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Crawlspace Construction of Buildings Located in
Special Flood Hazard Areas
Jeffrey Havelin, P.E.
Overview
This one-hour course is based on the FEMA construction guidelines for crawlspace
foundations used for residential buildings, which are located in Special Flood
Hazard Areas (SFHAs).
Crawlspace foundations are commonly used to elevate the lowest floors of
residential buildings located in Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs) above the
Base Flood Elevation (BFE). This course provides guidance on crawlspace
construction and supports a recent policy decision to allow construction of
crawlspaces with interior grades up to 2 feet below the lowest adjacent exterior
grade (LAG), referred to as below-grade crawlspaces, provided that other
requirements are met. Prior to that decision, below-grade crawlspaces were
considered basements under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)
Floodplain Management Regulation definitions at 44 CFR 59.1 and were not
permitted below the BFE. This requirement had been established because
below-grade crawlspace foundation walls are exposed to increased forces during
flood conditions, such as hydrostatic and saturated soil forces.
In
many parts of the country, a common practice is to construct crawlspaces with
the interior floor 1 or 2 feet below-grade by either (1) back-filling against
the exterior of the foundation wall or (2) excavating the crawlspace area to
construct footings that result in a below-grade crawlspace floor. Because FEMA
wishes to recognize common construction practices that do not increase flood
damage, FEMA recently completed a review of the policy for residential
crawlspace construction. In this review, the construction practices for
below-grade crawlspaces were examined to determine whether a crawlspace that was
1 or 2 feet below grade would increase the flood damage potential to the
foundation walls or result in additional damages to the building.
The
student must take a multiple-choice quiz consisting of ten questions at the end of this course
to earn PDH credits.
Specific Knowledge or Skill Attained
This course will specifically
review crawlspace
foundations used for residential buildings, which are located in Special Flood
Hazard Areas (SFHAs), and will cover the following topics:
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Drainage considerations
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NFIP requirements for all crawlspace construction
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Flood forces on buildings
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Flood-resistant materials
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Pre-engineered below-grade crawlspace foundation
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Utilities, access, and ventilation openings
Course
Click on the following PDF
attachment and review
Technical Bulletin (11-01) as published by the
FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY,
publication number FIA-TB-11 prior to taking a quiz for credit. You will be quizzed on the
attached document
on its entirety.
Crawlspace Construction for Buildings Located in Special Flood Hazard Areas (624
KB)
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Right click on the link. Select "Save Target As..."
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To obtain PDH credits for this course, you will need to take a quiz for
credit. Click on the link below.
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