Course Description:
Hurricane Katrina damaged or destroyed 234,230 single-family homes in Mississippi alone (FEMA, 2006a). After Katrina, FEMA developed this Guide to assist homeowners and builders to improve the protection of existing homes from high wind. While a significant volume of guidance has been developed for designing new structures to resist high winds, much less has been developed to guide homeowners and builders to improve the safety of existing homes. This Guide introduces technical information needed for selecting and implementing wind retrofit projects for existing homes. This Guide identifies three successive protection packages: Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced, which are specifically developed for existing homes.
Although this Guide was developed for homes in the US Gulf Coast region, this course is applicable to one-family and two-family dwellings in all coastal and tornado-prone regions. It is not applicable to manufactured (HUD Code) housing. This guide is intended for preparations being made well in advance of expected wind events. Other FEMA Guides, such as Protecting Homes from High Wind provide guidance which includes some emergency-type preparations for imminent wind events.
Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this course, the student will have learned or been exposed to the following:
• Understanding the Need for Technical Guidance
• Wind Retrofit Project Types
• Identifying Risks
• Understanding and Deciding Levels of Protection to Achieve
• Wind Hazards in Hurricane-Prone Regions
• Wind Hazards and Building Codes
• How to Evaluate an Existing Home
• Basic and Intermediate Package Evaluations
• Advanced Mitigation Package Evaluations
• How to Determine if a Home Is a Good Candidate for a Wind Retrofit Project
• How to Strengthen Vents and Soffits
• Technical Design and Construction Methods
• Improvements with Roof Covering Replacement
• Improvements without Roof Covering Replacement
• How to Strengthen Overhangs at Gable End Walls
• Methods for Protecting Openings
• Bracing Gable End Walls
• How to Strengthen Connections of Attached Structures
• Developing a Continuous Load Path
• Protecting Openings
• Exterior Wall Coverings
• Tree Falls
• Exterior Equipment
• Implementing Mitigation Projects
• Introduction to Wind Retrofit Programs.
Prerequisites:
There are no special prerequisites for this course.
This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end and is intended to provide 8 hours of professional development.
