjacent grade and do not count.
Once I got the the rear, I found a door that led down to a concrete basement under the house. The walls of this basement go up to the bottom of the main house but there a windows(to see into the crawlspace) and a large crawl-though to access the regular crawlspace. This basement takes up about 10% of the total enclosure area. Adjacent to, and still under the enclosure, is an approx 100sq.ft. crawlspace dig-out...I guess they just wanted to make this area of the crawlspace deeper.
Flood Zone AE (EL.13)
-crawlspace(approx. 80% of the enclosure) -- 10.4' (dirt)
-1st livable floor -- 14.7'
-"basement" -- 6.3'
-dig-out of crawlspace -- 6.8'
-LAG -- 10.3'
-HAG -- 11.0'
Initially, I was going to treat it as bldg type 8 and not the basement and "dig-out" square footages and elevations in the notes.
Then, I started thinking to call it type 2 and list the basement elevation and livable floor elevation--even though the basement isn't under the entire house.
The basement does have a sump-pump pit and pump. I had planned on listing that as the lowest elevation of machinery.
What do y'all think? Sorry, I tried to get pics, but my flashlight wasn't helping enough.
I am not sure I would classify a sump pump as machinery, they are typically removable, not like a water heater or furnace type appliance that are semi permanent fixtures to the dwelling.
Forgot to clarify. Are there other mechanical fixtures in that partial basement? Perhaps additional sketches and information should be attached and let FEMA make a determination as to what is pertinent. Just some things to think about.
Thanks for the reply.
The house is under renovation...No water heater, hvac, etc.
2 cents - when flood reaches the base flood elev. and the occupants are on vacation, who is going to remove the machinery below the BFE? Same for air conditioners along the outside of the foundation and the garage door that is closed. Need two flood vents for that garage if below BFE.
Carlton
Not sure I'm following you...There is no garage.
Once the renovation is complete, all HVAC, water heaters will be above the BFE.
EDIT--This basement is being used for storage...Not sure what is was used for 100 years ago.
Right now, I'm more concerned about getting the house type correct and how to back it up.
2 cents. If the basement,crawl space or cellar floor is more then 2 feet below the LAG "Lowest Adg. Grade" and the LAG is below the BFE than there could be a high insurance premimum.
Carlton
I'm more concerned that I'm doing this correctly than ensuring they get a good insurance rate.
The more I think about it, I think I'm going to go with a type 8.
If a flood event were to occur, the enclosure walls need adequate flood ventilation to maintain the structural integrity of the house. If this small basement were to flood(which it would), it would not affect the integrity of the house...It would just hold water.
I'm going to call it an 8. In the comments section, I'll mention the basement and dig-out and their sq. footages and elevations.
Sound good?
I agree with Carl, in that any machinery that services the house and gets damaged by a flood will be claimed by the insured. That's why FEMA wants to know about ANY machinery servicing the house.
The house is under renovation. Currently, there is no machinery servicing the building. Once they are complete, I'll probably be called back to locate that kind of stuff.
The basement IS the critical elevation whether or not it has equipment located in it today.
Sorry.
No need to be sorry. I posted this because I'm not that familiar with basements and I was looking for guidance...
So, based on what I've supplied, you think I should call it type 2?
My concern is the enclosure walls need adequate ventilation to maintain their integrity.
Here's a couple of pics that probably don't help much...
