At least, in my county ...
I had a strange call this week from a guy I did a survey for a couple of weeks ago who said he was moving a prebuilt wood shed onto his property (like those 10X8 wood sheds in the Home Depot parking lot), but the county code enforcement folks are giving him fits.
He said the county told him that the shed has to either be above BFE (which would be about 4-5' above ground in this area) .... or, if it's below BFE, then it has to be made entirely of flood resistant materials (which they define as pressure treated wood), have proper flood vents, and can't have electric.
I told the guy he must have misunderstood, and I'd call a contact at the county and get the real requirements. Well, as it turns out, the county basically repeated everything he told me, and said this was something new they were doing as a result of FEMA changes.
Now, I don't understand this at all. Sheds are not insurable by FEMA, so how can they factor into the county building code for sheds? It sucks for this guy because he's already paid for it (used) and apparently can't get a refund.
Anyone seen anything like this before?
> Anyone seen anything like this before?
About 10 years ago I did an Elev Cert for a new house. The owner was a roofing contractor, and had kind of an abrasive personality. I got along fine with him, but he gave the county building inspector a lot of grief. During the house build, the owner decided to move a couple of small storage containers onto his property to store hay and tools. The inspector required him to get Elev Certs for those, too -- pre-placement and post-placement. The owner had to raise them up on railroad ties in order to get them above the BFE.
A personality clash may not be involved in your situation, but it can be the cause of otherwise unnecessary (and expensive) work.
Yes, I've seen this before
Several things are of concern. A big one is that if the shed is very tight it will float away during a flood and possibly create problems downstream.
I was asked to locate the needed elevation for a planned installation of two of those type sheds. Like your situation, they would have needed to be about four feet above ground level and have no attached staircase. Meanwhile, the very old house was grandfathered in. This was a case of a very low income family situation. Felt sorry for them but there was nothing I could do.
Yes, I've seen this before
Yeah, I thought about the floating away issue and causing damage elsewhere, but this is a zone A (non floodway) situation where the flooding is expected to be "still water". But, if that were the concern, then they could require flood vents and anchoring. He'd be fine with that, but the pressure treated wood requirement won't work for him. What's the point of requiring pressure treated wood for a below BFE installation? Isn't pressure treated wood more for the prevention of termites, rather than flood resistance, anyway?
What you have to look at is the agreement the municipality signed with FEMA. There is a basic form that FEMA has that the gov't agency fills in blanks about what they will and will not permit in the flood zone and at what elevations. The gov't official could be 100% correct based on the contract he has to enforce.
I agree this is not an insurance issue but a flood hazard issue. If it's not properly vented and anchored it could float away and cause damage off the property...
8'x10'? I'd strap a couple these to the sides and call it a house boat. maybe even register it for good measure.
:good: B-)
