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Originally Posted by wisbad1
What is wind mitigation?
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1. Steel straps at each roof truss end, properly nailed, that attach trusses to top plates and studs much more securely than a couple nails. They really do help prevent roofs from being pulled off by a hurricane. They are easy to install during construction, though it costs at least $200 in materials and several hours of hard labor. Much harder to install them when insulation is in place, and may not be done adequately.
2. Correctly installed plywood or USB sheathing on top of the roof trusses and under shingles. This means that most of the sheathing nails installed with pneumatic nailers actually penetrated the trusses and that the number of nails per 4x8’ sheet is according to code. Back when Hurricane Andrew hit the Miami area, doing colossal damage, studies showed that much of the damage was due to roofs being pulled off because the trusses were just toenailed to the top plates and because many sheets of plywood roofing were secured with 4-8 nails that actually penetrated the trusses (instead of the now required every 12” in the middle of the sheet and every 6” along the edges. Properly secured roofs tended to survive.
3. Higher quality shingles (sometimes called architectural shingles) instead of cheap ones, which are easily blown off in high winds. Good ones are thicker and stick to each other better. They also cost quite a bit more, though installation cost is the same, more or less.
A wind mitigation inspection costs about $100, takes only a few minutes, and includes photos. If your house passes, it can save you $500 a year on your insurance. Money well spent. Ideally, don’t buy a house that doesn’t pass. Fixing it after the fact is expensive.