guest editorial

The Year of the Deductible
What we,ve learned - or should have learned - about proper protection during the hurricane season.

by Don Leggett

June 2004: Floridians failed to heed warnings from the University of Colorado’s William Gray or Max Mayfield, director of NOAA’s national hurricane center, that the 2004 season could be a very destructive year for hurricanes. Were homeowners jaded by years of relatively minor tropical storms? Was the cost of storm protection higher than the perceived danger? Did the family’s summer vacation take precedence over installing hurricane protection? Did Floridians just procrastinate until it was to late?

In Florida, 2004 will be known as the year of the hurricane. Not one but four—Charlie, Ivan, Frances and Jeanne—storms have battered the sunshine state. Many Floridians, lulled by the lack of hurricane activity, put storm protection at the bottom of their priority lists. The reasons were many—cost, time and storage being the factors commonly sited as reasons for not purchasing proper protection.

SCRAMBLE FOR PROTECTION
Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 storm, roared up the western coast threatening the metropolitan area of Tampa, FL, delivering a hot, mid-August morning wake-up call. More than one million persons are evacuated. The mad scramble for storm protection begins. Quickly, shortages of plywood, then fasteners and finally patience became obvious.

Charley makes a sudden turn towards the east and the city of Punta Gorda, FL, is flattened. Charley heads inland and carves a path of destruction unseen since Hurricane Andrew hit south Florida in 1992.

Besides death and destruction, Hurricane Charley left some long-lasting impressions.

Plywood, the last resort of procrastinators, can be difficult to install correctly. Some of the sheets of plywood were inadequate in thickness for proper protection from flying debris. Improperly attached plywood became flying missiles, delivering window-shattering destruction everywhere in their flight paths. The homebuilder’s idea was to design for internal pressure (letting the wind inside, but keeping the roof intact) as opposed to covering the openings and keeping the wind out as a form of hurricane protection.

After the storm, electricity, running water and refrigeration are all luxuries. The remaining plywood that had secured the openings of many buildings became difficult to store and could become additional kindling during a fire, which in a town without water quickly becomes a major source of danger.

ADDITIONAL LESSONS
The second storm, Frances, brought additional learning experiences. Kevin McGinley of Bay Area Remodelers noted, “In homes built out of block, the original fasteners that were snug in the initial application wobbled greatly. The holes used during the first plywood application are not as secure as they were during the first use. The ability of the fasteners to grip the plywood is greatly reduced in each successive application.”

By the fourth storm, the ability of the fastener would have been reduced by 75 percent. Did that mean that Floridians put more holes in their homes to attach an increased number of fasteners? Clearly, persons protecting masonry structures should be using some type of anchoring device that would make the attachment point reusable.

Another lesson learned was that hurricane clips that are used to hold the plywood in place work well under positive pressure (when the wind is blowing directly at the opening), but don’t work nearly as well when the negative force of the wind pulls the protection away from the building. This negative pressure propensity to pull protective coverings away from the surface is also true of improperly fastened plywood and poorly built garage doors.

After the storm, several members of the IHPA looked at plywood applications that both stayed in place and some that had failed and found that nearly all plywood installations were attached with the incorrect number of fasteners. In addition to the inadequate fasteners the thickness of the plywood was insufficient to stop a large wind-borne missile.

PASS OR FAIL?
The Florida building code calls for using 7/16-inch plywood. Most hardware stores salesmen would direct a customer to purchase 1/4-inch plywood. In every large missile test performed on 1/4-inch plywood, the missile penetrated the plywood.

Did the plywood fail? Yes and no. In Florida, the structure can meet the definition of complying with the new building code in two ways: 1) Protecting the opening from impact; or 2) Designing the structure to withstand an opening failure and having the roof remain intact as hurricane-force winds enter and exit the structure.

In testing, the 1/4-inch plywood fails the protecting the opening method, and passes the built to withstand the internal pressure test.

During the testing the plywood is penetrated, but the hole left from the impact is small enough that wind would not build up enough pressure to blow off the roof. In the real world, flying shards of glass and wind-driven rain would enter the building. The penetration of the opening is not the effect that most occupants would have intended.

Another issue with plywood is that the Florida building code requires attachment points be spaced not less than nine inches apart when using plywood to cover openings of six to eight feet, and 16 inches when the spans are two feet or less.

In all spot inspections from around the state only two installations were installed to code and both of these were using the 1/4-inch inch plywood to protect the opening of the structure.

One more issue that arose after the first storm was that plywood left in the open does not retain its shape. The warping of the wood became a factor when the wood was applied the second time.

DOLLARS AND SENSE
Is plywood safe? When properly installed and used in the correct thickness, absolutely. When plywood is installed incorrectly the wood is sheared from the opening and becomes a flying missile. Is it a substitute for modern hurricane protection? No. The lightweight durable products currently on the market offer a choice for every application and price range.

The question becomes, Are the citizens affected by hurricanes going to take action that will insure a safer storm season for their family, or will they see the 2004 storm season as an anomaly and put their money towards something else?

This year will be noted as “The Year of the Deductible” in Florida. It was the first time that we have had a major application of the hurricane deductible as a percentage of the home’s value. With the prices of homes rising, the cost of hurricane deductible will continue to increase.

Hurricane protection makes dollars and sense. Every home that was properly protected sustained significantly less damage than structures that were unprotected or poorly protected. With multiple storms and multiple deductibles affecting the same geographic location, storm protection should be the first line of defense in 2005.

Don Leggett Jr., is vice president of Risk Management for Insurance Office Of America.