

“That’s good for the middle of the country, but not hurricane zones.
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“Old standard windows are rated at 30 to 35 pounds per square foot,” he says. If impact-rated windows and doors are beyond your budget, Reinhold says, a less expensive alternative is to combine windows and doors that meet the local design pressure rating with a protective system, such as hurricane shutters. The use of impact-rated windows and doors-designed to meet weather conditions in high-velocity hurricane zones-relieves owners from having to board up windows and doors, “and you get the same insurance breaks” as owners who have hurricane shutters, Khoury-Vogt says. We do feel very, very good about the ‘Fortified’ standards.” Windows and Doors The decision to build an all-masonry community happened before the devastating 2004 hurricane season, she says, but it “made a difference in people wanting to invest here. Finished floors are two feet above grade to reduce the risk of flooding. The roofs of the Alys Beach buildings all have very shallow eaves, which gives hurricane winds little to pull against. With an architectural style inspired by the island homes in Bermuda, the buildings in Alys Beach are masonry, which offers significant strength against wind and water. “Then we have another very thin layer of grout that fills in between the tiles, a cementitious film, and paint on top of that.”
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“We use individual concrete tile that is foamed in, mortared in, and screwed in,” says Marieanne Khoury-Vogt, town architect for Alys Beach, a coastal town in the Florida Panhandle that has constructed every building to IBHS’s “Fortified for Safer Living” standards, which exceed Florida’s rigorous code for building in coastal areas. Shingles can tear off, leaving the roof exposed to further damage. Otherwise, tiles and metal sheets can become dangerous missiles. Whether you use shingles, tile, or metal for the top layer, pay careful attention to installation. Over the roof decking, you need a strong underlayment so that if the top layer of roofing material (typically shingles or tiles) comes off, you still have a layer of protection. Space the nails six inches apart, Reinhold says. As with any construction materials, they only work if they’re installed correctly. Whether you’re in a high-wind or earthquake-prone area, the Institute recommends attaching roof sheathing to the trusses with ring-shank nails, which have a spiral feature in the shank and can increase the holding power of the nail by 50 to 100 percent. “When you have enough damage to have a claim, 90 percent of homes have roof damage.” “We usually start at the roof ,” says Tim Reinhold, director of engineering and vice president of the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), a Tampa, FL-based nonprofit organization sponsored by insurance companies to promote hazard-resistant construction.
