Making Homes Safer

If you live on or near the U.S. Gulf or Atlantic coasts, the hurricane threat to your home could be even greater than you realize.

  • More than 32 million homes on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts are at risk of sustaining hurricane wind damage according to a report released in 2021 by real estate analytics firm CoreLogic and reported in sources like Scientific American.
  • These homes, stretching from Texas to Florida to the mid-Atlantic to New England, represent $8.5 trillion of property value, or roughly 150% of the annual budget of the entire U.S. government.
  • Over 70% of homes in the country were built before 1995, the year when the building code started responding to impact of catastrophic events like Hurricane Andrew in South Florida.

Damage to your home can be very costly not to mention emotionally devastating and stressful.

The average cost to repair hurricane damage can vary significantly, based on the level of damage, the size of your home, and where you live. According to Homeadvisor.com, homeowners recovering after a flood or heavy rains will pay a minimum of $4,000 to clean up water damage, not including mold removal. Roof damage is one of the most common home repair issues after a hurricane makes landfall. The average cost to repair an entire roof can cost the homeowner between $8,000 – $10,000. And if your home was destroyed, the cost to rebuild is dramatically higher than a damaged house.

Many homeowners rely on their insurance companies for financial compensation, only to learn after a storm that their coverage is limited. Insurance companies often find themselves overwhelmed with insurance claims, which results in claimants receiving delayed or underpaid payments if their claims are not denied. Processing a homeowner’s insurance claim is time consuming and only 57 percent of nearly 1 million insurance claims opened post Hurricane Irma in Florida have been closed — not exactly a “sunny” outlook for the Sunshine State.

Visit fortifiedhome.org to learn more.

As we face a future of stronger, more intense hurricanes, what can we do to make our homes safer?

The nonprofit Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) has developed the above building code “Fortified Home” standard as a guide to strengthening houses against severe weather like hurricanes. If your house receives an IBHS “Fortified Home” designation, you may also be eligible for insurance incentives or discounts. Homeowners can contact their local insurance agent for details as programs vary from state to state.

The Fortified Home standard focuses on three primary areas of a home to make it safer in the event of hurricane wind and rain: 

  • The Roof
  • The Exterior Walls, Openings and Attached Structures
  • The Connections that hold a home together

1. Fortify the Roof

Roofs are not only at risk of detaching from a home in a severe hurricane, causing catastrophic destruction, but water can penetrate through roof decks and attic vents, leading to damage throughout the home. 

Even a Category 1 Hurricane, with sustained winds of 74-95 mph, is enough to damage a roof. “It is absolutely critical to provide top-tier protection for a home’s roof,” said Fred Malik, managing director of the “Fortified” program at IBHS, in a statement. “When a roof fails, we almost always see a cascade of damage, and that can impact the integrity of the entire structure.”

IBHS recommends the following steps to make the roof stronger against hurricane winds and rain:

Strengthen the roof deck (plywood sheathing) attachment to house frame

  • “Nail it down”
  • Use 8D ring-shank nails, enhanced nail spacing

Seal the roof deck to keep water out

  • Seal seams of roof deck under underlayment and shingles

Lock down roof edges to keep wind from getting under roof

  • Use specific techniques and materials including a wider drip edge

Use impact-resistant shingles that are less likely to fail and rip off the roof deck

Install wind and water-resistant attic vents

2. Fortify your home’s exterior walls, openings, and attachments

When wind enters a home through openings like windows and doors, not only can rain damage the interior, but pressure builds up inside the structure and increases the risk of your roof coming apart from the walls. Recommended upgrades to your home’s exterior include:

Adding impact protection for Windows and Doors to keep storm pressures from penetrating the home

  • Install shutters or other protective barriers for all openings, including skylights, windows, doors, and garage doors
  • The IBHS Selection Guide for Shutters and Other Protective Barriers offers a comprehensive overview of pros and cons of many options available to residential homeowners, including information about impact resistant windows, and doors.

Upgrading to impact/pressure-rated Windows and skylights that are designed to prevent pressurization of your house, and doors and garage doors that can also be impact-rated for windborne debris

Upgrading to stronger Exterior Sheathing

  • Impact-resistant structural sheathing for exterior walls like 7/16” thick OSB (oriented strand board) securely attached to wood wall framing

Strengthening and bracing Gable Ends (exterior walls that generally include the triangular portion between the edges of intersecting roof pitches) and Roof Overhangs.

  • Add bracing and fasteners

Reinforcing Soffits to keep rain out (soffits are the exposed siding underneath a roof’s overhang)

  • Add bracing and fasteners

Anchoring and bracing attached structures

  • Improve the anchorage of structures like carports and porches
  • Secure chimney to structure of the home

3. Fortify your home’s critical connections

In most areas of the country, typical construction relies on gravity and the weight of your home to keep it in one piece when high winds strike. The highest level of “Fortified Home” certification focuses creating an “engineered continuous load path,” which means tying the home’s roof to the walls and the walls to the foundation with metal connectors. Continuous load paths are designed to resist and transmit wind uplift and lateral (side to side) shear through the home to the foundation and ultimately the ground.

One of the most important connections that can be improved in existing homes is where the roof meets the wall system.

Hurricane ties are now code required, but there are various levels of strength. Rather than a single “leg” connection, consider upgrading to a double “leg” strap as shown below.

The second very critical connection is from the wall system to the foundation, as transferring the loads from the structure down into the foundation is essential. 

There are a wide variety of anchor systems used, so seek the help of a professional engineer when designing the connections for your home.

The left photo shows attaching a roof truss with toenails. The middle photo shows a typical hurricane strap. The right photo shows a saddle type (double leg) hurricane strap which are used in Deltec Hurricane-Resistant homes.

Learn about Deltec’s Hurricane-Resistant Homes

If you are considering purchasing or building a home on the Atlantic or Gulf Coasts or other hurricane prone areas, Deltec Homes in Asheville, NC is a world leader in the design and manufacture of hurricane-resistant residential structures for the past 54 years. They have faced almost every major hurricane over the last five decades, with a near perfect record: a 99.9% survival rate. Learn about how Deltec is working to make homes safer, and about Hurricane 225 — a home for the future that can survive winds of 225 mph.

9 Low-Cost Ways to Get Your Home Ready for Hurricane Season

Want to get started with a manageable list of things you can do to protect your home in the event of a hurricane? Disastersafety.org has great suggestions for fast and low-cost items that can make a real difference.

1. Review your insurance policy

  • Know what your homeowner’s insurance policy covers and what it doesn’t
  • Ask your insurance agent questions if you have them and store your agent’s contact information in your phone.

2. Inspect your roof and resolve leaks

Have your roof inspected to make sure it’s ready to stand up to hurricane season.

3. Secure soffits

Install stainless steel screws through fascia and channels so they connect the soffit material. Apply polyurethane sealant over screws and let dry for 72 hours.

4. Check your gutters

  • Clean any debris from your gutters
  • Extend downspouts away from the house to divert water

5. Seal gaps and cracks

  • Check all exterior walls and around windows, doors, electrical boxes, vents, and pipes
  • Use a tube of silicone caulk to seal gaps and cracks to keep water out

6. Trim your trees

  • Have the trees around your home trimmed by an arborist to reduce the threat to your home during high winds.
  • Remove branches that overhang the house and remove dead or diseased trees.

7. Service your garage door

Maintenance like tightening screws and bolts will ensure your garage door is in proper working condition

8. Service your generator in case of power outages

Set a maintenance plan for your specific model by checking the owner’s manual.

9. Create a home inventory before a storm

An up-to-date home inventory will:

  • Help you ensure you have the right type and amount of insurance for your possessions
  • Make filing a claim as simple as possible

The Insurance Information Institute has a step-by-step guide on how to create a home inventory, including how to use digital technology (photos, videos, inventory apps) to make the process easier.

Download the Hurricane Ready Home Preparedness Guide from disastersafety.org for a comprehensive homeowner checklist of seasonal prep, improvement projects, last-minute prep and post-storm recovery.

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