FORTIFIED ROOF
When protecting against severe weather, your roof is your home’s first line of defense. It’s also the most vulnerable. FORTIFIED Silver includes all the requirements of FORTIFIED Roof – including enhanced nailing, a sealed roof deck and locked down edges – to give your home its best chance of weathering a storm.
BRACED FOR A STORM
Post-disaster studies show that typical construction often leaves gable-ends, chimneys and attached structures insufficiently anchored. As a result, storms can leave large holes in your house or even cause a portion of your home to collapse. FORTIFIED Silver prevents this by requiring strong anchors and additional bracing to reinforce these areas.
STRONGER GARAGE DOORS
Keeping winds and pressure from entering your home is critical for its survival in a storm. Both can easily come through a failed garage door, and once this happens, it’s common to see blown-out walls and collapsed roofs. FORTIFIED prevents this scenario by requiring garage doors rated to withstand high pressures.
FORTIFIED Silver starts by strengthening your roof and then adds protection to other vulnerable components of your home. See how it compares.
The National Standard for Resilience |
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Enhanced Roof Deck Attachment
When severe weather hits, keeping your roof deck attached to your home is key to blocking storm pressure and rain from entering your home. IBHS testing shows that switching from common smooth nails to 8D ring-shank nails and decreasing the space between nails, can double the uplift your roof can withstand.
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Sealed Roof Deck
If wind rips off your roof covering (like shingles, metal panels or tiles), it exposes the wood beneath and allows water to pass through the gaps and enter your home. IBHS testing shows that for every inch of rain to hit an exposed roof deck, the equivalent of nine bathtubs of water can pour in and cause significant interior damage. By sealing the seams of your roof deck, you can reduce that water-intrusion by up to 95%!
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Locked Down Roof Edges
Roof damage often begins when wind gets underneath the roof edge and begins ripping it away from the home. To help protect this vulnerable area, FORTIFIED requires specific materials and installation methods, including a wider drip edge and a fully adhered starter strip, that when used together create a stronger edge system.
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Impact-resistant Shingles Rated by IBHS**
In hail-prone areas, FORTIFIED requires shingles tested by IBHS to show they can withstand hail up to 2 inches in diameter. These shingles outperform typical Class 4 shingles when tested against realistic hailstones and will better protect your home.
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Wind and Rain-Resistant Attic Vents
During severe-weather events, high winds can pull typical attic vents loose, giving the storm a pathway into your home. Even when it doesn’t pull vents loose, wind can drive rain almost sideways, allowing it to enter your home through vents that are not designed to prevent it. To keep this from happening, FORTIFIED requires attic vents that are wind and rain resistant.
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Impact Protection for Windows & Doors*
When rain and storm pressures penetrate a home, damage quickly escalates. That why it is so important to defend openings like doors and windows. FORTIFIED requires window and door protection that is tested to withstand both pressure and impact.
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Impact* & Pressure-Rated Garage Doors
Keeping winds and pressure from entering your home is critical for its survival in a storm. Both can easily come through a failed garage door, and once this happens, it’s common to see blown-out walls and collapsed roofs. FORTIFIED prevents this scenario by requiring garage doors rated to withstand high pressures, and in hurricane-prone areas, garage doors with windows to be rated to withstand impact from windborne debris.
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Chimney Bracing
High winds can tear chimney framing off the roof of the home, leaving a hole in the roof and allowing rain to easily enter, which typically leads to significant interior damage. FORTIFIED requires chimneys to be anchored to the home to help spread the load and prevent tear-offs.
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Reinforced Soffits*
IBHS testing shows that when wind drives rain almost sideways, it can actually be blown up under your roof overhangs. Your soffits should prevent that water from sneaking into your attic, but in typically-built homes, soffits are often hung with inadequate support. This allows them to be easily blown and gives wind-driven rain easy access to your home. FORTIFIED requires extra bracing and some additional fasteners to keep the soffit in place.
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Anchored Attached Structures
High winds can flow under the roof of a carport or porch, and if the structure is not properly anchored, it can not only lift up like a kite―it can take part of your house with it. FORTIFIED requires strong anchors and proper connections to prevent this type of damage.
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Gable End Bracing
Post-disaster studies show that unbraced gable ends are a critical weak link for homes attacked by high winds. By requiring additional bracing, FORTIFIED stops wind from collapsing this section of a home.
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Pressure-rated Windows & Doors*
When severe weather strikes, keeping the storm pressure out is absolutely imperative. One of the easiest ways for it to barge into your home is through doors and windows. Once inside, storm pressure pushes outward on your walls and roof and can cause catastrophic damage to the structure of your home. Fortunately, you can defend against this by using windows and doors that are properly rated for the weather you face.
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Stronger Exterior Sheathing*
No matter what direction the wind is coming from, your walls will take the brunt of it. If they fail, wind and rain will ravage your home. This is why FORTIFIED requires thicker, impact resistant structural sheathing that can resist flying debris.
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Engineered Roof-to-Wall Connections
Storm after storm, we see homes completely leveled. FORTIFIED reduces the risk of this happening to your home by requiring a continuous load path, which means your roof-to-wall, story-to-story, and wall-to-foundation connections are engineered to withstand the wind and pressure your home is likely to face in a severe storm. Creating a singular, solid structure is the key to keeping the roof on and the home in place when high winds or hurricanes threaten.
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Engineered Story-to-Story Connections
Storm after storm, we see homes completely leveled. FORTIFIED reduces the risk of this happening to your home by requiring a continuous load path, which means your roof-to-wall, story-to-story, and wall-to-foundation connections are engineered to withstand the wind and pressure your home is likely to face in a severe storm. Creating a singular, solid structure is the key to keeping the roof on and the home in place when high winds or hurricanes threaten.
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Engineered Wall-to-Foundation Connections
Storm after storm, we see homes completely leveled. FORTIFIED reduces the risk of this happening to your home by requiring a continuous load path, which means your roof-to-wall, story-to-story, and wall-to-foundation connections are engineered to withstand the wind and pressure your home is likely to face in a severe storm. Creating a singular, solid structure is the key to keeping the roof on and the home in place when high winds or hurricanes threaten.
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| Find a Professional * Required in Hurricane Prone Areas Only ** Required for the optional Hail Supplement to a FORTIFIED designation. |
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