NFIP Elevated Building Coverage Limitations

An elevated building is defined as a building that has no basement and that has its lowest elevated floor raised above ground level by foundation walls, shear walls, posts, piers, or columns. Elevated buildings can have enclosures built below the lowest elevated floor. The NFIP limits coverage in these enclosed spaces.

Elevated building coverage limitations apply to buildings that are Post FIRM (constructed after the community in which they are located entered the NFIP) and that are in zones A-A30, AE, AH, AR, AR/A, AR/AE, AR/AH, AR/A1-A30 and VE.  The flood zone at the time of the loss determines how elevated building coverage limitations are applied. 

Items Covered in the Enclosure of an Elevated Building

• Elevated Building Coverage is limited to the following items if installed in their functioning locations and, if necessary for operation, connected to a power source:
• Central air conditioners;
• Cisterns and the water in them;
• Electrical junction and circuit breaker boxes;
• Electrical outlets and switches;
• Elevators, dumbwaiters and related equipment, except for related equipment installed below the base flood elevation after September 30, 1987;
• Fuel tanks and the fuel in them;
• Furnaces and hot water heaters;
• Heat pumps;
• Pumps and tanks used in solar energy systems;
• Stairways and staircases attached to the building, not separated from it by elevated walkways;
• Sump pumps;
• Water softeners and the chemicals in them, water filters, and faucets installed as an integral part of the plumbing system;
• Well water tanks and pumps;
• Required utility connections for any item in this list; and
• Footings, foundations, posts, pilings, piers, or other foundation walls and anchorage systems required to support a building
• Clean-up

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