https://fortifiedhome.org/


Wife and I are talking to builders about our home build in Rockport. One of them is really talking up the "Fortified" option, which looks to be a standard of construction to make the structure more resilient. Anyone familiar with this? Obviously higher standards mean increased construction costs. Builder is telling me you recoup that extra cost in reduced insurance premiums in a short time. I don't have numbers to provide yet.....I know that would help. Just curious about the overall big picture.

Curious to hear an opinion from anyone with experience or knowledge in this area.

Your roof being pummeled by hail and your house burning down are your two primary issues. Any $1 that doesn't address those seems like a waste, and if anything, makes replacement cost (and the premium) higher. I say use impact resistant shingles and call it fortified

Both excellent pieces of wisdom! Thanks!

Most roofing things I see in that list are things a roofer should be doing anyway per modern standards. I'm a bit concerned that the "fortified" roof section has a photo of someone installing 3 tab shingles. Personally, id avoid shingles completely if I had a home on the coast.

Jason, can you expand a little? I am an idiot when it comes to this. What should we be looking at installing? Metal? Or is there a different type shingle?

busdriver88 said:

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Jason, can you expand a little? I am an idiot when it comes to this. What should we be looking at installing? Metal? Or is there a different type shingle?

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In my opinion, the things they mention for shingle install are generally already done with good installs. Things like 6 nails per shingle, not overdriving nails, anchoring of shingle edges (usually down with starter strips).

I don't care for shingles at all when I have a decent chance of the average roof life to be involved in a 100+ mph wind event. In Houston, the odds of that are not zero but slim, but in Galveston, that's different. In San Antonio, slim, but in Rockport, not so much.

I'd probably go for a metal roof that is well installed. Clips for the roof are screwed in and with double lock standing seam, it's going to take a bit to yank that off a house. Plus, flying debris will be handled by metal better. Most standard metal roofing can handle 140 mph and specialized installs can handle 180mph. Now, whether the rest of the house survives and if that's important, I can't say.

That said, quality shingle products are rated for at least 130 mph when installed properly according to manufacturers. I still prefer metal in most cases.

If you want to see what exactly is involved in a fortified roof, and give me a shout, I may be able to go down the list and tell you if it's really exceptional or not. I cannot speak to any other parts of the building though.

Not saying it's worth it or agreeing with reducing premiums (agree with above poster, definitely fact check that). But some of the comments seem to ignore this is a house in rockport so this could also be about making it more resilient to wind/hurricanes. Not just hail.

The first person I would be talking to is my insurance agent.

I thought fortified program was in Louisiana but not in Texas. Maybe the homes in LA got a state grant to participate.

https://fortifiedhome.org/roof/

FYI, Matt Risinger put up a 45min video about "fortified" building in Rockport on his YouTube channel two days ago. I think he tends to go a bit overboard, and probably gets to build with minimal thought to return on investment, but his shows are a good look at new/evolving processes and tech/products.

Thanks!

Holy cow. That was very informative. Thank you

DannyDuberstein said:

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Your roof being pummeled by hail and your house burning down are your two primary issues. Any $1 that doesn't address those seems like a waste, and if anything, makes replacement cost (and the premium) higher. I say use impact resistant shingles and call it fortified

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In Rockport my guess is the primary concern is wind and/or water damage from a hurricane.