Lately, many products have been introduced to help protect vent openings in the event of a windstorm. Many of these products tout their helpfulness In terms of avoiding water intrusion and protecting the attic and roof against high winds. There are several places interested readers can obtain more information on the protections and products that are available for vent protection.
 
https://www.doityourself.com/stry/how-to-secure-gable-vents-before-a-hurricane
 
http://www.bestmaterials.com/pdf_Files/wind-driven-rain-leaks.pdf
 
Even FEMA has some guidance on this subject:
 
https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/20130726-1644-20490-5008/757_apd_6_roofvents.pdf
 
These approaches may be effective, and certainly cautious approach is warranted when examining your home for potential weaknesses in the event of a windstorm.
 
It is a common misconception, however, that vents need to be shuttered or covered in order to obtain a windstorm insurance discount for opening protection. The uniform mitigation verification inspection form issued by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (Form OIR-B1-1802) specifically mentions the verification of the opening protection level for all:
 

1. Glazed Windows & Entry Doors
2. Glazed Garage Doors
3. Skylights
4. Glass Block Openings
5. Non-Glazed (i.e. Solid) Entry Doors
6. Non-Glazed (i.e. Solid) Garage Doors

 
As you can see, the Office of Insurance Regulation form makes no mention of gable vents, soffit vents, ridge vents, or any other vents designed for purposes of attic ventilation. As a result, any improvements or protections to such vents, while they may well be helpful in preventing water intrusion and/or in protecting the home from hurricane damage, are outside the scope of what is needed to be inspected to obtain the Opening Protection discount on your windstorm insurance.

The Potential Hidden Insurance Cost of Not Pulling a Roof Permit

When obtaining a windstorm mitigation inspection, one of the key features that are being documented is that all portions of the roof have been updated since the post-Hurricane Andrew upgraded building codes went into effect.   These were the 1994 South Florida Building Code (for Miami-Dade and Broward counties) and the 2001 Florida Building Code (for all other counties in Florida).
The question on the OIR-B1-1802 inspection form issued by the State of Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) is presented, each different type of roof present on a home that is 1) structurally attached to the main roof or 2) over living space has to be independently confirmed.  Only if all such parts of the roof are confirmed can the policyholder obtain the relevant discount on their windstorm insurance policy?
The vast majority of the time, when part or all of a roof is replaced, the property owner contracts with a licensed roofer who pulls a permit for the work.  This helps ensure the building codes are being followed and includes several inspections by a building inspector from the municipality to ensure that the roof is being replaced as laid out in the permit application.  If the permit was pulled in Miami-Dade or Broward on or after September 1, 1994, or in the rest of Florida on or after March 1, 2002, it was pulled subject to the new code.

Sometimes, however, pulling a permit is avoided, perhaps in an effort to keep costs lower and avoid the fees inherent in the permitting process.  Sometimes a permit isn’t pulled because the rules are temporarily suspended, such as immediately after a hurricane that causes widespread devastation.  The focus then is on getting the repairs made to prevent further endangerment of life and property.  There are also instances where building department records have burned or been flooded and lost.

The 1802 inspection form allows for these special cases where, through no fault of the homeowner, a permit is not available.  But qualifying this way is very rare because the amount of documentation required is onerous.  If the homeowner can provide clear documentation of the Product Approval or Notice of Acceptance for the roof. As well as proof that it was valid at the time of installation (which means a roofing contract and other documentation showing exactly what was installed and when), it is still possible to receive the proper credit for the roof.

In practice, very few people can meet that standard without a roof permit.  This is because the strict documentation required to prove that a particular tile or shingle was valid for use under the 1994 South Florida Building Code or 2001 Florida Building Code at the time of installation was written to prevent folks from grabbing a plausible-looking approval from the Internet and attempting to obtain an insurance discount with it.

So as you can see, if a permit was not pulled, it can be very difficult to prove what exactly was used (and exactly when) in a manner sufficient to obtain the discount.

Sometimes, folks will avoid pulling a permit for a flat back porch that is not visible from the street, which will save a few dollars in permitting fees.  This approach turns out to be “penny-wise, pound-foolish” when it turns out to have a significant impact on the premium the insurance company must charge on the home for windstorm insurance.

Put simply, when folks replace part of their roof quickly and cheaply by someone working informally, they tend not to have the roofing contract and product approvals handy that will help them obtain the valid discount on their homeowners’ insurance.

We want your inspection to be as smooth as possible so that you get every credit merited by your home.  If you have any questions about obtaining the FBC credit, please don’t hesitate to call us at (800) 469-0434 (Option 6), email us at research@dmifla.com, or Live Chat with us here at www.windstorminspections.com, and one of our specialist would be happy to help you.

Attic Access is Crucial to Get Certain Windstorm Mitigation Credits

When obtaining a windstorm mitigation inspection, most of the data that the inspector needs to gather is on the outside of your home. However, a couple of the questions rely heavily on the evidence the inspector usually needs to gather inside the attic.  As a result, to get the maximum impact on your insurance rates from having a windstorm mitigation inspection, attic access for the inspector is essential.

About 3% of the time (in cases where there is an attic in the home), the inspector is unable to get to the parts of the attic that he or she needs to reach in order to substantiate the features required to obtain discounts.  The most common reasons for being unable to obtain access are obstructions that have gotten in the way of the attic hatch, such as built-in shelving, boxes or storage, or furniture.  In other cases, the attic hatch is available and accessible, but once entered there is so much clutter such as storage boxes or other items that there is no way to actually enter.

Only in a small group of cases is attic access prevented by items that cannot be moved or resolved by the homeowner.  These situations usually involve lots of piping and insulation or other construction features that are unmovable preventing the inspector from accessing any of the relevant parts of the attic.  In very few cases, attic hatches are more like ventilation shafts and are as small as one square foot.

But in most of the cases, a little planning and evaluation by the homeowner can ensure that the inspector will be able to obtain all of the necessary photos to substantiate the windstorm mitigation construction features inside the attic.

This is why all of our representatives discuss attic access with each customer at the time of booking, again when we confirm appointments, and in our confirmation email reminders as well.  We want policyholders to receive every discount to which they are entitled. And that often requires clear attic access.

There are some cases where the homeowner has applied such a phenomenal amount of insulation that attic access is impeded. In these cases, either some of the insulation that is obscuring the roof deck or the roof to wall connection areas can be removed by the homeowner so that the inspector can obtain the necessary photos.

Alternatively, if there are photos or building plans or roofing plans that show the features that the inspector is looking for, those can be substituted. The inspection form requires documentation to substantiate every credit and each attic, and if we can perform that task without any disruption to the existing insulation, all the better.

We want your inspection to be as smooth as possible, while still being thorough so that you get every credit you deserve.  If you have any questions about what needs to be done to prepare for your inspection, please don’t hesitate to call us at (800) 469-0434 (Option 6), email us at research@dmifla.com, or Live Chat with us here at www.windstorminspections.com, and we would be happy to help you.

Windstorm Mitigation Inspection can help identify “Misaligned” Roof-To-Wall Connections

The roof-to-wall connection is one of the most important questions on the Windstorm Mitigation Inspection.  It is basically inquiring as to how your roof is being attached to the rest of your house.  In the event of a hurricane, and particularly if one of the openings on your home fails and is blown in, the force of the wind entering your home can equalize the pressure inside and outside your roof.  It is at this point that your roof-to-wall connection may be sorely tested.

The types of connections that can help a homeowner receive a discount on their insurance include clips, single wrap straps, and double wrap straps.  These are all metal connectors that must be connected on every truss or rafter with at least three nails to qualify for a potential discount.

There is another criteria; however, that is now also important when evaluating the roof-to-wall connection.   Since 2012, the inspection form issued by Florida’s office of insurance regulation has required every metal connector to be within half an inch of each truss or rafter when it comes out of the wall where it is embedded.   If trusses are rafters have wooden blocking present between the metal connector and the truss or rafter, the distance can be one and a half inches.

Anything more than that distance and the metal connector is considered to be misaligned with the truss or rafter, and ineligible for a potential insurance discount.    This is because the manufacturer’s specifications for these metal connectors when used as roof-to-wall connection is that they should be installed as close as 1/8 of an inch from each truss or rafter.

Prior to the current version of the office of insurance regulation’s inspection form, the maximum distance between the metal connectors’ emergence from the wall and the truss or rafter was not mentioned on the form.  It was thus possible to obtain a potential insurance discount even if the metal connectors were installed in a manner that was far outside the manufacturer’s specifications for their use.

For example, when a clip or a strap sticks up out of the wall and then has been hammered over for 4 or 5 inches prior to being nailed to each truss, no one is quite sure how they will perform when tested in a catastrophic hurricane situation.  A professional engineer could theoretically try to calculate how they would behave if called upon to hold the roof down, but this would not be an application that was tested by the manufacturer or recommended for use.  Nor is it a situation that an insurance company should feel comfortable with, nor obligated to provide a discount for.

Example of A Misaligned Roof-to-Wall Connection

If I Have Misaligned Connectors, What Can I Do?

If a properly-conducted windstorm inspection establishes and documents the presence of one or more misaligned connections, that home is not eligible for a discount related to the roof-to-wall connections at that moment, but it does show photographs of what needs to be upgraded.

On the positive side, homeowners who are made aware of this misalignment can take concrete steps to repair or replace these metal connectors.  This is often easier to do when a new roof is being put on or the roof deck replaced; however, many people undertake remediation work as soon as they are made aware of the misalignment of their roof-to-wall connections.

There are many acceptable methods for retrofitting misaligned connectors that remediation companies can undertake so that homeowners can receive a warranted discount for this feature on their homes.   Make sure that when you are quoting for this type of work, they agree to let you use a 3^rd party insurance inspection company to perform the subsequent inspection to prove the remediation meets the insurance industry’s requirements and makes your home eligible for a potential discount.

When obtaining a quote for remediation work, you can also discuss the project with your trusted insurance agent to find out the likely annual premium impact of demonstrating that you have corrected a particular issue.   You can then weigh the costs and the benefits and decide if you want to move forward.

Remember:  Protect Yourself By Using an Independent Windstorm Inspector to Verify the Mitigation Feature Now Warrants the Credit

Before making a final payment for any remediation work, we strongly recommend using a reputable windstorm inspection company that can certify via an inspection that the work was done in such a way that the discount, if any, will properly apply to their homeowner’s policy.  If the retrofitting work fails to result in the appropriate answer for the roof-to-wall connection question, you do not want to be in a position where the company that has performed the remediation has already been paid.

If you ever are contemplating such work and would like to be sure that the result of the work is likely to produce the desired effect with respect to your windstorm insurance policy, feel free to contact DMI or any other reputable insurance inspection specialist prior to engaging a remediation construction professional.   We would be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Opening Protection: Know What You’re Getting with Residential Insurance Inspection

With, you are trying to harden your home against the potential damage to life and property that a hurricane can cause, there are many options.   Your roof, how it’s constructed, its shape and the way it’s attached to your house, are all very important components.

But one of the most important parts of this effort is ensuring you have properly tested protection on all of your openings.  It’s good to protect all openings, but especially those that contain glass.   Your insurance company may provide you with a discount if you can prove that every opening is protected.

Depending on your particular insurance company and the exact location of your home, you may be required to show that all of your openings are protected, or perhaps just the openings that contain glass.  Your trusted insurance agent is the person best positioned to assist you with understanding the precise requirements of your particular situation.

What Qualifies as Protection?

But once you know which openings need to be protected to obtain the discount for your home and with your carrier, how do you know what kind of product qualifies as protection?

The answer is on the OIR-B1-1802 inspection form issued by the State of Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR).  This form lists the testing requirements that a product can meet to be considered tested and approved for purposes of obtaining a possible discount on your insurance policy.   Testing variously includes applying pressure, cycling pressure up and down, and subjecting the project to impact by a projectile.  An excellent description of the details of the testing standards can be found at www.floridadisaster.org or by clicking here.

Watch Out!

Unfortunately, there are many products for sale to unwitting homeowners that clearly do not meet any the testing requirements listed on the inspection form, but are marketed as products that may be able to get the homeowner a discount on their insurance.

There are two types of product that are less expensive and may be attractive to people, but cause confusion and disappointment when the consumer realizes that they are not any closer to receiving a discount on their insurance despite having purchased them.   These are plywood shutters and window film.

Window Film: is sometimes marketed as protection against hurricanes or windstorms, but not one film has ever been approved by the Florida Building Commission for that purpose.   Florida’s Attorney General felt the need to remind folks in 2013 about this fact, as consumers were being misled.  This is not to say that film might not be “better than nothing”, or that it might provide some security benefits. But regardless of what security or safety benefits window films may or may not provide, they do not help anyone obtain a valid discount on their insurance.

Cut Plywood Sheets: are in the same boat.   While the Florida building code does provide for a process by which plywood can be used to help secure your home, the requirements are so onerous and expensive to execute properly that we’ve never seen anyone actually meet the listed requirements.   To comply perfectly with the requirements would likely be more expensive than obtaining actual hurricane panels.

When people contract someone to put plywood up over their openings, usually in preparation for an eminent storm, they may be helping to make their home safer or more secure to some degree, but they are not getting any closer to obtaining an insurance discount.

Questions?  Ask the Experts!

If you have any questions about these important issues, feel free to contact us via any of the options listed on our site.   Before you spend hard-earned money on your safety and security, make sure you know whether or not it is the kind of product that will help you obtain a discount on your Residential Insurance Inspection

Opening Protection Deficiency Reports 

Most people, when they get a Florida Windstorm Inspection, are not completely sure whether every opening on their home is protected by tested and approved products that will enable them to obtain a valid discount on their insurance.

This makes perfect sense.  There are a bewildering number of different kinds of opening protection, such as shutters, panel, hurricane fabric, and many types of impact-tested glass.   There are many different types of tests that various products may (or may not) have passed, such as those of the Florida Building Code and those of Miami-Dade County.   And there are a full array of stickers, stamps, and reams of paper documentation that can all help explain how each product was tested, and which must be documented or photographed to provide the proof needed to the insurance company.

“Did I Pass?”

So when a windstorm inspector inspects the openings on your home, there are some important things to consider besides the standard question: “Did I pass?”

Firstly, the answer to that question depends on a lot on your particular insurance carrier.  Your insurance company’s rules, and how it treats homes built in the county and area that you live, can make a big difference.   For instance, some insurance companies are only concerned with the openings in your home that contain glass. These carriers ignore the openings, such as solid doors or garage doors, which do not contain glass.   Others are only concerned with the glass openings in some Florida counties, while in other counties such as Miami-Dade and Broward, they require all openings to be protected, even those without glass.   Finally, some insurance companies, regardless of where the home is in Florida, require every single opening to be completely protected, regardless of whether glass is present.

So as you can see, “Did I pass?” really is asking “Did I meet the requirements of my current insurance company to receive the Opening Protection discount?”.   Often at the time of the inspection, the inspector, the homeowner, or even the insurance agent will not yet know which insurance company the homeowner is going to select for their insurance needs.  Without a carefully written deficiency report to assist, there will be no way to properly shop for the policy that’s right for you.

Didn’t Receive the Opening Protection Discount?   Make Sure You Received an Accurate Opening Deficiency Report

As a result of the complexity described above, it’s extremely important that the inspector provides a very clear written report of the opening protection deficiencies on the home.

The Florida Windstorm Inspection and or Inspector needs to document what would be needed to fully protect all the glass on the home (in case that is the standard to which the insurance company will hold the home) and also what would be needed to protect every opening on the home (in case that is the standard required).   Fail to receive this, and you may end up with a report that basically indicates that you won’t be getting this discount, but doesn’t tell you how to harden your home to receive it.

Don’t Settle for Less

The only way to properly give this kind of advice to the homeowner is for the inspector to take a detailed inventory of every opening on the home, and document the type of protection present if any.  That way a clear roadmap can be provided to help the homeowner and insurance agent understand what needs to be done to meet whatever standard the insurance company is requiring.

Many inspectors will simply fill out the windstorm inspection form and hand it over.   In these cases, no written Opening Deficiency Report is produced.  Without a roadmap, the consumer can’t be sure what is needed to make sure that the next time they obtain the inspection, they will obtain the discount.

Don’t let this happen to you.   

There are a lot of inspectors out there who are happy to fill out and hand over the Florida Windstorm Inspection form issued by Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation.   Only use an inspection company that will both 1) provide you with a written deficiency report and 2) provide you with detailed post-inspection customer service, in case you or your agent need to discuss the report and the openings that need to be upgraded or protected.   That way you’ll

Insurance Inspectors in Florida

Obtaining insurance for your home in Florida can be very different from obtaining similar coverages in other states. That’s primarily because Florida is the world leader in hurricane risk; a factor that permeates all aspects of Florida property insurance. As a result of the uniqueness of the Florida insurance market, the industry has developed to often require more (and more detailed) inspections when obtaining or properly pricing your insurance policy in Florida.

What do Home Insurance Inspections do?

Home insurance inspections have several different purposes, one of which is to provide you with peace of mind that your structure is solid and that it is going to stand the test of time. The second purpose is to make sure that it will be approved by the insurance company. Having full coverage on your home is extremely helpful, and you are probably well aware of that. In the even your home is affected by a hurricane, you want to rebuild, but without the materials and the money, you’re probably going to be out of luck.

Fortunately, this is precisely what insurance exists, but can you really get it for your home? By arranging for commercial insurance inspections you certainly can, but how do you know you’ve got the right person for the job? Today we’re going to discuss three questions that you should ask the inspector before they move forward with the service. Some of these are common sense, and some are a bit more out there. Either way, it’s critical that you get these assurances before you trust your home and its insurance coverage to anyone.

Question #1: How Many Insurance-Related Inspections Have You Completed, and is This your Primary Specialty?

Interestingly enough, anyone can obtain a license and perform an inspection so long as they have all of their paperwork in order, but here’s the real question: do they have the authority to really get the job done and push it through at the proper levels? One of the things that we mentioned before is the fact that many insurance companies express reluctance, and they even do so in the face of commercial insurance inspections.

That being the case, you need to make sure that the company you are trusting to perform your insurance inspection will actually be able to convince the insurance company and the their word will carry weight. Ask this question, scrutinize, and make sure that your home will be covered

Question #2: What license are you using to sign the windstorm inspection form, and how long have you held it?

The amount of time that the inspector has spent in the industry is absolutely crucial, though you probably know this. Ask them about their license, ask them how long they’ve held it, and most importantly, ask to see a list of their satisfied clients. It’s going to be a bit of an extra step for you, no doubt, but we will say that it’s absolutely worth it in the end.

Question #3: How do I reach you after the inspection is complete if I have questions or concerns next week, next month or even next year?

The last thing you want is to have your home inspection completed and then lose touch with the inspector entirely. What if you have questions? What if there are concerns? What if your insurance application didn’t go through in the end? Are there any guarantees? Make sure you have a contact number for the inspector, and most importantly, make sure of these things before you actually hire them to do the job.

Getting the right insurance inspection service on your case is vital – make sure you don’t skip out on the fine details, and make sure that the company you choose is well worth the investment. If you’re ready to get the insurance inspection our home needs, and if you’re ready to keep your home safe in the event of weather related issues, give us a call – we’ve got your back and we’ll make sure you’re good to go with the insurance providers.

The 4-Point Inspection is often a required inspection in order to obtain (or maintain) insurance coverage.  The inspection requirements were designed by insurance companies in order to get a better understanding of the structure they are insuring.

This is especially pertinent when insuring an older home.  Older homes have had more time in which to have systems repaired or replaced or for things to potentially fall in to disrepair.  Older homes also may have used construction techniques or materials that were normal at the time, but were subsequently phased out in favor of more modern practices.  These are all things that are interesting and important for the insurance company to be aware of, since it helps them determine if the home is eligible for coverage under their underwriting policies.

For example, a home from 1958 would have been built with a fuse box and screw-in fuses, as was standard practice at the time.   Many of those fuse boxes are still in existence and replacement fuses can be purchased as needed.  Nevertheless, many carriers have underwriting rules that prohibit them from knowingly ensuring any home that has old-style fuses rather than the more modern breakers that became the standard panel in the 1960’s.   The 4-point inspection is what lets the carrier know what it is they are insuring.   Since they don’t know until they get the inspection, the 4-point is often required when a home is of a certain age, so they carrier can be sure about some of the important features of the home that it is insuring.

4-Points can also be requested in a wide variety of other situations not directly related to the age of the home.  Some insurance companies perform one on all or virtually all of the policies they insure.

OK, So What are the Four Points?

The reason for the inspection’s name relates to the fact that the inspector is going to look at four of the most important systems in your home that historically are the most likely areas to cause an insurance claim.   For each of the 4 items, the inspection is limited to the visible parts of each system.   These systems are:

• The Visible HVAC System (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning)
• Visible Roof System
• Visible Plumbing System
• Visible Electrical System

While each of these areas will be discussed further in subsequent blogs, when these items are being inspected there are two particular things the company is looking for:

First of all they will want to know the condition of each system: are they new, used, and are they in relatively good shape?  Is there any evidence of repairs that have been made?   If so, do the repairs look like they were professionally done?  If any damage or deficiencies are noted, it’s possible you will have to correct them in order to obtain or maintain your insurance policy.

The second thing that they are going to be looking at is the age of the components. If you are purchasing an older home there is a chance that the age of one feature or another will be beyond the maximum age allowed by a particular carrier’s underwriting rules, even if the condition of the component in question appears to be fine.

If the 4-Point Inspection Reports a Possible Deficiency, Don’t Panic!

A properly-completed 4-point is designed to capture all possible items that may fall afoul of any insurance company’s underwriting guidelines.   In order for the 4-point to be useful and accepted by all insurance companies operating in Florida, the insurers have to be confident that the inspection will give them the information they need to make their underwriting decision.

As a result, many conditions that are reported on a 4-point inspection may be a problem for some insurance carrier, but may NOT be a problem for YOUR insurance carrier.   This is where the expertise of your insurance agent is so important.   It’s your trusted insurance agent that can help confirm and clarify whether or not a system needs to be repaired, updated, or replaced, or if after reviewing a reputable 4-point inspection, perhaps you should be placed with a different insurance company with underwriting guidelines that better fit your situation.

The inspection company should always be happy to walk you through their findings, but it’s your trusted insurance agent that can take those findings and make sure you’re in the right policy with the right coverage, insured by the right carrier.

A Word of Caution

Notice that everything about the 4-point inspection is related to obtaining or retaining homeowner’s insurance, period.  It’s a limited scope inspection that only takes 20-30 minutes in most cases.  It’s focused on insurance and has nothing to do with the type of home inspection one should get if they are deciding whether or not to buy a home. For that, you would need a Comprehensive (or Real Estate) Home Inspection.  That type of inspection often takes 3-4 hours and takes an in-depth look at (and documents) hundreds of features throughout a home.   Exclusively or primarily using a 4-point insurance inspection in order to decide whether or not to buy a home would be completely inappropriate.

In the event of a catastrophic storm that damages the roof of the home, one of the ways people can prevent water intrusion is to have what is called a Secondary Water Resistant (“SWR”) barrier.  This serves as a barrier to prevent the water from entering the home even after the primary barrier (the roof covering system such as shingles or tiles and related underlayment) has failed.

There are two important definitions of what qualifies as a SWR barrier in Florida.   One definition is that which is found in the Florida Building Code, while the other is the definition that is written out on the windstorm inspection form issued by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (the OIR-B1-1802 form).  The building code will describe certain applications as being “SWR”, such as a hot-mopped roof in Miami-Dade or Broward, that do NOT meet the definition of SWR listed on the windstorm mitigation inspection form.   This is an example of where the criteria to potentially obtain a discount on your insurance is above and beyond what is listed in the building code.

Documentation Is Key

As a result of these two definitions, there is often confusion among homeowners (and unfortunately many inspectors) as to what actually qualifies for the SWR discount.   If you are wondering if you have it, we would be pleased to review any documentation you may have, such as a roofing contract (or a permit application packet), which details your current roof.

In general, SWR barriers that are sufficient to obtain an insurance discount come at an additional cost and are often part of the discussion when you are replacing your roof.  This is why they are often well documented “upgrades” in the paperwork that accompanies any properly-permitted roof replacement.   In addition, because several of the valid options for obtaining the SWR credit are sandwiched in-between the roof covering and the roof deck, making them all but impossible to verify without documentation.

The Two Types of SWR That Can Get Your Home An Insurance Discount

There are two types of SWR barrier that can qualify for the discount after a Florida Insurance Inspection Services when properly documented and applied:

The secondary barrier must be applied in one of the two following ways:

• Self-Adhering Polymer Modified-Bitumen Underlayment (“Peel & Stick” Sheets or Tape): Through this method, the roof decking is sealed using a self-adhering polymermodified-bitumen sheet, or tape. It is applied directly to the deck or sheathing joints.. Keep in mind that while the peel and stick products that qualify as SWR can also be installed on top of a layer of felt, only installations that are attached directly to the wood sheathing can qualify as SWR.It is thus possible to use the correct product, but install it on top of a layer of felt in a way that still does not obtain an insurance discount because it’s not directly attached to the sheathing. There is nothing wrong with this installation; it just does not qualify for an insurance discount.  A good way to visualize this is to think of a piece of tape on top of a sheet of construction paper that is laying upon a wood table.  If you pull up the tape, the paper comes with it, exposing the table.  If the tape were instead attached directly to the table, the act of pulling up the construction paper on top would have no impact on the tape or the table at all.

• Closed-Cell Foam Adhesives: The other major category of Secondary Water Resistant Barriers are a particular class of sprayed foam adhesives that coat the inside (underside) of the roof deck inside the attic. These are sometimes applied only on all the joints and seams, while in other instances they are applied to the entire underside of all of the sheathing.    This option is generally more expensive than the “Peel & Stick” options listed above, but can also be applied at any time, and not only when the roof is being replaced.

It’s important to note several important things about these sprayed foam adhesive products:

• These are NOT the typical foam insulation you find in many attics that are designed to save you money on your electric bill. Closed-Cell Foam Adhesives, such as Foam Seal and Insulstar Plus, are pricier products than simple insulation, and can be characterized by a very rigid structure and strong adherence to the roof deck.  However, to the naked and untrained eye many types of insulation look similar.  Thus, many people who initially think they may have an SWR product in their attic ultimately find they have traditional foam insulation.
• Foam insulation such as these products often obscures the Roof-To-Wall connections, such as the clips or straps that are holding down the roof. When these are completely hidden, it becomes much more difficult to substantiate their existence to obtain an insurance discount for the Roof-To-Wall Connection.  If you are considering foam insulation of any kind in your attic, make sure you have great photos of the existing roof-to-wall connections on both sides of several trusses or rafters before these things are buried behind fresh insulation.
• Real closed-cell foam adhesives have extraordinary uplift resistance. Studies have shown a 250-300% increase in uplift capacity. These products are so strong, in fact, that when they are substantiated they AUTOMATICALLY qualify the home for Level C Roof Deck Attachment.   We have obtained the testing documentation for many closed-cell adhesive properties that ensure a Level C Roof Deck Attachment answer.

Talk With Your Roofer…. and Your Insurance Agent

As you evaluate whether or not to get a Secondary Water Resistant barrier as part of your new roof, or to get a closed-cell adhesive in your attic, safety and protection is not the only consideration.  You will want to discuss the potential premium impact, if any, on your insurance policy.

This discussion is only possible with your trusted insurance agent, and will help you figure out the financial cost and benefit of obtaining this discount after a Florida home insurance inspection.  Feel free to take this article with you when you have that discussion.

Wind mitigation in the state of Florida is all about making sure that the home is properly protected against wind, and when you’re living in this state, it’s definitely something you have to worry about.  In our previous post we mentioned that wind is a serious problem, and as we are a coastal state, it actually makes perfect sense.  There is a long history of academicians and engineers studying windstorms.   Modern efforts to understand how to mitigate the damages windstorms can cause dating all the way back to the 1980s.

Early Influences on Wind Mitigation in Florida

There are many factors that have impacted the implementation of wind mitigation techniques that we see today. For example, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory held two workshops in 1989 that were that spent time identifying wind uplift issues. Some of the issues discussed at this conference included:

• Roof Wind Damage
• Testing of Roof Systems
• Air Retardants

These were several more items discussed, but another item of great concern was the lack of communication in the roofing industry regarding wind mitigation issues and a lack of coordinated effort in alleviating those problems.  Finally, at the conclusion of the workshop, the Roofing Industry Committee on Wind Issues was formed with a charter approved in October of 1990. This committee included all major roofing trade associations in North America, and identified a windstorm as a period of one minute of sustained wind speeds 95 mph or greater.

Hurricane Andrew

The next big event was the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Andrew.  Andrew made landfall in Homestead, Florida, in August, 1992 as a powerful Category 5 hurricane, with winds as high as 165 mph.   In total, Andrew did more than $25 billion in damage, then by far the costliest and most destructive hurricane in US history.    This greatly accelerated efforts in the insurance and construction industries, as well as regulators and governments, to understand windstorm mitigation techniques and construction features that would help protect life and property.

Updated Building Codes

General horror at the state of construction quality in Homestead and other affected places in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew led to an immediate discussion of improvements to the building code.  This led to the adoption of the 1994 South Florida Building Code.  This code went into effect on September 1, 1994, covering only the area of Miami-Dade and Broward counties.  This area was designated the High Velocity Hurricane Zone (“HVHZ”) and it became the first area in the United States to have an upgraded and improved building code for new construction that specifically attempted to harden buildings from windstorm damage.

Eventually, this effort also led (after many delays) to the creation of the 2001 Florida Building Code (“FBC”), which was finally adopted statewide on March 1, 2002.  The 2001 FBC contained upgraded sections for windstorm mitigation construction requirements, and also an updated HVHZ section to cover Miami-Dade and Broward.  From March 1, 2002, new construction in the entire State of Florida needed to meet the new requirements designed to better mitigate the effects of windstorms.

Loss-Relativity Study, and Mitigation Discount Statute

Along with the improvements to the building codes, Florida’s legislature passed Florida Statute 627.0629, which required all property insurers in Florida to recognize windstorm mitigation construction features in their residential rate filings by February 2003.   Insurers were required by the statute to provide discounts for homes that are built in accordance with the 2001 FBC or 1994 SFBC.   Discounts were also given to homes that were built prior to these codes but with similar wind-resistive features, or that had been updated to include these features via a process of retrofitting.

A study was commissioned in 2000 by Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation (“OIR”), which was performed by Applied Research Associates (“ARA”).  This study analyzed the mountain of construction and claim information related to Hurricane Andrew and detailed the construction features that were most correlated with reduced risk.   This important study then became the basis for the discounts that were implemented by February, 2003, and have been a fixture of the windstorm insurance market in Florida ever since.

Conclusion

This broadly explains how we arrived at the present day’s system of windstorm mitigation construction features and insurance discounts in Florida.   In a future article, we will describe how the discounts were initially implemented, the impacts of the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons and subsequent challenges, and how the inspections themselves have changed over the last 12 years.