FORTIFIED Home™ is a nationally recognized building method based on more than 20 years of specific research and real-world testing by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS). The FORTIFIED standard can apply to homes of all shapes and sizes and provides required upgrades for a wide variety of materials. 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 without limiting your design.
Your roof is your home’s first line of defense against severe weather, and if it fails, water can pour in causing severe damage throughout. That’s why the three steps to protecting it are included in every FORTIFIED home.
| The National Standard for Resilience | FORTIFIED Roof | FORTIFIED Silver | FORTIFIED Gold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enhanced Roof Deck Attachment | |||
| Sealed Roof Deck | |||
| Locked Down Roof Edges | |||
| Impact-Resistant Shingles Rated by IBHS** | |||
| Wind and Rain-Resistant Attic Vents | |||
| Impact* & Pressure-Rated Garage Doors | |||
| Impact Protection for Windows & Doors* | |||
| Chimney Bracing | |||
| Reinforced Soffits* | |||
| Anchored Attached Structures | |||
| Gable End Bracing | |||
| Pressure- Rated Windows and Doors* | |||
| Stronger Exterior Sheathing* | |||
| Engineered Roof-to-Wall Connections | |||
| Engineered Story-to-Story Connections | |||
| Engineered Wall-to-Foundation Connections |
When severe weather strikes, a FORTIFIED Roof™ keeps the wind and rain out, to prevent a cascade of damage that can destroy your home and belongings. FORTIFIED Roof was specifically designed to prevent damage that commonly occurs during high winds, hurricanes, hailstorms, severe thunderstorms, and even tornadoes up to EF-2. No matter what type of roof you have—shingles, metal, or tile—the following FORTIFIED Roof requirements will make your home stronger.
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 system.
If wind rips off your roof covering such as shingles, metal panels or tiles it exposes the wood beneath and allows water to pass through the gaps and enter your home.FORTIFIED requires roof decks to be sealed to prevent this type of water damage.
Instead of common smooth nails, FORTIFIED requires ring-shank nails, installed in an enhanced pattern, to help keep the roof deck attached to your home in high winds. In fact, using ring-shank nails nearly doubles the strength of your roof against the forces of winds.
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.
Secure the roof and reinforce the most vulnerable areas of your home to give it the best chance to keep wind, rain and storm pressures out. FORTIFIED Silver™ was specifically designed to reinforce the areas of your home conventional construction can leave susceptible to damage from high winds and wind-driven rain.
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.
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.
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.
Secure the roof and reinforce the most vulnerable areas of your home to give it the best chance to keep wind, rain and storm pressures out. FORTIFIED Gold™ was specifically designed to reinforce the areas of your home conventional construction may leave susceptible to damage from high winds and wind-driven rain.
When protecting against severe weather, your roof is the first line of defense. It’s also the most vulnerable. FORTIFIED Gold 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.
Post-disaster studies show that typical construction often leaves key elements of a home vulnerable to the powerful winds and pressure that come with a storm. FORTIFIED Gold also includes all the next-level protection provided by FORTIFIED Silver. Things like stronger garage doors, anchored carports and porches, and reinforced chimneys and gable-ends will help keep your home intact during severe weather events.
In most areas of the country, typical construction relies on gravity—and the weight of your home—to keep it in one piece when high winds threaten. Sadly, storm after storm, we see proof this is not enough. FORTIFIED Gold requires an engineered continuous load path, which is a specific plan that specifies how your roof should be fixed to your walls, and how the walls should be anchored to the foundation. Creating a singular, solid structure is the key to FORTIFIED’s system for maximum protection.