THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 6, 1996 TAG: 9601060235
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
Houses built on the Outer Banks this year were supposed to come with the roofs firmly attached.
But that won't be necessary until 1997. In fact, you won't even have to solidly anchor your house to the foundations for another 12 months.
Ever since hurricanes Hugo, in 1989, and Andrew, in 1992, made kindling out of $3 trillion dollars in residential construction in the Carolinas, Florida and the Gulf Coast, new building codes have been drawn up to require stronger houses on the North Carolina coast. But they've been delayed by the state Building Code Council.
As a result, current house-construction rules do not spell out that roofs must be connected to the rest of the house, or how the entire structure should be bolted to the foundations.
``We had the new rules ready to go into effect on New Year's Day, 1996 - this year - but the N.C. Building Code Council last September voted to delay any changes until Jan. 1, 1997,'' said John R. ``Rod'' Andrew, a Wilmington consulting engineer.
The Building Code Council, appointed by the governor, is made up of general contractors, home builders, state and county inspectors and representatives of utilities.
For nearly a decade, Andrew has been vice chairman of a Building Council's structural subcommittee studying the need to strengthen home construction on the Outer Banks and in other areas where worst-case hurricane winds of 100 to 110 miles an hour or higher may be expected.
``Mostly that includes all residential construction east of the Intracoastal Waterway,'' Andrew said. ``After the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Hugo and Hurricane Andrew, it was clear that we needed to make our code a lot stronger.
``Most of the Building Council members object to the rule changes because they would make houses more expensive to build,'' he added.
``Their argument against more costly construction is `Well, we haven't yet had a Category Five hurricane on this coast so why worry about it?' '' said Andrew.
Nails are all that is legally required to connect a roof to a residence under the current code, Andrews said.
``You have to nail the roof to the top plate of the house; that's all,'' said Andrew. ``We managed to get the contractors to use metal tie-plates and connectors in wooden residential construction, but there's still no provision to fasten the whole house together and then connect it to the foundation.''
``All we can do today is go by the present residential building code,'' said Ronnie Ballance, building inspector for Southern Shores on Dare County's vulnerable Outer Banks.
Ballance is an articulate construction expert and he is happy to report that many reputable home contractors routinely ``overbuild'' to make exposed construction stronger than is required. But he also admits there is nothing he can do if a contractor scrimps to the barest requirements of the code.
And Ballance is concerned about rules covering houses built on pilings.
``If you build on a concrete slab, you have to anchor the walls down every 16 inches,'' said Ballance, ``But pilings don't have to be any closer than 8 feet on centers. That's what the house is attached to.''
Ballance concedes that contractors often have a point when they complain about overly restrictive building codes.
``I can understand why they might object to a rule that requires excessive strengthening of some part of a house that historically has never failed because of wind pressure,'' he said.
But Ballance also thinks the residential construction industry should practice preventative medicine.
``Why don't window manufacturers make integral storm shutters? They should be required in coastal construction.
``Why?
``Because if the windows fail, then the roof gets pressurized and eventually blows off. That's the end of the house.'' said Ballance.
North Carolina's chief building inspector is Lee Hauser, a construction expert who is deputy commissioner of the Department of Insurance in Raleigh. Hauser, as head of the insurance department's engineering division, is often caught between the realities of the construction industry and wisdom of a tighter residential building code.
Because Hauser is linked to both the insurance business, where hurricane losses can be financially catastrophic, and the cost-conscious home builders, he often ends up in the middle of building code controversy.
``We get blamed for a lot of things, but we do the best we can,'' Hauser said.
``We have no system at the state level to monitor residential policy or actual construction,'' said Hauser.
Meanwhile, Dr. William Mason Gray, the Colorado State University hurricane expert, in a November, l995, forecast for this year, said there will at least eight named hurricanes next summer.
More ominously, Gray added:
``There has been a great lull in the incidence of Category 3-4-5 hurricanes striking the U.S. East Coast, Florida and the Caribbean Basin in the last 25-years.
``Both actual historical observations and geological records indicate that this lull will not continue. . . and a return of increased major landfalling-hurricane activity should be expected.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]
DREW C. WILSON
The Virginian-Pilot
The west side of this Southern Shores home, facing the sound, is
reinforced with triple-laminated wood structures, which connect the
roof to the foundation.
Bob Sykes, a contractor working with Project Blue Sky, inspects
rafters outfitted with structural enhancements to reinforce against
hurricane-force winds. Sykes' job is to ``keep costs and gains in
balance'' when the building program is used, a Southern Shores
official said.
by CNB