In my county, yes. Although there is no such thing as being hurricane proof, just like there's no such thing as bullet proof.LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Mon Oct 03, 2022 4:58 pmAren't new builds also held to the new, higher standards for hurrocane-proofing?jztemple2 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 30, 2022 11:59 pmThose who could build more expensive homes made them more hurricane resistant most likely.Blackhawk wrote: ↑Fri Sep 30, 2022 11:33 pmWhat stood out to me was how many expensive homes were (visually) intact, while how many poorer homes were damaged. The people least able to bounce back took the worst of it.jztemple2 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 30, 2022 10:57 pm Looking closer at the image, zoom in all the way and then using the Windows Magnifier, I'm actually a bit surprised at how many houses away from the beach still look pretty intact. They may and probably did flood inside, but most had intact roofs and even some with intact pool screens, or at least the framework of the screen.
The plot on which a house sits is now required to be higher than when we built our house in 1984. My neighbor's house, built about five years ago, sits about three feet higher than mine. Roof trusses have to be more substantial and anchored better. Garage doors are no longer allowed to be fiberglass, but instead be wood or composite material with a certain weight per square foot. I'm sure that there are a number of others.
And of course houses built on the barrier islands have even more stringent requirements. My dad's house on Melbourne Beach was built with cinder block, then concrete was poured down through the openings, creating essentially an eight inch thick concrete wall. Windows were certified to 150mph. All that costs more money of course, but it is much more resistant to hurricanes than an old balloon frame house like ours.