Use Horry County’s year-by-year Elevation Certificates archive to find signed flood documents by permit number and document label. Choose the document that answers your question: a vent report is not the building’s elevation certificate. Older records and pending permits may be absent, so keep the permit and year for a follow-up request.
Choose the document that answers your question
The archive uses four document labels:
- EC: Elevation Certificate.
- FP: Floodproofing Certificate.
- VR: Flood Vent Report.
- VC: V-Zone Certificate.
These are archive labels, not a conclusion that every project needs all four. Inside a candidate PDF, compare the property or building identity, document type, signature, date, and construction stage. For AE and VE zones, Horry County’s Build Responsibly guidance calls for a finished-construction elevation certificate to verify proper height. An earlier-stage document cannot silently stand in for it.
Hypothetical example: A permit file contains an under-construction EC, a later finished-construction EC, and a vent report. A reader documenting the finished floor elevations would use the later signed EC and retain the earlier one only as historical context. A reader checking vents would use the vent report. If the archive shows only the earlier EC, the sensible next request is for the finished version, not a claim that the building failed or passed a final check.
Check the height the County requires
A certificate is easier to read once you know the target. Horry County’s Build Responsibly guidance for unincorporated areas sets these rules:
- Zones AE and VE: the lowest floor (AE) or the bottom of the lowest horizontal structural member (VE) must sit at least 3 feet above base flood elevation, verified by a finished-construction certificate.
- Zone A: the lowest floor must sit at least 24 inches above the highest adjacent grade.
- Substantial improvement: work costing 50% or more of the building’s market value triggers the new-construction standards.
- Permits: work over $500 in materials and labor needs a permit.
Compare the certificate’s lowest-floor figure with the base flood elevation it reports. A finished-construction certificate showing less than the required margin is a question for Code Enforcement, not a conclusion that the house is unlawful; the rule in force when it was permitted may differ from today’s.
Follow the year and the permit, then confirm the building
Start with an approximate project or certificate year. The expandable sections list signed files on hand; the archive is not an address index for every building in the county. On October 20, 2026, the newest sections held 245 certificates for 2025, 175 for 2024 and 130 for 2023. Some entries carry a fifth label, NI (No Impact), which is not an elevation certificate. If you have a permit number from project papers or our Horry County building-permit guide, look for it among the year’s labels. Without a number, establish the issuing jurisdiction and ask the responsible office to identify the permit. An address or parcel identifier can help staff resolve the file even though the archive itself is organized by year and permit.
For an unincorporated-area building, the county’s Code Enforcement department says it issues building permits, inspects construction, and administers the National Flood Insurance Program. A property inside a municipality may have a different permitting custodian. Confirm who issued the permit before concluding that a Horry County archive gap covers the whole property history. The Code Enforcement page lists 843-915-5090 for building-permit and inspection questions; its online portal description covers case information, scheduling, and payments, not a guarantee that every historical flood PDF appears there.
Ask for the missing signed version
The County’s flood-construction guidance sends permit and floodplain questions to Code Enforcement at 843-915-5090, 1301 Second Avenue, Suite 1D09, Conway. Use that office when the listed PDF is missing, its scan is unreadable, or the document stage is unclear. Give the office a compact file key:
- Property and jurisdiction: address and parcel identifier if known, plus the city or unincorporated location.
- Project: approximate construction or certificate year, work description, and permit number if one is available.
- Requested object: the signed finished-construction EC, floodproofing certificate, vent report, or V-zone certificate; name the one you need rather than asking for “the flood certificate.”
- Gap: the archive year and labels you checked, any earlier-stage PDF you found, and the particular document or signature that is missing.
An empty year or missing permit label does not prove no certificate was issued. Nor does a signed EC alone establish that a building permit passed final inspection, that a property’s flood classification never changed, or that an insurer accepted the document. For construction closeout, identify the separate permit and final-inspection record. Preserve the county’s response and the exact signed PDF when describing what the record actually shows.
Inside the City of Charleston the route is different; how to find a City of Charleston elevation certificate through Mapnet explains it.
Official Horry County archive, Code Enforcement, and flood-construction guidance were checked October 20, 2026.