Feature: Building Stronger

Building codes, which lay out minimum requirements, do not preclude builders from adding high-end, super-durable windows, roofing, and siding to their houses.

“There is an endless list of options available to people who want to build stronger, safer homes,” says Darryl Aubuchon of Aubuchon Homes in Cape Coral, Fla.

And while those options are on the market primarily because of Florida's stringent building codes, they're proving popular elsewhere—and not just to protect against wind, but also fire and theft.

Marc Andreas, a brand marketing manager for Pella, tells of a homeowner in Wisconsin who replaced his windows with impact-resistant glass units so he could remove unsightly security bars. And some homeowners who live on busy city streets or near train tracks are trading their standard windows for thick panes to keep the noise out, Andreas says.

In Peru, Ind., builder Wayne Bunker of Appletree Homes says he marveled at the two homes he built across the street from each other after an unlikely tornado slammed the city just after Memorial Day last year.

One house lost an entire wall; the other, fortified with 30-year architectural roofing shingles, impact-resistant windows, and vinyl siding laminated to an insulated solid core and rated to withstand 130-mile-per-hour winds, remained almost intact. The cedar-look insulated siding manufactured by Crane Performance Siding is 300 percent more impact-resistant than regular vinyl, according to marketing director Mark Axelrod.

CertainTeed says its 40-year laminated shingle reinforced with a fiberglass scrim is becoming a favorite in the Midwest, where hail the size of golf balls beats rooftops at least once a year.

AP/Wide World Photos Products developed to comply with Florida's stringent building codes are being used elsewhere for everything from tornado resistance to theft deterrence and fire prevention.

About 5 percent of Peak Performance Roofing & Construction's St. Louis customers ask sales manager Rick Adams for impact-resistant shingles each year, even though local codes don't require them. That's because insurance companies are offering insurance premium discounts to homes that have them, he says.

Adams notes that hail can “bruise” a fiberglass shingle mat, causing its granules to peel off a few at a time over a month or so, leaving a soft spot that can allow water to penetrate. He predicts more homeowners will pay for the pricier impact-resistant shingles once they prove themselves during the next hail storm.

And as non-coastal builders buy more weather-resistant products, manufacturers will make more of them, says Andreas.