Pole barn in flood zone. It has two walls on the side but there is a three foot gap from the wall to the roof. Flood insurance required?

I believe this has been asked before but I couldn't find it.

Pole barns are exempt as the don't have rigid, load bearing walls.

Just to clarify, a pole barn could require flood insurance if it meets the definition of a building. See item 14 on pGR7 here: https://www.fema.gov/pdf/nfip/manual201105/content/03_generalrules.pdf

I'm with Adam, there are lots of pole barns in my neck of the woods that would definitely be considered a building. I'm curious what is holding up the roof if not the walls?

The "poles" would hold is up.

We don't see barns without walls here up north, but I've heard they are much more common in warmer climates. Some of them look like what I often see referred to as a carport, with just poles and a roof. That said, many of our pole barns have framed walls and do meet the definition of a building.

The poles hold the frame that holds the trusses that holds the roof. The term "load bearing" is not part of the definition of a rigid wall. My understanding has always been that if the walls are more than 1' up from the dirt, it's not considered a 'wall'. Not going all the way to the top may not disqualify it from coverage.

Your best bet is to contact NFIP on that one!

I'm going to use myself as an example of walls that don't go all the way to the roof, but are most definitely rigid. In my feedroom of my barn, I built walls that may be better built than my house. smile They do not technically go all the way to the ceiling because the ceiling is on a slant. Used to, I left that 'slice' open. More recently, when I redid the room, I cut plywood to fill that space. This isn't much different than a house with a vaulted ceiling. Your walls do not reach to the ceiling much less the roof in many areas. They simply go to the flatline where your sheetrock ends and the ceiling begins. Many are not load bearing, but they are rigid.

Load bearing, I believe, primarily comes into play when you are looking at attached buildings/appurtenances rules