INDUSTRY LOBBYIST NEEDED IN FLORIDA

The hurricane protection industry needs help to make its voice heard in the Florida legislature. Hiring a top-notch lobbyist to represent its interest has been proposed and is being supported by several companies.

Senator Evelyn Lynn has introduced a bill in the Florida state Senate that would eliminate building to internal pressures from the Florida Building Code (FBC.) A companion bill has been introduced in the House, as well. There is a strong show of support for such a bill; however, strong opposition has begun to surface. Several well-funded groups have hired top-notch lobbyists to help fight to keep the internal pressure option alive.

In order to ensure that our industry remains strong and viable, we need this bill to pass. We need to eliminate internal pressures from the FBC.

In order to show support for this bill, we need to make sure our voice is heard in Tallahassee. In order to do so, it has been proposed that IHPA hire top-notch lobbyists to counter the opposition at hand. The going fee for such a lobbyist is about $50,000.

Because the need to hire a lobbyist is felt so strongly, several companies have pledged to contribute to raise the necessary funds.

Passing the bill to eliminate the internal pressure option is very important to the future of this industry. Please contribute. Time is of the essence; act now! E-mail doug@weather guardshutters.com or call (800) 223-6283 to let us know how much you can offer to further this effort.
Contributing companies:

• All Points Screw and Bolt
• ASSA
• Cameron Ashley
• Eastern Metals Supply
• Eddy Storm Protection
• Folding Shutter Corp.
• High Velocity Hurricane Protection
• Hurricane Protection magazine
• Lookout Shutters
• Madden Mfg.
• Metal Shield
• Roll-A-Way
• Shutter Services and Screen Repair
• Signature Storm Protection
• Sun Barrier Products
• Town & Country
• Transparent Protection Systems
• Wayne Dalton
• Weatherguard Inc.

HOME BUYERS NEED TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE

The Florida building code currently allows for a home to be built with openings to be protected or for the home to be designed to withstand internal pressure changes (the windows and doors can blow out, the wind-driven rain can enter, but if the roof stays intact the building was built to correct standards).

Designing single-family homes to internal pressure will be a major point of consideration during the upcoming Florida legislative session. The state’s home building association has successfully lobbied to have the language referring to building to internal pressure inserted and used for private homes. Although this language has been used in the building industry, “designing for internal pressure” was meant for buildings that would not be occupied during a hurricane. Somewhere along the way the intent of the language has been misconstrued and now the citizens of the state of Florida are unsure if their newly built homes are safe.

IHPA membership chairman Don Leggett stated, “The designing for internal pressure disagreement stems from your belief as to which part of your house should be affected by a hurricane. Personally, I believe the storm should stay on the outside but there are those that believe that just because a hurricane penetrates your home, it should not make that home unlivable.”

There are builders who state it would be too expensive to properly secure all of a home’s openings from being blasted open during a storm. “I guess it depends on your definition of expensive,” Leggett continues. “If a dwelling never gets tested by hurricane-force winds then yes, I suppose you could argue that hurricane protection might be expensive. Of course that same logic would apply to smoke detectors and fire alarms. If a person considers the cost of repairing a structure that has lost the openings to one that had the openings intact there is no comparison.”

The IHPA is attempting for the second time to have some type of written statement signed by home buyers at the time of closing that they fully understand that their homes were designed for internal pressure and include the definition of the term “designed for internal pressure.”

GOVERNMENT INCONSISTENCIES

Here’s another thought on the ongoing debate over designing for internal pressure versus protecting the openings of the structure.

When a building is designated to be used as a shelter during a hurricane, it is required to have window and door protection. But the state of Florida tells residents to stay in their homes during a hurricane because there is not enough room in the state shelters to hold all the citizens. So shelters are required to have opening protection, but a private home does not.

This type of legislation comes from a state that makes it a crime to drive an automobile without wearing a seatbelt, but you can drive a motorcycle without a helmet.

PRODUCT APPROVAL Q & A

Inquires have arisen about the worth of current product approvals upon implementation of the Florida Building Code (FBC) 2004, which takes effect July 1, 2005. Other questions have arisen regarding the continued use of SSTD 12 for those products that have tested to that standard.

Regarding the impact of the new edition of the FBC, Buster Case, DCA, advised he is in the process of drafting a letter to manufacturers advising of the effective date of the updated code and the possible need to revise current approved product approval applications.

Approved product approval applications that reference specific code sections may require revision to reflect the updated code sections. For example, opening protection provisions are currently contained in FBC §1606.1.4. (FBC 2001) In the FBC 2004, the opening protection provisions are found at FBC §1609.1.4. Approved product approval applications that contain a specific reference to the current section will be required to be revised to reflect the updated section by July 1, 2005.
Submitted by Joe Belcher
IHPA Code Consultant

HURRICANE SYMPOSIUM NOTES SIGNIFICANT FAILURES

IHPA board members Gary Stokes, Amy Yverlton and Don Fowler attended the Hurricane Symposium in Tampa FL. The symposium was sponsored by the International Code Council (ICC), Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) and the Building Officials Association of Florida (BOAF).

The symposium topics varied from the effectiveness of impact protection to water intrusion caused by the effectiveness of hurricane protection. Water intrusion was a real problem in the Orlando area last season where several hundred homes survived the storm only to be soaked by leaking windows. One of the instructors noted that the structural engineers and hurricane protection specialist are doing such a great job that water intrusion was now a hot topic. In hurricanes past, the roofs would have flown off, the walls would have collapsed and no one was overly concerned with why things were wet.

Overall, the persons attending agreed that the structures in Florida built after 2002 sustained less exterior damage than structures built before 2002. In 2002, Florida adopted a new building code. In fact, only one structure built after 2002 and designated to be a hurricane shelter failed: the Turner Center.

RECIPE FOR DISASTER

Across the state, hundreds of public buildings are used as hurricane shelters, whether or not they were built to withstand hurricane-force winds. And as four hurricanes battered the state last season, many public buildings used as shelters didn’t fare well. But the Turner Center was the only one that was built after the new building code was in affect.
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Completed in 2002 the Turner center was planned and designed to be used as a hurricane evacuation shelter. Desoto County built the Turner Center on donated land with bond funds, tax revenue and state grants. In 1998, the center began as a $2 million building and grew to an estimated $8 million project that included the 41,806-square-foot civic center and a 13,674-square-foot agricultural extension office.

The American Red Cross certified the Turner Center as a hurricane evacuation shelter in 2003. The designation was based on survey results from Desoto County showing, among other requirements, that the center would withstand 140-mph winds.

One of the requirements for a shelter is an emergency generator that could provide power during an extended outage. But plans to purchase one reportedly were shelved because Desoto didn’t want to spend the $190,000 it would cost.

The county also reportedly cut costs by hiring a contractor who didn’t have standard industry credentials to build the metal roof and frame for the building. Those credentials would have meant that independent engineers would have checked the design and materials. The Turner Center has concrete walls formed around a steel frame with a metal roof.

The wind speeds that struck the Turner center were estimated at 89 to 110 mph, well below the design wind speed. The wind peeled the roof off the building and one of the walls collapsed. Fortunately for everyone involved no one was killed.

Now litigation has begun. Most of the parties involved have insurance and the original estimation for a settlement is in the $12 million range.

There are many lessons to be learned and the IHPA will be reporting on this building in subsequent issues.

NO DAMAGE BUT . . .

In a poll of Floridians who suffered no building damage but considered themselves affected by the storms, the No. 1 answer for something that they would change before the next storm season was they would install some type of generator. Most indicated they were prepared to go without power during the storm, but no one was prepared to go without power for days or weeks.

Electric companies throughout Florida, Georgia and Alabama have asked for an increase in rates to help recover from the last storm season.

DOING HALF THE JOB

The Collier County building department has issued a statement that it would not inspect shutter installations. The current interpretation of this action is that the builder would file a permit, pay a fee and the building department would collect the fee and be done with the project.

The Collier County building department appears to be addressing one of the two functions of a good government agency. 1) Being monetarily self-sufficient; 2) Protecting the citizens. One out of two isn’t that bad.

INSURANCE ASSESSMENT SOUGHT

The insurance industry is still in an uproar after the hurricane onslaught suffered by residents of Florida.

Many of the carriers in Florida have asked for rate increases. The price to increase insurance for mobile homes could exceed 100 percent. Citizens insurance, the carrier of last resort, has indicated that it would not have sufficient money left in the claims department to settle all of the claims. It has asked for an assessment of $60 to every homeowner’s policy sold in the state of Florida. The assessment has not been made final, but it is an indication the amount of money the insurance industry lost during last year’s hurricane season.

SOME GOOD NEWS

Not all the news about last year’s hurricanes is bad. The number of shark attacks reported in Florida was lower than in years past.