Lowest Floor pages are written to be accurate, useful and calm with a worried reader, and open about what a web page cannot know. This page sets out how that works and where its limits are.
How a page is made
- Research. We start from primary sources and from our register of rules and figures, and note what they do and do not settle.
- Writing. A draft is written from that research under the Lowest Floor name.
- Fact-check. A separate check compares each rule, limit, date and spec with its source, and reworks every sum on the page.
- Graphics. Any charts or diagrams repeat figures from the text and add no new facts.
- Final review. A last read looks for errors, gaps and unsafe advice. If it finds a serious problem, the page is fixed and reviewed again. We do not publish a page with a serious problem still open.
Each page ends with the date its sources were checked. No process catches everything, so please tell us if you find a mistake.
Our sources
Every limit, date, rule, code section, spec and safety statement links to a primary source at the claim. We use sources such as the International Residential Code and local codes as read, university extension services, EPA, CDC, CPSC, FEMA, the Standard Flood Insurance Policy, state insurance regulators, city ordinances, and maker manuals and specification sheets. If we cannot confirm something, we leave it out or say plainly that it is unconfirmed. How we check gives the detail, including how prices are handled.
The order of work
Every page follows the order set out on our fixes hub: interior moisture and surface water come before drains, membranes and pumps. We recommend a bigger fix first only when a source says so for that case.
What we do not claim
- We have no crew and do no jobs. We never say “we tested”, “we installed” or “we inspected”, and we do not claim to have done the work we describe.
- We do not invent authors, quotes, homeowner stories or contractor comments.
- We do not rank contractors or products, and we do not call anything “best”.
- Our tools and tables never call something “safe”, “enough”, “dry” or “fair”, and never say “you need” or “you qualify”. They give estimates; the maker, engineer, city or insurer decides.
- Photos are stock images chosen to illustrate a topic. They do not show jobs we have done or homes we have seen.
Safety
A basement can hold standing water, live wiring, sewage, mold and a failing wall. These rules bind every page:
- Power. Every flood page opens by telling you not to enter a flooded basement with the power on, and to keep it off until an electrician has inspected the system.
- Wiring. No do-it-yourself wiring. Circuits go to a licensed electrician. We never advise removing or bypassing a GFCI.
- Structure. Horizontal cracks and bowing walls go to a structural engineer, first and in plain words. We give no do-it-yourself bracing or injection advice, and no “acceptable bowing” number, because no source we read gives one.
- Sewage. Cleanup wording comes only from EPA or a health department, with its date. We treat backed-up floor-drain water as sewage unless shown otherwise, and never call it safe.
- Mold. Wording comes from EPA and CDC. We make no health claims beyond theirs.
- Discharge. We never advise sending a sump to a sanitary sewer or floor drain where that is banned. Our default is don’t, and check with your city.
- Permits. Codes are adopted locally, so we state no single national rule, and no page advises skipping a permit or inspection.
- Insurance. We quote policy clauses as read. Your policy decides, so ask your insurer in writing.
Fairness
Sellers’ claims are reported as claims, and we say “installers say” where that is all we have. We don’t name or single out a firm when we question a figure that is repeated widely. Products are described from their own specification sheets. For structural work, we suggest an assessment from someone who is not selling the repair. Sometimes the honest answer is that the cheap fix comes first, or that the source does not settle the question.
Calculators
Our calculators are formulas with named inputs and shown working, and each formula is checked against answers worked by hand before it goes live. Every default that is a rate, spec or rule says where it comes from, or that it is our assumption, and you can change it. Calculators print numbers only, so read the notes on the page around them.
Updates and corrections
Rules, grants, policies and prices change, so we recheck on the schedule set out on how we check, and sooner when a source we rely on changes. A page shows an updated date only when its content really changed. Errors are fixed and recorded on our corrections page.
Advertising and independence
Display advertising pays for this site, and advertisers have no say over what we publish. We use no affiliate links, accept no paid placements, sell no leads, give no quotes and make no referrals. We sell nothing and install nothing. Our about page has more on how the site works.
Everything here is general information, not engineering, legal, insurance or medical advice.