Recent weather-related disasters, including Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of the Gulf Coast and tornadoes in Indiana and Wisconsin, may have some homeowners wondering if there is any way to protect against nature’s fury.
The nation’s insurance industry, which has a vested interest in seeing that housing withstands all manner of assaults, has been working on that problem. One example of that effort is under construction in Bolingbrook, which borders on Plainfield, parts of which were flattened by a tornado in the early 1990s.
Although it looks no different than the neighboring houses in the small Heritage Knolls subdivision off Royce Road, the concrete-panel house has an extra-thick roof, extra-sturdy shingles and windows built to withstand gales of up to 130 m.p.h., as well as wind- and impact-resistant doors.
The 2,800-square-foot, four-bedroom dwelling is built with materials and construction techniques beyond those demanded by most local building codes to provide added protection again tornadoes, hail and winter weather.
It is the first home in the Midwest built under the Fortified … for Safer Living program devised by the non-profit Institute for Business and Home Safety, based in Tampa.
The house is sponsored by IBHS; AAA Chicago Motor Club, an IBHS member, based in Des Plaines; Skokie-based Portland Cement Association, and Dukane Precast Inc., a producer of concrete panels headquartered in Naperville. AAA will offer homeowners insurance premium discounts for homes built to the Fortified standard in Illinois.
The IBHS, which was established and is supported by about 200 property and casualty insurance companies, engages in engineering, research and communications. Officials compare it to the auto industry’s Institute for Highway Safety, which is known for the crash tests it conducts.
“We work to promote better building codes,” said Chuck Vance, Fortified program manager. But unlike the auto industry, he said, “we don’t have the luxury of crash-testing homes” before a disaster strikes.
So the IBHS sends out engineers “to see what features might have helped” in the aftermath of natural disasters, Vance said.
The Fortified program was developed in the wake of Hurricane Andrew, which devastated Florida’s Atlantic coast in the early 1990s and flattened hundreds of new homes.
In hindsight, it became clear that local building codes were not nearly strict enough to ensure housing could withstand the hurricanes that regularly batter the area.
In 2000, the IBHS sponsored three homes in three price ranges in the St. Petersburg-Clearwater area of Florida. The homes were built to the higher code standards adopted by Dade County (Miami) and Broward County (Ft. Lauderdale). Florida since has adopted a stricter statewide residential building code.
“We didn’t have any criteria for anything other than hurricanes,” said Vance. The organization then began looking at other kinds of natural disasters.
Over a two-year period, it developed guidelines for areas prone to tornado, earthquake, hail, severe winter weather, flood and wildfire. It began unrolling those to builders and buyers in early 2004.
“We are now in seven states and have commitments for 1,000 homes from builders and developers,” Vance said.
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There is no guarantee a house hit directly by a tornado will survive, but that is a rare occurrence. The Fortified standards aim to reduce damage in the vicinity of the storm. Extra efforts are made to see that all parts of the homes are tightly connected. Technically, that’s called a continuous load path. It means straps, connectors, bolts and, in some cases, additional reinforcing steel attach the roof to the walls and the walls to the foundation.
At the Bolingbrook house, for example, metal hurricane straps and rafter ties anchor the roof to the walls to prevent uplift from high winds. Those are code-required in the village because of the area’s tornado history, but most consumers may be unaware of the need for such standards.
In high winds, “the first thing to go are the roofs,” said Dan Buonamici, Bolingbrook building commissioner. Once a roof is compromised or torn off, the rest of a house, especially the wood frame, can collapse.
To prevent such destruction from roof uplift, the Fortified standard has thicker roof sheathing and shingles, nailed in more places, as well as waterproof tape seal to prevent moisture infiltration.
Wind- and impact-resistant windows and doors provide added protection against the pressure of high winds and wind-borne debris.
To verify that the extra measures are incorporated in construction, the Fortified program requires an independent inspection process. The additional attention to safety can mean extra cost, however, and that is the reason some local building codes don’t require them.
“The price differential [of building a Fortified home] is dependent upon how strict the local code is and that varies from region to region,” said Vance.
Under Florida’s new code, building a home to Fortified standards costs “1 [percent] to 2 percent more than what is now being built,” he said. Elsewhere, the differential is much more.
The Bolingbrook house will cost about 10 percent to 12 percent more than comparable homes built in area, said Brian Bock, Dukane’s director of marketing.
The added cost is attributable to its fire-resistant and energy-efficient concrete construction as well as elements such as the high-wind-resistant windows, which he estimated cost $8,000 more than most windows.
Once completed, the home’s interior will look like other homes and the safety features such as the windows are indistinguishable from those in neighboring residences. Although it is not necessary to be a concrete house to qualify as a Fortified home, the material lends itself to disaster resistance, offering protection against tornadoes, hurricanes and fire.
This home has a traditional floor plan with the entry door at the center of the home. A central stairway divides the first floor and leads to the bedrooms and a sizable master bath on the second floor. Radiant heating was being installed during my hard-hat tour.
Fortified houses are not all this large. Several modest Habitat for Humanity homes have been built using the Fortified guidelines.
The Bolingbrook home is being built as a “spec” home and will be put on the market for about $500,000 in late 2006 after it has been used by the sponsors and vendors for tours and seminars, primarily for municipal building officials, Bock said.
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The fortified house
Bolingbrook
FACTS & FIGURES
Built to resist tornado or hail damage as well as severe winter weather. Uses construction techniques and materials above minimum building codes. A “demonstration” model built by sponsors and suppliers to show to municipal officials, it is expected to be put on the market for sale in late 2006.
Sponsors: Portland Cement Association, Skokie; Institute for Business & Home Safety, Tampa; Dukane Precast Inc., Naperville; and AAA Chicago Motor Club, Des Plaines.
CHARACTERISTICS
Secure connections and materials tie house together from roof to foundation, protecting it from winds with speeds up to 130 m.p.h.
Roof is thicker, stronger and designed to stay drier and be more fire resistant.
Windows and doors have higher wind and water design pressure ratings.
Garage door is capable of withstanding impact from large objects
Web site: www.ibhs.org
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