Article Summary
- FORTIFIED™ Home certification strengthens homes beyond standard building code requirements
- Standard construction meets minimum safety standards but may lack storm resilience
- FORTIFIED™ program offers Roof, Silver, and Gold levels for increasing protection
- Enhanced construction reduces wind damage, water intrusion, and structural failure
- Studies show significantly lower insurance claims and damage in FORTIFIED™ homes
- Certification requires inspection, upgrades, and approval through IBHS standards
- FORTIFIED™ homes improve safety, reduce losses, and may lower insurance costs
FORTIFIED™ Homes vs. Standard Construction: What Gulf Coast Homeowners Need to Know This Hurricane Season
If you live on the Gulf coast, you know preparation is key to a safe hurricane season – but do you have the peace of mind of having a FORTIFIED™ Home?
When a major storm is on the way, protecting your home has to go beyond securing lawn furniture and boarding windows. True preparation starts with the actual design and build of your home. In this blog, we’ll review what the FORTIFIED™ home certification is, how it goes beyond the standard inspection processes, and what your next steps are to ensure your home can withstand strong winds and heavy rain this hurricane season.
Standard Construction on the Gulf Coast
Homes in southeast Texas are required to meet standard construction guidelines according to local building codes. These standards are meant to define the minimum threshold for safe occupancy, but they don’t always prioritize resilience in extreme weather.
Building codes also vary from town to town. Texas State law requires all areas to adhere to 2012 codes as a baseline, but municipalities have the ability to adopt more recent and more stringent standards – or not. Additionally, older homes may have been built to the safety codes of their day, but would be unable to pass a modern inspection as a new build.
All of this can create uncertainty for homeowners. Choosing a FORTIFIED™ Home Certification instead provides the confidence of knowing your home can withstand the harshest weather Texas can throw its way.
FORTIFIED™ Homes: Built for Resilience, Not Just Compliance
The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) was founded by the property-casualty insurance industry in 1979 to study how extreme weather and natural forces impact buildings of all sizes and construction types.
After increased storm activity and severity devastated coastal communities in the early 2000s, IBHS developed and launched the FORTIFIED™ program. This optional set of building standards applied 30 years of research to create structures that were able to withstand stronger winds and rain than most local building codes. Since then, multiple Gulf Coast states have instituted grant funding and insurance discounts for homeowners who build or retrofit according to FORTIFIED™ standards.
The FORTIFIED™ program offers three levels of resilience solutions:
- FORTIFIED™ Roof: The first tier focuses on preventing water damage during heavy rains. A FORTIFIED™ Roof requires enhanced roof deck attachments, a sealed roof deck, and attic vents that are resistant to wind and rain. Homeowners can opt for a supplemental hail resilience designation, which requires impact-resistant roof covers.
- FORTIFIED™ Silver: In addition to the requirements of tier one, the Silver level includes extra bracing and lumber on roof gables, chimneys, carports, and porches to prevent parts of the home from shearing away during high winds. Homes in hurricane-prone areas must also have impact protection for windows, exterior doors, and garage doors.
- FORTIFIED™ Gold: The highest level is ideal for new homes. It includes all the protections of the Silver tier but also creates a continuous load path, with engineered roof-to-wall, story-to-story, and wall-foundation connections. This includes adding straps, anchors, and supports to the frame of your house to create one unified, resilient system and minimize breaking points.
For a building to have a FORTIFIED™ designation, it must be inspected by a licensed structural engineer and all documentation reviewed by the IBHS. Homes can be built according to these standards or retrofitted for enhanced protection.
How FORTIFIED™ Homes Actually Perform During Hurricane Season
In the 16 years since the program launched, IBHS has continued to study and refine its standards to minimize damage for homeowners and payouts for insurance companies. A 2020 study by the IBHS evaluating the damage caused by Hurricane Sally to the Alabama coast found the following:
- FORTIFIED™ Roof houses had 73% reduce claim frequency compared to non-FORTIFIED houses in the same areas
- The severity of claims with a FORTIFIED™ room was reduced by 15% compared to neighbors with non-FORTIFIED roofs.
- Claim frequency was reduced by 76% for FORTIFIED™ Gold houses
- Claim severity was reduced by 24% for FORTIFIED™ Gold houses.
According to the study, “These reductions translate into substantial financial savings: had all conventional homes been retrofitted to Fortified Roof or built to Fortified Gold standards, policyholders could have saved up to 65% on losses below their deductibles.”
IBHS performed a similar study after Hurricane Ian, a Category 4 storm, hit Florida in 2022. Their research covered 455 single-family FORTIFIED™ homes, comparing their damage severity and frequency to their non-FORTIFIED neighbors. Researchers found:
- None of the 455 FORTIFIED™ homes sustained structural damage from wind
- Homes constructed prior to 2002 experience 2x the structural damage level
- Garage doors performed better than during previous hurricanes
- FORTIFIED™ build code prevented an estimated $1-3 billion in structural losses.
The research is abundantly clear: in areas like southeast Texas, which are prone to both hurricanes and windstorms, the advanced standards in the FORTIFIED™ building code mean less structural damage and fewer insurance claims when disasters hit. It can also mean lower insurance premiums and increased property value.
How To Get Your FORTIFIED™ Home Certification
Whether you’re building a new home or want to retrofit your current house, the first step is a professional evaluation. A FORTIFIED™ Certified and licensed structural engineer will assess your home’s condition, then provide documentation of where your home does and does not meet FORTIFIED™ Building Code standards.
Then, a contractor will follow the inspector’s documentation to improve the attachments and materials used. The inspector will review all changes and submit their documentation to the IBHS for review.
Once approved, the IBHS will issue your certification, which can often be shared with your insurance provider to receive a discount.
It’s important to note that your designation will have to be renewed periodically as the FORTIFIED™ building code is updated and as your house ages. Their website offers a handy tool to find your renewal date.
SETEI: Your Trusted Local FORTIFIED™ Inspectors
For homeowners in southeast Texas, it’s always time to prepare for severe weather. If you’re ready to protect your home, contact Southeast Texas Engineering and Inspections. We offer FORTIFIED™ home inspections, TDI Windstorm Inspections, and structural and civil engineering services, done quickly and thoroughly, so your construction stays on schedule and your property stays resilient in extreme weather.