Tag Archive: flood vents

Elevating Your Home: Don’t Forget Flood Vents

February 5, 2014

In this blog we’ve talked about different methods of mitigating flood damage, such as raising your home and installing flood vents. But did you know that these two flood mitigation methods are often used together?

The objective of elevating a home is to put the living area above flood level. Usually this is done by raising the living space and building a new lower floor or abandoning the lower level and constructing a new living space above. The method you choose depends on the way your home and foundation are constructed.

Regardless of the method used, the end result is the same: the lower floor is used for parking or storage, not living space.

But you don’t want to go through the expense and effort of raising your home and then fail to protect the foundation from flood damage. That’s why flood vents are an integral part of elevating homes.

As stated in FEMA’s Homeowner’s Guide to Retrofitting, Chapter 5: Elevating Your Home:

An important part of the project is installing flood openings in the foundation walls (your building permit will specify the size and location of these openings), no higher than 1 foot above the ground, so that floodwaters can enter and equalize the internal and external hydrostatic pressures.

This method of flood mitigation is called “wet floodproofing.” According to Chapter 6 of FEMA’s report, wet floodproofing is when floodwater is allowed to enter and exit the enclosed area (usually through flood vents). This helps protect the home’s foundation from structural damage and prevent it from floating off its foundation.

If you’re considering elevating your home and want to install FEMA compliant flood vents, contact Flood Solutions.

Are Flood Solutions’ Flood Vents FEMA Approved?

December 3, 2013

When you’re researching flood vents, you’ll see that some manufacturers (many, in fact) advertise their flood vents as “FEMA approved” or “FEMA certified.” The truth is that no company can really make those claims. In fact, FEMA does not “approve, endorse, certify or recommend any products.”

Here’s exactly what FEMA states on their website under FAQs – Building Science:

While a product may be in compliance with FEMA design guidance, any language from manufacturers stating their product is ‘FEMA approved’ or ‘FEMA certified’ is incorrect.

What FEMA does provide is guidance on interpreting NFIP requirements for foundation wall openings. This guidance is written up in FEMA’s Technical Bulletin 1 – August 2008.

Therefore, while no company can claim that its flood vents are FEMA approved or certified, a company could state that its flood vents are compliant with NFIP regulations and FEMA’s guidelines for those regulations.

At Flood Solutions, we’re proud to state that all Flood Solutions flood vents are FEMA compliant. Every flood vent we manufacture and sell has an engineered opening that complies with FEMA Technical Bulletin 1-08.

To prove it, when you install a Flood Solutions flood vent, we’ll provide you with an “engineered certificate” for your state. We have 26 of these certificates online. If you need a certificate for a state not listed, simply contact us.

Changes to the National Flood Insurance Program

November 5, 2013

On July 6, 2012, the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act came into effect. The purpose of the law is to bring the National Flood Insurance Program out of its financial deficit by phasing out subsidies and updating flood zone maps. If you’ve seen an increase in your flood insurance rate this year, this law might be the reason why.

Rates for subsidized non-primary residences increased 25 percent on January 1^st of this year. Increases for additional categories of subsidized properties will continue through 2013. Starting in 2014, premium rates for non-subsidized properties may also increase as new or revised flood insurance rate maps come into effect.

While no one enjoys paying for flood insurance, your mortgage lender may require it and, in many cases, it’s just the right thing to do. So what can you do to lower your premiums? Premiums are based on an assessment of your home’s flood risk; if you can reduce your risk, you might get a break on premiums.

Big-ticket upgrades, such as relocating your home or raising it above minimum elevation standards, can lower your flood insurance rates. If you’re not prepared to make that kind of investment, you can still make less pricey upgrades to reduce your premiums, such as adding flood vents to enclosures.

At Flood Solutions, we manufacturer FEMA compliant flood vents for homes and commercial properties. Our flood vents are priced from $52.00 to $119.00, making them an affordable way to mitigate flood damage and reduce your flood insurance costs. For more information about our flood vents, contact us.

How Stuff Works: A Flood Primer

February 12, 2013

If you’ve never delved into the basics of flooding, How Stuff Works (a subsidiary of Discovery) has a great article that covers all aspects, from the water cycle (evaporation, condensation, precipitation) to monsoons.

What makes flood water so powerful? How is it we can swim safely in deep ocean water, while even just a few inches of flood water can be deadly? The answer is force of movement. When water overflows riverbanks or bursts dikes, it moves quickly to distribute itself evenly. This movement carries a great deal of force. Water is heavy (as any backpacker knows) so only a few inches of moving flood water can be enough to knock people off their feet or even move cars.

It’s this same force of movement that makes flood vents such a good idea. Flood vents allow water to move through your home, distributing pressure more evenly between the outside and inside of exterior walls. This, in turn, helps your structural foundation remain intact, minimizing costly repairs once flood waters recede.

All our Flood Solutions flood vents are FEMA compliant and made in the U.S.A. For more information about installing flood vents in your new or existing home, contact us.