Back story:
Received a phone call from a local agent from a major insurance company. Ironically enough, she was being denied a portion of her personal flood claim due to the way her policy application was written (she did it herself) and the old elevation certificate from 1996 (final certificate submitted on what looks like a local preliminary EC form). It is a very large (>4,000 sq ft) 2-story elevated house on piers with an enclosed crawl space (with openings) with a 3 car garage on ground level (without openings). Original EC had the garage below the BFE and the first floor above the BFE. Issues were:
- Garage / Storage Rooms: The original storage room had a bathroom already installed when she bought the house. She converted the "boat port" portion of the garage to an exercise room. The didn't want to pay the claim for anything in the garage because the house was originally rated on the first floor elevation and not the garage elevation. (I can't do much to help with that)
- Crawl Space: No information was provided about the crawl space to determine if it was properly vented. (This I can help with)
End Result:
So after about 3 hours at her house and pages of notes and a sketch, I ended up creating this figure to attach to the EC to help explain the whole situation. I also added plenty of notes on the EC as well. Is it overkill? Perhaps, but in the end it will hopefully get her claim resolved, at least from the crawl space side of things. And she might refer her clients to me in the future.
I don't think providing information like this can be considered "overkill". If a surveyor does plenty of elevation certificates, they will meet quite a few unique situations. I do have a question about E & F and them not being counted because they are under a deck. Is the deck constructed with a solid wall so water won't pass underneath it? Were they to high?
Howard Surveyor, post: 416596, member: 8835 wrote: I do have a question about E & F and them not being counted because they are under a deck. Is the deck constructed with a solid wall so water won't pass underneath it? Were they to high?
Yes the deck was closed off beneath it and the top of the deck was higher than 1 foot above grade. Had I needed that additional venting, I would have instructed the home owner to remove the boards that closed off the deck and install lattice instead.