What is FORTIFIED?
FORTIFIED is a voluntary construction and re-roofing program designed to strengthen homes, multifamily, and commercial buildings against severe weather such as high winds, hail, hurricanes, and even tornadoes.
FORTIFIED is a free resilient construction standard based on decades of scientific research by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (which is 100% funded by the insurance industry).
What FORTIFIED programs are available?
There are three FORTIFIED programs.
FORTIFIED Home™- for residential houses, townhomes, and duplexes/triplexes.
FORTIFIED Commercial™- for businesses and commercial properties.
FORTIFIED Multifamily™- for apartments, condos, and other multifamily properties.
What are the differences between FORTIFIED levels?
There are three levels for all the FORTIFIED programs.
Roof – keeps the roof on and the rain out. Stronger connections to hold the roof to the structure.
Silver – includes all the protection of FORTIFIED Roof and adds additional protection to vulnerable and often overlooked components such as windows, garage doors, and attached structures.
Gold – includes all the protection of FORTIFIED Roof and Silver and requires the entire structure to be tied together using a continuous load path.
Am I limited by materials and products when building to FORTIFIED?
A house can be built using any material – wood, poured concrete, insulated concrete forms (ICF), steel frame, etc.
FORTIFIED is product agnostic - Any material can be used during building, repairs, or re-roofing, as long as it meets the wind zone and pressure rating for where the home is being built or re-roofed. The product will have a label that shows the testing.
Does the house have to be coastal to be FORTIFIED?
No. Existing homes inland and coastal can be retrofitted to meet the FORTIFIED Roof™ and FORTIFIED Silver levels.
Can new homes can be built to the FORTIFIED Gold™ standard.
Yes. Third-party verification ensures that the upgraded construction materials and installation methods are used to meet the standards required by the FORTIFIED program.
A FORTIFIED Evaluator™ is the name of the third party "inspector."
Who can perform the work?
Any contractor or roofer can do the work as long as they follow the FORTIFIED standard and work with a FORTIFIED Evaluator to designate the property.