The slab has cured, the framer has his walls stacked on the deck and intends to stand them tomorrow, and the builder asks you to release the site so framing can begin. What does the code require before vertical construction continues at this site?
- AA measurement taken by the inspector from the top of the slab down to the crown of the nearest street, recorded on the inspection card, which then serves as the department's elevation record
An inspector's tape measurement to a street crown is not a survey and does not establish an elevation against a datum. The code names who prepares and certifies this document, and it is not the inspector.
- Documentation of the elevation of the lowest floor, including any basement, prepared and certified by a registered design professional or by a licensed land surveyor
- CAn elevation certificate at the final inspection only, before the certificate of occupancy is issued and before the flood insurance policy on the finished dwelling is written
Waiting until final defeats the purpose. The point of taking the elevation when the floor is placed is that the house can still be corrected; a certificate produced at closing only records how far off it ended up.
- DA signed statement from the general contractor that the lowest floor was placed at the elevation shown on the approved plans, retained with the construction documents on the job site
A contractor's statement that he built it as drawn is not certified documentation, and it is exactly the assurance that surveys exist to test. Keeping the paper on the job site also fails the requirement to submit it to the building official.
Why B is correct
The elevation documentation is due upon placement of the lowest floor and before further vertical construction, and it must be prepared and certified by a registered design professional or a licensed surveyor. Basement floors count as the lowest floor for this purpose.
What this question is testing
Whether the candidate knows the flood hazard inspection hold, its timing relative to vertical construction, and who the code requires to prepare and certify the elevation documentation.
On the job
Flood elevation is the item most often missed on a first house in a mapped area, because the builder's schedule has framing following the slab by a day. Departments that enforce it well hold the framing inspection request until the certified elevation is in the file. When the number comes back low, the honest conversations are about lifting a floor system or abandoning a slab, which is why the code stops the job at that particular moment.
Memory technique
Survey the slab before you stack the walls.
Exam tip
Lowest floor placed, elevation certified, then walls. In that order.
Where to look it up
IRC Chapter 1 administration, required inspections, the flood hazard documentation paragraph.