• BUILDER RESOURCES

  • FORTIFIED

    FORTIFIED

    • The FORTIFIED building standards are a collection of construction upgrades that work together to protect homes from severe weather.
    • Decades of research from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) show FORTIFIED upgrades can protect your home from high winds, hurricanes, and tornadoes.
    • Whether you’re building a new house, remodeling your current home, or putting on a new roof, there is a FORTIFIED standard that can make your home safer.
    • Each FORTIFIED standard includes 3rd-party verification of the required upgrades, which helps to ensure a consistent level of protection.

    FORTIFIED Roof

    • FORTIFIED Roof requires multiple layers of defenses to prevent a cascade of damage that can start at the roof and impact the integrity of the entire structure during high winds.
    • The building standard focuses on three areas proven to help homes withstand EF-2 tornadoes and Category 3 hurricane winds:
      • Stronger connections to hold the roof onto the house
      • Reinforced edges to protect one of the roof’s most vulnerable areas
      • A sealed roof deck to prevent rain from entering the home, even if shingles are lost
    • For homes in hail-prevalent areas, FORTIFIED provides industry-leading guidance on choosing upgraded shingles, tested to resist 2” hail.
    • Investing a few hundred extra dollars, when replacing your roof, can save you thousands in damage later. More importantly, it can reduce the possibility of significant damage that could force you from your home.

    IBHS

    • For decades the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) has studied the physical and economic damage caused by severe weather, and is devoted to finding construction improvements that will prevent unnecessary suffering.
    • IBHS conducts post-disaster field studies to identify common sources of construction failures. It then tests solutions in a state-of-the-art research center by subjecting full-size buildings to winds up to 130 mph, wind-driven rain, hail up to 2 inches in diameter, and even wildfire.