Florida Raising the Roof on The Panhandle

The State of Florida is raising construction standards for the Florida panhandle, including Destin and South Walton County, in an attempt to protect property owners from having their homes and condos damaged in a major hurricane.

The new building code standards are being adopted on the heels of two years of hurricane activity, during which most of the panhandle, including Destin and South Walton County were not required to abide by the higher standards that most of the rest of Florida have lived with for years.

The Florida Building Commission adopted the new policy to protect homes and condominiums from wind-borne hurricane debris in areas most likely to experience 130 mile-per-hour winds near the Gulf of Mexico.

Some builders have already adopted the higher standards in construction of some waterfront and waterview developments, but not all in the Destin and South Walton areas.

The new standards eliminated an exemption that left 12 Panhandle counties out of the state's wind-borne debris protection requirement zone when changes were approved in 2000. The building codes in Florida are considered one of the strongest in the country.

The new requirements include impact resistant doors and windows, storm shutters and more hurricane construction tie downs to reinforce the framing of dwellings.

The new building code is also the state’s attempt to satisfy insurance companies that the state government is taking a pro-active approach towards forcing builders to use more wind resistant products in construction in order to attract more insurance companies to the Florida marketplace.

Breaks in windows and doors during high winds can further damage structures causing more serious damage.

Many builders in the panhandle, including Destin and South Walton opposed the requirements because the additional expense it will add to construction. Storm surge and beach erosion cause the majority of damage in the panhandle to properties from hurricanes rather than wind damage. Most of the significantly damaged properties were on the waterfront.

The new standards are required for both new construction and properties which are under going repairs from previous storm damage.