At about 22 cents apiece, hurricane ties are a bargain

Add one per rafter, perhaps save a roof.

It always pains me when I see photos of damage from hurricanes and tornados, especially houses with their roofs gone.

Having built a couple of 5-star energy-rated homes in a major earthquake zone, I have some experience with codes and building tough houses.

I realize not much can be done when a house is flattened or probably not with the 190 mph winds recorded in Typhoon Halyan or the horde of tornados that tore through the Midwest Nov. 17.

22 cents

However, in a lot of cases one of these on each rafter could have saved the roof. It amazed me when I saw new construction in a hurricane zone like Florida of all places and these hurricane ties were not used. They cost about 22 cents apiece for crying out loud and only take a minute or so to attach one.  That's pretty cheap compared with repairing a roof and fixing or replacing whatever else is damaged when a flying roof leaves a house uncovered.

Hurricane ties were just one of the code requirements for building in a high-wind, earthquake-prone, heavy snow area like the one where I lived and built.  I am sure some of the requirements would make an outside contractor cringe.

To begin with, for loans banks require a high energy rating: the second one had to be at least 5-star. In this area we had to build for 90 mph winds, 120-pound-per-square-foot snow load and to withstand a substantial earthquake (I don't recall if there was a specific magnitude involved.)  I do know the Good Friday Alaska earthquake in 1964 was the strongest earthquake ever recorded in North America and the epicenter was just 50 miles west of where I was building.

Along with the hurricane ties, I had to put heavy steel rods through the gable end walls connecting foundation to roof. Wall base plates were bolted to the foundation, and other ties similar to the ones shown held various other sections of the house together. I know these precautions can add to the eventual cost, but they seem cheap relative to replacing a whole roof or even more.