Wind does its first damage at the roof. That is why the FORTIFIED® program starts there and works down. Every home we frame at Drayton Homes Inc is built to the FORTIFIED standard, and buyers planning a new coastal home ask about the roof early, often before we have a floor plan. What follows is in the order the work happens on site, from the first sheet of decking to the inspection that closes the file.
What the FORTIFIED standard requires of a roof
The standard covers five parts of the roof: the nails, the deck seal, the edge metal, the roof cover and the attic vents. Each one carries its own specification. Miss any of the five and the roof does not earn the designation.
The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety wrote the standard and runs the program. IBHS calls the roof a home’s first line of defense against severe weather. Three designation levels sit in the program. Each one starts with that same roof list, then builds on the level below it.
| Designation | What it covers |
|---|---|
| FORTIFIED Roof | The five roof requirements above, and nothing beyond the roof itself |
| FORTIFIED Silver | Everything in Roof, plus stronger garage doors, anchored carports and porches, reinforced chimneys and gable ends |
| FORTIFIED Gold | Everything in Silver, plus an engineered continuous load path connecting roof to walls to foundation |
Nailing and sealing the roof deck
The decking goes down on ring-shank nails in an enhanced pattern. A standard roof gets smooth nails. IBHS says the change nearly doubles the strength of a roof against wind, and we nail every deck we build that way.
Ring-shank nail: a fastener with raised rings along the shaft that grip the wood fiber and resist pull-out when wind lifts on the deck.
Once the deck is fastened it gets sealed. That seal becomes a second water barrier under the roof cover. If the cover blows off, sealing the seams cuts the water reaching the house by up to 95%, according to IBHS. IBHS also puts an exposed deck at the equivalent of nine bathtubs of water for every inch of rain. We build for the week after the storm, when a roofer may be booked out and the house still has to stay dry.
Locking down the roof edge
Wind gets under a roof at the perimeter. It pulls the edge away from the house, so the standard gives that edge its own requirements. The drip edge is the metal that runs along the eave and carries water off the deck. The starter strip is the adhered first course underneath the shingles at that same edge. FORTIFIED calls for a wider drip edge than an ordinary roof gets, with a fully adhered starter strip over it. We install both on every roof we build, whatever cover goes over them.
Roof cover and vent ratings
The roof cover has to carry a tested wind rating. The standard sets a different test for each material. Asphalt shingles have to hit the highest ratings the industry tests for, ASTM D3161 Class F or ASTM D7158 Class H. Metal panels and tile systems get tested against the design pressures calculated for your site. All three can meet the standard with the right rating, so the cover stays a design decision. Installation counts as much as the rating, and our crews put the cover down to the manufacturer’s high-wind instructions.
Attic vents have to be wind and rain resistant under the standard. That requirement sits separate from the cover. Vents are small and they go on late, so they are easy to overlook. A vent that passes water in a storm soaks the insulation and the drywall from above. From the street the roof still looks intact.
How the roof gets inspected and certified
A FORTIFIED Evaluator does the inspection: an independent third-party contractor trained in the program requirements. The evaluator documents and verifies the construction as it happens, photographing materials and installation details. IBHS issues the certificate after reviewing that file.
Timing is the part we plan around. Fasteners, seams and edge metal all disappear under the roof cover. The photographs have to happen while that work is still open to the sky. So the evaluator goes on the build calendar next to the framing and roofing dates, and the documentation comes together while the crew is still up there.
Initial designation certificates expire five years from the date they are issued. Keeping the designation past that takes a redesignation inspection. IBHS will renew a lapsed designation up to a year past the expiration date, with the standard process and fees. We went into how carriers price a FORTIFIED designation in our post on FORTIFIED homes and insurance costs. Your agent is the one who can quote a real number for your address.
Roof details are still a conversation while a house is on paper. Once the trusses are up they turn into change orders.
Why every roof we build is Gold
FORTIFIED Roof would satisfy the standard on its own. Every house we build in Baldwin County goes to Gold anyway. A roof holds only as well as the walls under it, so Gold requires the connections from roof to walls to foundation to be engineered as one continuous path. On a two-story house, that path takes in the story-to-story connections between the floors as well. That work happens at the structural engineering step, before permitting and well before anyone orders trusses. We wrote about the engineering behind that whole-house approach earlier in The Drayton Journal.
We price the upgrades into every build. They cost little while the framing is open. Adding them to a finished house starts with taking the roof off. Our FORTIFIED homes page lists what Gold includes.
What to bring to the first meeting
Bring your lot address, your drawings and whatever your insurance agent has told you so far. The first meeting is a free consultation, and roof decisions are fair game in it. We build custom homes across coastal Baldwin County, from Fairhope and Daphne to Point Clear and Gulf Shores. The roof is one piece of a design process that runs from the first budget conversation to a 3D walkthrough you take before framing starts. Reach Drayton Homes Inc at (251) 605-8595 or send a note through our contact page. Office hours are Monday through Friday, and we set visits up by appointment. Call ahead and we can spread your plans out on the table at 13958 Snarr Rd, Silverhill, AL 36576.
