I have a diagram 8 building with air vents within 1 foot of the grade. The residence has temperature controlled openings. Can I consider these as openings? They certainly are not engineered flood vents.
From Fema:
An “opening” is a permanent opening that allows for the free passage of water automatically in both directions without human intervention.
Under the NFIP, a minimum of 2 openings is required for enclosures or crawlspaces. The openings shall provide a total net area of not less than 1 square inch for every square foot of area enclosed, excluding any bars, louvers, or other covers of the opening.
How would you handle A8_b and c on the certificate? My feeling is zero on the flood openings and "not applicable" on total net area of flood openings.
Thanks
No
Paul in PA
When you say temperature controlled openings, does that mean that they open and close based on temperature? If so, I don't think you can count that as a flood vent.
> When you say temperature controlled openings, does that mean that they open and close based on temperature? If so, I don't think you can count that as a flood vent.
Yes
In addition I am getting some grief from the insurance company lady who "writes flood polices every day". She is claiming I must count the vents as openings.
My contention is the current vent does not allow for the free flow of water in both directions and therefore cannot be counted as an opening.
It sounds like your have this one handled. It irks me that as a taxpayer I subsidize the policies written by people like her. We the people pay the loss in the end. At least these idiots could properly quantify the risk...
> In addition I am getting some grief from the insurance company lady who "writes flood polices every day". She is claiming I must count the vents as openings.
Tell the "insurance company lady" to do the survey herself if she's so knows so darn much.
I feel your pain. I did an elevation certificate a few months ago where the underwriter argued with me about item E2 not being filled out.
The house had a crawl space, so that elevation went in space E1. The vents were the typical foundation vents that are opened manually, and had screening on them. They do not count as flood vents, so I did not fill out item E2. They claimed they had to have the elevation of the finished floor to rate the policy.
It is the same as when you talk with FEMA. Everyone has a different interpretation. It is very frustrating.
I believe FEMA says that non-engineered vents that have the ability to be opened/closed must be permanently disabled in the open position.
There is a 34 page all-you-need-to-know-about-flood-vents FEMA technical bulletin.
http://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/2644?id=1579
The type of air temperature controlled vent they have is specifically mentioned as NOT COUNTING on page 19.
I must just be extremely fortunate. I do a fair number of certificates and it seems I am a magnet for the strange ones. The FEMA library and the folks at the map center have been very helpful and consistent...