The building and personal property form CP 00 10 reads, “Covered property does not include “g. Foundations of buildings, structures, machinery, or boilers if their foundations are below: (1) The lowest basement floor; or (2) The surface of the ground, if there is no basement . . .” It is necessary to give proper consideration to the meaning of “below the surface of the ground.” In the case of a slab foundation, only the footings would truly be below the surface of the ground, and thus not subject to damage from perils covered in the policy.

This lack of exposure to covered perils is the reason for excluding from coverage foundations that are below the surface of the ground. The slab itself is certainly subject to damage — cracking or spalling from excess heat, for example. Even foundations that are below the surface of the ground are not subject to the exclusion if they are not below the lowest basement floor. Thus what might normally be considered the foundation of a building with a basement should be included in the valuation of the building, because, while it is below the surface of the ground, it is not below the basement floor.

It seems clear, both from the standpoint of need for coverage and from the language of the foundation exclusion, that concrete slabs are not reached by such exclusions any more than are basement floors. It is only the underground, unexposed parts of the foundation that are excluded and that need not, therefore, be taken into account in a valuation for insurance purposes.

The homeowners forms refer to foundations in the context of determining the value of the house immediately before the loss to determine the amount of insurance required to equal 80 percent of the replacement. The policy instructs the insured “not to include the value of: (a) Excavations, foundations, piers or any supports which are below the undersurface of the lowest basement floor;” or “(b) Those supports in (a) above which are below the surface of the ground inside the foundation walls, if there is no basement . . . .” Thus foundation walls in houses that have a basement are included in the value of the house, as is the concrete slab in a house that has no basement. The homeowners forms, however, do not list foundations, whether below the undersurface of the basement or not, as property not covered, as does the commercial building and personal property form. Under the homeowners form, foundations, piers, or any supports below the undersurface of any basement, or below the surface of the ground if there is no basement, are covered property.