Licensed General Contractor CGC1507580
Your business requires a roof to protect it from hazardous natural elements that could cause serious damage to your building. Certain weather conditions, such as high winds or severe rainstorms, can jeopardize the integrity of your commercial roof. Seeing as it serves as a building’s first line of defense, a faulty roof can lead to major issues that will take time and money to repair. For business owners living in areas where hurricanes often occur, the importance of preparing your roof for a potential hurricane cannot be understated. Many people fail to take the necessary precautions for their roof until the hurricane is closing down on them, and by then it’s too late. Ensuring the safety and security of your business requires you to prepare your commercial roof for the worst well ahead of time. Whether you decide to use hurricane roof clips in Florida or add reinforcing beams underneath your roof, there’s no shortage of ways to properly prepare your roof for a hurricane. Here are some ways you can ensure your roof is able to weather any storm and remain strong in the midst of a hurricane. Invest in Roof Clips Yielding immense holding strengths at affordable prices, roof clips are an easy way to properly reinforce your roof without spending a fortune. Used to reinforce standing seam metal roofing and wall systems, there are a wide variety of roof clips that vary in terms of size and efficiency. Finding the right roof clips for you may require you to work with a company that specializes in hurricane roof clip installation in Florida. Remove Nearby Branches Before a hurricane, you should walk around your building and take note of any overhanging branches or trees. These are likely to fall as a result of high winds and heavy rain, and could greatly damage your commercial roof. If you’re not able to do so yourself, hire contractors to cut down nearby branches in order to avoid potential damage to your roof. You should also ensure there are no loose materials on your roof that will fly off during a hurricane. Clear Gutters Your gutters will be working overtime during a hurricane, as heavy rainfall can be expected to hit your roof. If your gutters are blocked by leaves, dirt, or other debris, it can cause your drainage system to fail. Blocked drains can lead to water pooling on your roof, which can cause a partial or total roof collapse. Again, your roof is the first line of defense against a hurricane, and clean gutters play a vital role in ensuring your roof isn’t at risk for major damage.
Your roof is always susceptible to damage, but one of the biggest dangers to your roof is mother nature. Rain, snow, and ice can all harm your roof, but the most hazardous element is wind. Wind can absolutely destroy your roof if you don’t first take the steps necessary to protect it. Wind mitigation is vital to safeguarding your home, keeping your family safe, and avoiding costly repairs. Keep reading to learn more about roof wind mitigation and how you can protect your home. What Is Wind Mitigation? Wind mitigation involves adding features to your house and roof that can help to diminish or prevent wind damage. During the building process, certain features can be included that are integral to the structure of the house and are useful to guard against the wind, too. Even after your home is built, there are things you can add that will make your home safer and prevent wind damage. By including wind mitigation features, you will be preventing roof damage, saving money on potential repairs, and decreasing your home insurance premiums, too.
A hurricane is a devastating event that can lead to the destruction of your home. The highest category for hurricanes, no matter how hard the winds blow, is Category 5. When storms of this intensity hit, there are some things you can do to protect your home. However, there are many myths that people believe and will have anecdotal evidence to support. Anecdotal evidence isn’t evidence; it’s a story people tell to prove something they haven’t bothered checking scientifically. Don’t get caught in the storm without evaluating these myths and taking the appropriate measures, rather than the measures that others believe work. Tape the Windows Your windows weren’t created to withstand hurricane-force winds and the items that get blown around in them. Taping the windows won’t keep them from breaking, and in many houses, the frame is likely to lift right out of the wall, taking the glass with it. Using plywood and storm shutters is the best way to protect your windows. Some people use film to keep the glass together if the window breaks. Store Valuables in Dishwasher Just because the dishwasher is designed to keep water in, doesn’t mean that it will keep water out. Putting your valuables in the dishwasher makes them just as likely to get damaged by flood waters as anything else near the floor. Instead, take your valuables with you or store them higher in your home. 3 Days of Medications In the wake of a major disaster, pharmacies may be closed for weeks. The absolute minimum number of days of medication you should have is seven. A month’s supply is better. Most pharmacies are able to fill prescriptions for a longer period of time in places where hurricanes and other natural disasters are regular occurrences. There’s Time to Evacuate One of the main reasons people don’t evacuate when an order is given is because they don’t see the hurricane. Evacuation orders are issued in advance of a hurricane when the weather looks good, because otherwise, it’ll be too late to evacuate. Roads will be clogged, and driving out of town will be slow. Hurricanes move quickly; if the weather turns bad, it’s too late to get out. The sooner you heed the evacuation order, the better off you’ll be.
The roof is an essential part of your home, and if you live in Florida, you’ll want to make sure your roof stays on your home during hurricane season. Truss straps have become the popular go-to component for preventing the roof from being lifted off the house. Here is an in-depth analysis of roof truss straps. Introduction Roof truss straps in Florida come in premade structures made of wood or sometimes steel. They give the roof extra support and connect the roof to the walls of the house. Trusses are formed into triangular “webs” that are reinforced with long, sloping beams from the top and a horizontal beam from the bottom, all of which is linked by joints. The webbing effect of trusses helps distribute weight evenly over wide areas of the roof. Several trusses are spaced evenly from one end of the roof and house to the other, taking a bulk of the weight off the exterior walls. Trusses are typically made in a factory and delivered to the home construction site and can be installed immediately. This is why roughly 80% of residential construction crews prefer using truss straps over traditional rafters. Advantages There are several reasons why roof truss strap installation in Florida is so popular in this day and age. Truss straps are made of units of small pieces of wood that are connected by tooth plate connectors, making them incredibly strong, sturdy, and lightweight. A single roof truss strap in Florida can span as much as 60 feet , reducing the need for interior load-bearing walls and allowing for a more open floor plan that more and more people are looking for in a home. The best roof truss straps in Florida use approximately 40% less lumber than other methods, making them an environmentally friendly alternative. Since they are constructed with smaller pieces of wood, trusses are less expensive than other alternative methods. Buying them premade means you won’t need to worry about needing extra space to store materials, reducing the cost of labor, waste management, and financial losses due to pilfering.
Every home needs a reliable roof, especially in states like Florida that are prone to hurricanes. It’s so important to take proactive steps to secure roof connections on older homes, so that your residence is strong enough to face whatever wild weather may come your way. With a history of natural disasters such as Hurricane Andrew that devastated South Florida in 1992, there has been a series of new regulations and building codes put in place. These measures have been successful in making buildings stronger and less susceptible to storm damage. While many of these code requirements apply to new construction, now there is an emphasis on reinforcing the connections between roof and wall-framing in all structures, including both old and new homes. Roof Replacement When it comes to roof replacement projects and hurricane strap installation in Florida, there is funding available for qualifying houses in the state. There are qualifications that these houses need to meet, and if your home meets these standards, you may be eligible for assistance with important work on your roof-to-wall connections. For example, roof replacement is required for detached single-family homes with a value of $300,000 or more that fall in the “wind-borne debris region,” that covers nearly half of the state’s southern tip. This is where wind speeds can exceed 120 miles per hour. When the roof covering is replaced, the roof-to-wall connections must be upgraded as well. Simple Process For qualifying houses, hurricane strap installation by professional experts can be partially covered due to a legislative cost cap to lessen the financial burden. The connections that secure trusses or rafters to the top of the wall plate need to be inspected by a licensed engineer, who can recommend whether installing new hardware or adding nails to the existing setup is the best course to follow. While this may sound expensive to you, homeowners don’t need to spend more than 15% of the total cost of a roof replacement on updating the roof-wall connections. Much-Needed Change It’s understandable for homeowners to have some hesitations about jumping in feet first and investing in changes to their roof-wall connections, but it’s important. Once you have a better idea of why these improvements are so crucial, you’ll feel more confident about taking this step. Historic homes used to have rafters and trusses that were put in place with three 10d or 16d toenails, a fastener that was easily decimated in high winds of tropical storms and hurricanes. Although hurricane clips and hurricane straps have grown in popularity, some roofing contractors only installed clips on every other rafter or truss, rather than on every single one as is necessary. There’s also cases of roofing framers who didn’t use enough nails. Whatever the situation may be with your home, it’s much safer to have stronger connections that can withstand heavy winds.
Trusses are used on the roofs of most modern houses to give stability and strength to the underlying framing structure. There are different components with unique functions and designs you can use to create a studier roof for your house. Here are the principles of roof truss design. What Is a Truss? A truss, more commonly known as a rafter, is a device used to support different loads of the underlying frame of a roof. This is achieved by creating a structure made of triangles that interconnect, thus transferring the weight of the roof to load-bearing walls of the house. Trusses can span long distances and don’t need support from interior wall partitions. How Are Trusses Attached? These devices are attached to the walls via toenails (nails driven in at angles), clips that connect to one side of your roof with three nails, or straps that are wrapped over the truss with two nails. In recent years, however, truss installation companies have been using a third nail system, which is much stronger. A licensed third nail inspector in Florida , and elsewhere, can determine if your roof needs this attachment method. The main determining factor is weather. If you live in states where hurricanes are likely to occur, such as Florida, driving winds speeds to hundreds of miles per hour, then you should probably invest in third nail services for your roof. Third nail inspections can be tough because inspectors might need to remove decking—usually built with plywood—to get to the areas of your roof requiring third nail installation. Fortunately, there are two easier ways to get to these areas: through your home’s crawl space or the soffit, which is the exposed surface under the eaves of the roof. In the long run, adding a third nail system to your roof’s trusses will save you time and money used to fixed continual damage to your roof. Geometry of Trusses Trusses are typically lightweight to take advantage of the geometry and laws of statics required to create a stable rooftop. When you connect three flat objects together with bolts, you create a triangular structure that stays rigid, even if the bolts are loose. If you do this with four objects, creating a square, you will have a hard time keeping structure from turning into a thrombus, no matter how much you tighten the bolts. To keep the square structure rigid like the triangular one, you need to add a diagonal brace. This is how a truss works on your roof. You start with one triangle, then make more triangles using trusses. This is the geometry of trusses
The roof truss is an effective tool for building the roofs of residential and commercial buildings. They allow a variety of roof styles to be constructed using lighter materials while retaining structural strength and resiliency. Trusses are the triangular support structures upon which the roof decking and roofing materials are constructed. Some trusses are simple, but others are built for specific purposes and with greater tolerance for circumstances that can cause damage. In some areas, hurricane roof strap installation on trusses is mandatory. When trusses are combined with hurricane roof straps in Florida, they create roofing systems that can even endure the rigors of frequent severe tropical weather. Because of their versatility in construction projects, there are a variety of truss styles that can meet the demands of building designs and practical applications. Keep reading to learn more about the different types of roof trusses in use today as well as the way that each type is utilized. Queen Post Truss The queen post truss offers a reliable yet simple design that features a central post with a support lattice that can be used on any roof with less than a 10-yard span. Because of its simplicity, it’s easy to install. King Post Truss Another simple truss that’s easy to use, the king post features a central post and is well-suited for smaller structures. It can be used to span roofs of about 8 yards in width, and while it’s usually made of wood, it can be made from a combination of wood and steel if desired. Fan Truss A fan truss is typically made from steel, and while it features simple construction, it has many advanced elements that make it supremely sturdy. The top chords of the truss are divided into smaller lengths, which creates enhanced purlin support. Its span can reach from 10-15 yards, which makes it perfect for medium structures. Howe Truss The Howe truss is another type made from a combination of steel and wood. It’s primarily fabricated from wood, but features tension members and vertical members made of steel. That increases its durability and reliability and allows the truss to span up to 30 yards. Parallel Chord Truss Ideally suited to those who want to use trusses while building on a budget, parallel chord trusses are made of wood. Unlike some other types of trusses, there’s no need for a load-bearing wall or beam. They save money on labor during the installation process, though they take up more space in the attic. They also have limited spans, so they are better suited to smaller structures. Dropped Chord Truss The dropped chord truss is a variant of the conventional truss, only it features a second chord that is dropped beneath the primary chord. Not only does the secondary chord add additional support, but it also creates a natural vapor barrier.