Protecting Your Home Against Hurricane Damage

Brought to you by

Protecting Your Home
Against Hurricane Damage

By June Fletcher

Question: I am thinking of relocating to Miami.  But I am concerned about hurricanes. How can I make my home hurricane-proof?

-- Elizabeth Evans, Chicago

After two record-breaking hurricane seasons, endless media images of smashed houses, and forecasters predicting an unusually stormy decade ahead, it's hard not to share your concerns. At the International Builders Show, a trade event taking place this week in Orlando, Fla., it's clear that the housing industry is worried, too --perhaps even obsessed. You can see the evidence everywhere, from the $25,000 prefab cottage called the "Tiny House" shown in the parking lot of the giant convention center, designed as temporary shelter for Katrina victims, to display booths filled with new, stronger building materials.

Still, the bad news is, if the most powerful type of storm, a Category 5, hits your home dead on, there may be no way to protect it completely. Measured by the Saffir-Simpson scale, a Category 5 storm is "catastrophic" and causes complete roof failure and major flood damage in many homes. Wind-driven debris shatters glass, huge trees are toppled, and garden sheds fly around like Dorothy's Kansas home. Even well-built houses are vulnerable.

Fortunately, Category 5 storms are relatively rare. Three have hit the United States since record-keeping began: the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, Camille in 1969, and Andrew in 1992.  (Other recent  storms, like last year's Katrina and Wilma, each reached Category 5 intensity over the Caribbean, but weakened before they hit land.)

While you may not be able to protect your home from the strongest storms, there's much you can do to ensure that it holds up against less devastating ones. If you buy a new house, you needn't worry too much, since Florida's tough building codes will go a long way to protect you; but if you are buying a home that's a decade old or more, particularly along the coast, you should look into making upgrades. Tell your insurer what you're doing; it may qualify you for discounted rates.

The main goal is to keep wind from entering your residence, where it can blow off the roof and actually make your home explode. Building codes in Florida now require reinforced roofs, stronger garage doors, impact-resistant glass or window shutters in remodeled homes as well as new ones. But you should also look to protect any openings like soffits and vents, where wind can drive in moisture that ruins insulation and damages ceilings.

When it comes to design, go for rounded shapes and hip or dome roofs. Winds whip around rounded shapes more easily than they do around angular ones -- which may limit damage to your home. Look into concrete or steel framing rather than wood, which is especially susceptible to weakening by termites and rot in the tropics. 

Also, make sure that your contractor is up-to-date on the latest hurricane-resistant products. Here's a sampling of new ones making their debut at the builder's show. Although it makes sense to use as many such products as you can, keep in mind that all are considerably more expensive than their traditional counterparts. Each could add hundreds or thousands of dollars to the finished cost of your home:

• THICKSET 90 Glass Block: Used by architects because it's secure and noise-resistant, glass block is either clear to let in light or frosted to provide privacy. This new block is also impact-resistant. (To prove it, at its show booth, manufacturer Pittsburgh Corning Glass Block hit the product continually with a two-by-four.)

• EXT Series Windows:  Shwinco Industries' new line of vinyl windows and doors was independently tested to withstand winds of up to 200 miles an hour, or the equivalent of a two-by-four shot from a cannon at 52 miles per hour. That sort of wind usually splinters the typical plywood coverings that many homeowners use to cover their windows during storms.

• Enovate: Made by Honeywell, Enovate is a patented, non-flammable hydroflurocarbon blowing agent used to make closed-cell spray foam (insulation that is sprayed into wall cavities). The Federal Emergency Management Agency recently said that closed-cell foams are the only insulation product approved to resist flood damage; the National Association of Home Builders found that foam had as much as three times the wind resistance of traditional fiberglass batt insulation. However, unlike batts, the foam must be professionally installed.

• CraneBoard's Board and Batten Siding: This faux cedar siding has interlocking panels that protect against air infiltration and wind-driven rain. Another plus: Energy efficiency. The maker, Crane Performance Siding, says the product's solid foam backing provides an R-value of up to 3 (an R value is a measure of a material's resistance to heat flow; the higher the R value, the greater the product's insulating capability).