Standardization News

The National Flood Insurance Program requires that any enclosures below elevated homes in flood-prone areas to be built with flood damage-resistant materials. Because compliant enclosures are required to have flood openings to allow hydrostatic forces to equalize, this requirement extends to structural materials as well as interior and exterior finishes.

A proposed new ASTM International standard will provide a comprehensive way to evaluate building materials and assemblies for use in below-base flood elevation construction.

WK35237, Practice for Determining the Flood Damage Resistance Rating of Materials and Assemblies, is being developed by Subcommittee E06.25 on Whole Buildings and Facilities, part of ASTM International Committee E06 on Performance of Buildings.

The proposed new standard will establish methods for determining flood damage resistance ratings (either acceptable or unacceptable) of materials and assemblies for use below the lowest floor of new and substantially damaged structures, in accordance with the National Flood Insurance Program's requirements for being flood damage resistant.

According to Julia Moline, project engineer, Dewberry, and an E06 member, WK35237 will be used to provide evaluation criteria that manufacturers can use to evaluate their products and that local building officials can use when enforcing requirements for materials in below-BFE construction.

"The end goal is to have materials be certified as flood damage-resistant, to facilitate consistent use of building code provisions for materials used in below-BFE construction," says Moline. "Designers and developers that specify flood damage-resistant materials in building design and construction, building officials enforcing building code provisions and homeowners seeking certified flood damage-resistant materials will all benefit from the proposed standard, once it has been approved."

All interested parties, including both building materials providers and users, are encouraged to join E06.25 in the development of WK35237.

CONTACT Technical Information: Julia Moline, Dewberry • Arlington, Va. • Phone: 646-326-2612 O ASTM Staff: Stephen Mawn • Phone: 610-832-9726 O Upcoming Meeting: April 15-18 • April Committee Week • Phoenix, Ariz.