Topsail Beach Construction Questions

[stopgo]

Originally Posted by Coastal Planner

Just remember its the elevation of the house that will affect your flood insurance rates, not the elevation of the lot.

Correct and understood. That's one of the questions I have, whether or not given that the lot elevation is higher than most if the house will be, or needs to be built on pilings.

[Coastal Planner]

Originally Posted by stopgo

Correct and understood. That's one of the questions I have, whether or not given that the lot elevation is higher than most if the house will be, or needs to be built on pilings.

You can check the floodplain maps and determine the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) here:

Flood Risk Information System

It looks like most of Topsail's sound side has a BFE of 8 to 10 feet. Once you determine the elevation of the lot, just subtract the elevation from the BFE to determine how far up the house needs to be raised. You'll get an additional discount if the first floor of the house is at least 2 feet above the BFE.

[stopgo]

Originally Posted by Coastal Planner

You can check the floodplain maps and determine the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) here:

Flood Risk Information System

It looks like most of Topsail's sound side has a BFE of 8 to 10 feet. Once you determine the elevation of the lot, just subtract the elevation from the BFE to determine how far up the house needs to be raised. You'll get an additional discount if the first floor of the house is at least 2 feet above the BFE.

The exact location comes up with a 9' BFE. Determining exact lot elevation is quite difficult at present since it needs to be cleared and graded. There is quite a bit of variation in the topography rising gradually from sound to the middle of the lot then sharply to the highest point. Seems like it may be 15-20+ feet above the water level at high tide. What the overall elevation ends up being after grading remains to be seen and I suppose would then determine the first floor elevation and any freeboard that might be possible to achieve discounts.