Renovating Your Home to FORTIFIED Standards

If you're working on your home or putting on a new roof, consider renovating to FORTIFIED standards. Developed by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), FORTIFIED Home™ construction practices are designed to help homeowners and communities better weather future storms, including hurricanes, high winds, hail and severe thunderstorms.  Building codes set a minimum standard for construction techniques and materials. Building FORTIFIED means exceeding those requirements.

The goal of building FORTIFIED is to take action today to make homes and communities more resilient to natural disasters tomorrow. Using data from more than 20 years of storm damage, IBHS created a set of standards for new and existing construction that can be affordable and can be incorporated into your home’s building design.

Three Levels of FORTIFIED Home Designations

1. Bronze: As part of the bronze level, a wind-driven rain management system in the roof protects against water damage. It features ring shank nails to protect against wind uplift resistance, which provide double the strength of nails used on traditional homes. Another important technique is sealing the seams of your roof deck to prevent water intrusion from wind-driven rain.
2. Silver: The silver designation adds features such as impact resistant windows and pressure-rated doors to protect the home from flying debris in strong winds. 
3. Gold: The gold designation focuses on creating a continuous load path by tying the roof to the walls, the walls to the floors, and the floors to the foundation to help make the home able to withstand hurricane force winds.

Adding Value and Safety

After a certified, third-party evaluator verifies that the home meets FORTIFIED standards, you receive a certificate and a unique ID number valid for five years. The FORTIFIED designation  helps show you have made consistent and defined structural updates to your home. 
To learn more, visit the IBHS website.

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