Your home's ability to resist the extreme force of wind is only as strong as its weakest link, so the only sure way to create a wind-resistant home is to secure all its connections: roof-to-wall, floor-to-floor and wall-to-foundation. The roof is your home's first line of defense from a storm. To make sure the roof stays in place when severe winds blow, securely anchor roof-to-wall connections by installing hurricane straps or clips at every wall-to-rafter connection to reinforce the roof. Even if re-roofing your existing home is years away, it is possible for roofing professionals to access and reinforce an existing home's roof-to-wall connections with hurricane straps and clips. These connections are critical in holding the roof together and will dramatically increase the homes overall resistance to wind. Along with roof-to-wall connections -- all joints in the structure -- floor-to-floor and wall-to-foundation -- must also be secured to create a "continuous load path" to the building's foundation. Secure floor-to-floor connections by making sure each floor is connected to the floor below with straps or clips in addition to any other code-required nailing schedule. Wall-to-foundation connections should be made through the use of anchor bolts or mud-sill anchors. Be sure to install all connectors following manufacturer's specifications.

Ernie Hutto from DAB Garage Doors explains that the garage door is the largest opening into any home. Hurricane winds can twist and shred a door, bringing wind force and pressure vacuums into the home and causing building failure. Hurricane Master doors are made of 24-gauge steel to make them more resistant to failure. DAB Hurricane Master doors are strengthened with their patented Interforce system that reinforces the top and bottom panels to prevent door twisting and blow-in. Denver Miller and his crew install the panels starting at the bottom. Reinforcing bars are integral to the design of these hurricane-resistant doors. The Interforce bars are added to the top and bottom panels to give more strength during high winds. The garage-door tracks are also reinforced with seven brackets, a flag bracket, and a 14-gauge steel track. This prevents the tracks from pulling, twisting, and blowing in during a hurricane. The garage door opener is also installed but, as Miller points out, it need not be heavy duty because the strength of the system relies on the torsion springs not the opener. An opener's job is simply to guide the door, not pull it.

Ted Gower from Armor Screen is installing the hurricane-protection fabric that will make the lanai a hurricane shelter in case of a storm. There are bolts and clips at the top with clips along the side. The sides are locked down along the sides and bottom to resist the enormous wind pressure during a storm. This geosynthetic fabric serves in stead of plywood or other storm protection coverings. The fabric reduces 100 mile per hour (mph) winds to 3 mph and reduces it to 0 mph if rain sheets on the fabric, causing a complete wind barrier. This fabric stands up to winds and wind-borne debris, making the enclosed lanai a hurricane-safe shelter by code and by design. Armor Screen can be used on any door, window, or porch openings to protect homes from damaging winds and flying debris.

Bob talks with Leslie Chapman-Henderson from the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) about the technologies involved in securing a roof. Chapman-Henderson explains the importance of keeping a roof secure in high-wind situations. Uplift force is explained as wind is that pulls on a roof, with a force that can tear the roof right off the home, causing catastrophic building failure. Keeping a roof secure involves affixing the roof decking, the plywood, so no new holes are created during a storm that would allow more wind to come in. FLASH standards specify plywood of a certain thickness, 5/8" minimum thickness with 6" inch nailing pattern, securely nailing into the trusses. Pneumatic nail guns, employed in a hurry to save costs, often miss the underlying truss. Simpson StrongTie straps are used to secure the truss to the structure. Tie-downs secure the roof vertically and horizontally. Bob and Chapman-Henderson review the Punta Gorda storm-ready project completed last season. The house in Punta Gorda was a monlithic concrete structure, poured in one solid pour with steel reinforcing bars embedded throughout. Steel fastenerstied directly to the exposed rebar to secure the roof. The roof decking and tie-down followed FLASH's Blueprint for Safety, just as the current roof does. Chapman-Henderson presents Bob with an award from the Governor's Hurricane Conference for his work to increase awareness of the need for storm-resistant homes. According to Chapman-Henderson reviews the governor's program that makes $250 million in Florida funds and $100 million from HUD to help people in Florida retrofit their homes to bring them up to code and make them storm resistant. The My Safe Florida Home is available to low- and modest-income residents. Eligible viewers are encouraged to call the 800 number or go to mysafefloridahome.com to begin the process.

Bob is joined by Leslie Chapman-Henderson of FLASH � the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes � at the storm-ready house in Punta Gorda, Florida. Chapman-Henderson explains that FLASH was born after Hurricane Andrew to bring information about safer building technologies to homeowners in hurricane zones. Since that time, FLASH has expanded its work throughout the country, helping to educate homeowners on protecting their homes from natural forces like wind, water, hail, wildfires, and earthquakes. She tells Bob that homeowners spend 250 billion dollars each year on home improvements. Chapman-Henderson urges homeowners to think about safety and enhanced protection when making home improvements. Roofs are a key threshold of protection in a storm-ready house, she says. Reinforced concrete walls are a great start, but it is essential to keep the roof tied down. Chapman-Henderson explains how wind works dynamically, pulling and pushing on a house to peel off the roof. The only way to keep a house together is to maintain the connections between the roof and the walls, the floors and the walls, and the walls with the foundation. When a house works as a unit, it stays together. Bob and Chapman-Henderson look at the engineered truss system that supports the roof and ties it into the walls to distribute the wind load that will hit it during a hurricane.

Bob and homeowners Teresa Fogolini and Jim Minardi meet with Scott Buescher of Mercedes Homes to review the layout for their new storm-ready home. Buescher shows the house plans and layout for the Jacqueline model that has four bedrooms, a two-car garage, a central kitchen with a family room and breakfast nook, a combination dining and living area, and a master suite. The house will have many hurricane-resistant features, including the solid wall system made of concrete reinforced with steel bar and steel mesh. The roof system will also be designed to resist hurricane-strength winds. It will be built with engineered trusses that are tied down with hurricane straps wet set into the concrete walls. The trusses will be covered with 5/8-inch plywood decking to complete a very strong structure.

Bob meets Leslie Chapman Henderson from FLASH � the Federal Alliance for Safe Housing � to look at two houses in Punta Gorda, Florida, one of which survived the hurricanes of 2004 unscathed, the other which must be completely demolished. The differences, Chapman Henderson explains, come from building practices. FLASH tries to educate homeowners about best building practices so that their homes will withstand the damaging forces of natural storms. In hurricane zones, like Punta Gorda, the big enemy is wind. Chapman Henderson explains that in high-wind events the key to maintaining your structure is to keep the wind out and the structure tied together. Covering windows, doors, and garage doors is the best way to protect against penetration from debris and resulting wind entry that can implode a home. The other key safeguard is keeping the roof on, she says. Maintaining the roof and the connections from roof to wall and floor to floor will keep a house intact.

Bob recaps the project in Punta Gorda, Florida, where a home built in the 1960s was completely destroyed by the winds and water of Hurricane Charley. Bob reviews the stem wall and slab construction that is designed to combat storm surge and intrusive water that gets under slabs and lifts structures. He also talks about the concrete walls that were reinforced with steel rebar and wire mesh before the concrete pour. With window bucks in place to maintain window and door openings, the solid walls were poured all at once, a job that only took four hours to complete. Finally, Bob looks back at the storm that completely demolished Teresa Fogelini and Jim Minardi's home. He points to the work of FLASH, the Federal Alliance for Safe Housing, and the work they do to promote building technologies that will help homes withstand the wind and water of future storms.

Bob meets homeowners Teresa Fogolini and Jim Minardi whose home was completely destroyed by hurricane Charley. Minardi describes riding out the storm in their demolished home as the roof blew off, furniture blew out, and windows blew in. Minardi stayed in a bathroom until the eye passed overhead, at which point he ventured out to see that the roof and windows were gone. He went to neighbors for shelter until the storm was over. Fogolini and Minardi were unable to salvage anything from their home and now live in a trailer as they prepare for construction of a new, storm-resistant house.

Bob goes inside with Ed to look at the roof framing details designed to meet Florida hurricane codes. Perfortated strapping is used to tie the roof down in strong winds.