How Much Wind Can A Metal Roof Withstand

Pigging It From The Bottom

As someone living in windy areas, this is the first thing you should do. Peg the feet of the unit into the ground at all the four or six legs.

Most of the modern gazebo legs come with the peg holes already in place therefore, you have an easy time securing the unit.

For maximum strength, you should use two pegs per foot. By doing this, you ensure that the feet of the gazebo are properly secured to the ground.

What Makes A Building Vulnerable To A Tornado

A typical straight-wall structure is dangerous because its components can be ripped off even in a mild storm. The wind enters through the smallest crack, demolishing the entire building as if a bomb had detonated within. During a storm, changing wind speeds can put pressure on different portions of a building. If it fails, it can cause serious injury or death.

The most severe damage from a tornado occurs at buildings with poorly constructed foundations or those that are built close to the ground. These structures are most common in areas where developers don’t need to pay taxes on property they sell, so they build them quickly without regard for weather conditions. Even if a foundation is properly prepared, it can fail under the stress of a tornado if the house is not designed to withstand such force. A small building with no basement walls will likely collapse during a tornado.

Large buildings with many glass windows and doors are also prone to failure. During a tornado, glass breaks into sharp shards that can cut you like knives. The metal frames of windows and doors can also twist off their hinges or pull away from their moorings, causing further injury and destruction.

Finally, buildings with plastic siding or thin wooden roofs are at risk for collapsing roofing material. The wind can blow these materials off the roof and into people’s homes.

Roofing Materials That Work For Miami Dade County And Other High

There are essentially two camps in Florida, those that live in an HVHZ and those outside of those zones. Obviously, those in the zones, will need roofs with the highest wind resistance ratings.

Some roofing manufacturers, such as Union Corrugating, have product lines that are geared specifically toward residents in HVHZs.

$8,225See Roof Costs in Your Area

Which brings us to the roofing materials that work for coastal living. In most other areas of the U.S. sunlight is a huge factor as all roofs will age over the long haul due to constant sunlight beating down on it.

With an oceanfront property, salt spray in the air must be considered. And weve already covered wind from hurricane forces. Yet, those same forces can take your average rainstorm and have you realize that horizontal, wind-driven rain that gets under overlapping roofing material, could pose a problem unlike other areas where rain tends to fall more vertically.

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Whats The Best Type Of Roof For Hurricanes And High Winds

Homeowners in Florida know hurricanes bring damaging winds, but many Floridians dont even bat an eye when a hurricane is forming in the Gulf or the Atlantic they know how to prepare. Emergency boxes filled with candles, batteries, canned goods and water are stocked up and within easy reach. They put the lawn furniture in the garage and tape or cover the windows.

But how often do you consider the most important part of the house, the roof? The roof of your home protects everything you love. After a major hurricane , roofs all over the affected area often have bright blue tarps stapled down for months, or even years, as roofing companies scramble to get them all fixed.

The good news is that you can prepare for the worst in advance. When the time comes to replace your roof, consider using the best roofing material for high winds. And dont forget other factors, like the best roof shape for hurricanes. You can learn more about those topics below, including how to make a new hurricane-proof roof affordable with PACE financing in Florida.

Insurance Discounts And After Storm Clean Up

For homeowners in hurricane-prone areas, some insurance providers offer discounts for homes with metal roofs. For instance, State Farm states that they offer an insurance discount for qualifying metal roofs. Consequently, when comparing different roof material types and costs, its important to contact your insurance provider and inquire about metal roof discounts. While not guaranteed, the discounts offered can help reduce the cost difference between metal roofing and shingles.

After-storm repairs should be another consideration in your roofing selection. As discussed above, metal roofs are a great choice in hurricane-prone areas because they are long-lasting, durable, and resist damage from high-speed winds. This improved performance means there is a good chance you wont be faced with emergency repairs after the storm moves through. While no roof is hurricane or windproof, selecting a metal roof means you might be able to skip the frenzy of trying to find a contractor in the days after the storm. It also means theres a good chance youll miss the hassle of roof leaks and insurance claims.

If damage does occur and your roof needs to be repaired, metal roof systems like our 138T and 238T systems allow for single panel replacement. The difference is that our 138T and 238T panels are symmetrical panels as opposed to other panel styles which are asymmetrical.

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How Do Metal Roofs Hold Up In Strong Winds

Hurricane season is here. Roofing is a large concern for home owners during this time. Anything can happen during a hurricane and its important to be prepared. Is your home ready for the risk? Many have questions about what might help protect their roofs from being damaged or torn off their homes during a storm.

Remember The Elastic Clips

These are the little plastic clips on the lengths of the canvas that play a vital role in securing the cover to the frame in between each of the legs.

When choosing the clips, ensure they fit into each other and are nice and tight.

Be cautious when using the clips so that you dont leave any unsecured part of the cover that the wind can pick up.

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Maintaining A Metal Roof

Metal roofs are very strong and will last for decades when properly maintained. Key maintenance tasks include keeping the roof free of debris, which can cause deterioration, and repairing or replacing protective coatings if they are flaking. Its also important to inspect periodically for loose seams and fasteners. Your metal roof contractor can give you more maintenance advice based on the specific style of roof you have installed.

Advanced Aluminum of Polk County, Fla., supplies homeowners, contractors and distributors with the finest metal roofing products that will stand strong in virtually any weather. When its time to move up to the best, contact us at 648-5787 for a quote or discuss your projects specs.

Exposure And Metal Buildings

The terrain surrounding a building also affects the winds force on the structure. A building right on a coastal beach has little protection from gales sweeping across the waters surface. However, trees, hills, or other buildings surrounding a structure may act as windbreaks, lessening the force of straight-line winds.

To account for these differences in location, the International Building Code developed these definitions to determine the exposure of a structure:

• Exposure A: An outdated designation, no longer applied in construction by the American Society of Civil Engineers
• Exposure B:Urban and suburban or wooded areas with many buildings placed close together, such as a residential neighborhood.
• Exposure C: Open, rural areas with scattered buildings less than 30 tall, or other barriers, including shorelines of hurricane-prone areas, farmlands, and grasslands.
• Exposure D:Flat expansions of land with zero obstructions, such as sparsely populated plains, salt flats, and the like. Also includes buildings constructed near large inland waterways that extend a mile or more from the shore, such as the Great Lakes.

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Who You Work With Matters

Proper product selection is critical in hurricane-prone areas however, its also highly important to select the right partners.

Realize your installer selection matters. Even the best roof poorly installed will fail to perform as expected. In fact, the MRA has issued a warning in the wake of the recent hurricanes alerting consumers to the possibility of both material and installation quality concerns.

In their warning to consumers, the MRA suggests some questions consumers should ask before starting a new metal roofing project that includes things like:

• Where is the roof manufactured?
• What warranties are available?
• Are your contractors members of well-known trade organizations?

Clay And Concrete Shingles

Clay and concrete roof tiles can withstand damage from tornadoes, hurricanes, or winds up to 125 miles-per-hour. These shingles are great in warm, dry climates, but they require extra support to bear their weight. They are more likely to break when walked on, so try to avoid this as much as possible.

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Is The Roof Installed Via The Manufacturers Recommendations

Metal roofs have the highest strength to weight ratio of any roofing material available. However, that ratio is entirely dependent on the quality of their installation. In a FEMA publication touting the advantages of metal roof systems in high-wind areas, several examples of failed metal roofs are shown. In every case, it was the installation methods not the materials or the design that were the problem. If your roofing contractor is not familiar with metal roof systems or the wrong materials are used, your metal roof will not perform as it was designed. Thus, you should be careful to

How much wind can a metal roof withstand? Most London ON homeowners think of an airplane, which is completely made of metal. However, this is a lost comparison. Aluminum is a roofing material with the least wind resistance than steel or copper. Indeed, it can bend and blow off easier, but it does not represent metal roofing in general.

What are metal roofing manufacturers doing about wind damage to metal roofs? North Carolina Metal Roofs has an excellent article that explains what The Bag Test and why metal roofs are excellent when it comes to preventing wind damage not just to your roof but your entire property too.

Clay And Concrete Tiles

Clay or concrete tiles are the most visually pleasing option for many homeowners. Tiles come in a variety of custom colors and match the architecture typical to Florida, which makes them a popular choice for upscale homes.

Curved tiles are arguably the most attractive option and are reasonably good at withstanding wind, with resistance up to around 130 mph, which is a pretty bad storm. Wind speeds in Florida regularly exceed 130 mph, though, so concrete or clay tiles are not the best or safest choice. Theyre also some of the more expensive roofing materials on the market.

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Hurricane Mitigation Adequate Roof Protection Is A Must For Coastal Living

Seaside property, aka coastal living, has long been coveted for its fantastic views and access to beaches. Yet, the glaring disadvantage comes from hurricanes or tropical storms that make landfall.

Did you know? Whether in Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, or Texas, its not uncommon to see many wind-damaged roofs from which some shingles have been blown off after a major storm or hurricane ripped through the area.

In the continental U.S., Florida tops the list of states with its 1350 miles of ocean-side coastlines. East, West, and Southern borders are all exposed to the Atlantic sea. A great treasure when the sea is relatively calm. While sticking out like a sore thumb during hurricane season.

Hurricane Andrew, in 1992, was a historical storm that had an impact on Florida which is still playing out today. Wind speeds topped 165 mph and left $25 billion in damages to the state. Around 125,000 homes in Miami-Dade County alone, were severely devastated or completely destroyed.

It may be impossible to overcome the ferocity of a natural occurrence that packs that degree of a punch. Since Andrew, Florida has sought to lessen the chances of that much damage occurring at once.

Did you know? Building codes throughout Florida have undergone significant changes, particularly to High Velocity Hurricane Zones , namely Miami-Dade and Broward Counties.

How Much Wind Can A Metal Building Withstand

As a result, today’s structural designs incorporate additional reinforcement in these key places. Most structures can be designed to survive hurricane damage and wind speeds of up to 170 mph! However, it is important that you test your structure’s resistance before any major storms approach so you know what kind of damage could be done.

In addition to the speed limit, most buildings are also required by law to have some form of impact resistance. This protects people from being injured if a window is broken by falling debris.

The American National Standards Institute has published standards for high-speed wind resistance for buildings, but they vary based on location and design criteria. These guidelines should help determine how strong a metal building can be when placed in high-speed winds.

For example, if a building site is 20 miles away from a town with a 100-year storm event rate, then it can be designed to with stand winds up to 170 miles per hour. But if the site is near a town with a 1-million-year storm event rate, then it should be able to withstand winds up to 190 miles per hour.

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Metal Roof Wind Performance

Properly designed and installed metal roofing often remains attached to the structure and, barring physical damage from flying debris, performs without leaks once the storm subsides. The overall performance of a metal roof is dependent on many variables that affect uplift pressures in addition to wind speed. The height of the building, shape, roof pitch, width of the building, and topography all affect the amount of force that a building may experience during a hurricane. Consequently, its challenging to broadly state that a specific system will perform well in all situations. But to offer some indication of the durability metal roofing offers, our Maxima or 238T panel systems are capable of safely withstanding wind speeds in excess of 200mph in many conditions.

Can Properties Withstand 140 Mph Winds

Whereas metal and concrete are each going to be extra wind resistant than wooden, all builders in Florida are required to assemble properties that may withstand 140 mph winds. Even when your own home was framed with wooden, it ought to have been constructed with the required straps and fasteners to bolster its structural integrity.

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Smart Tips For Choosing The Best Roof For High Winds

A single storm can destroy a roof in many cases. And ironically, one of the biggest factors in damage to a roof is windblown debris often the debris of other peoples failed roofs. But there are things you can do to protect your roof and therefore your home.

A roofing system isnt just a layer of protection. Its several layers and includes strong fastening of the roof to the walls of the home, the right design for the shape of the home, good roof decking, the best underlayment and then finally the right top layer.

Specifically, here are five tips that can help you make sure your home has the best roof for high winds:

1. Start with good structural design. Your homes floor plan is the first thing to consider. An intelligent floor plan can reduce the wind load on the roofing system of your home, making it less likely to fail. In general, square, hexagonal and octagonal floor plans perform the best. These floor plans increase wind resistance. Its also a good idea to have a 30-degree sloped hip-style roof with multiple slopes for the best possible performance.

When you make the right choices, you can dramatically increase the chances of your roof withstanding any high winds that may come your way. And in this area, there will always be high winds. The only questions are how high the winds will be, when they will happen and how well prepared you are for them.

Facing Mother Nature At Her Worst

Using the criteria above, steel designers and engineers create metal wind-resistant buildings to meet all current building codes for the specific area.

RHINO Steel Building Systems has never been refused a building permit anywhere even in the hyper-stringent Dade County, Florida. In fact, our standard loads exceed the building code requirements of many locations. If required by the client, even greater wind loads are possible.

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Underwriter Laboratories Ul 580 Rating

The UL 580 rating is a well-respected test used since 1973. A 10×10 roofing material sample is installed on a test platform and subjected to uplift pressure for five minutes. The sample is also subjected to oscillating pressure in 10-second intervals over one hour.

The results determine the class of roofing.

• Class 30resists nominal static pressure of 30 psf and range of oscillating pressure between 22 and 42 psf, wind uplift pressure
• Class 60 resists nominal static pressure of 60 psf and range of oscillating pressure between 44 and 83 psf
• Class 90 resists nominal static pressure of 90 psf and range of oscillating pressure between 66 and 90 psf

The test doesnt determine the failure rate in winds or rinds rapidly changing speed and direction. It also does not show the failure rate of the anchors used in the construction.