Ok. Recently did a wind mitigation for home on the water in St Petersburg. Level 2 and 3 had impact protections but the bottom floor had some glazed doors that were not impact rated. I know companies do not insure the bottom floors in these flood zones so was curious as to if I should exclude that level from the wind mit and give him the opening protection credit or if it should still be considered as the weakest form of protection on the home and marked as X. no windborne protection… ? I looked at the previous wind mitigation report he had done a year ago which they wont accept and the previous inspector gave him the credit and I dont want to be scolded by the home owner if I take it away.
Hey Thomas
IMO the owner has had false credits. Your report should read
one or more glazed openings are not protected
Keep in mind there is more than impact, there’s also positive or negative wind pressure that can cause the walls, roof, etc, to fail.
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Ya thats what I always put but the guy before me may have given the home owner some false information. Hes no longer in business and botched this clients previous wind mitigation pretty bad in several areas. I do all the inspections for one of the largest insurance agencies in the tampa bay area and you’d be shocked how many guys I’ve followed behind that either give people the wrong credits or dont give them the ones they deserve. Nothing ticks me off more than when I do my job right and a client gets upset because I took away a previous credit they had. When I first started and still to this day if im not positive about something I always come to the forum and can usually get a concrete answer and I just dont know why some guys dont use this forum for help.
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because it’s toxic. some people are more thin-skinned than others.
If the home is in a flood zone, the ground floor is not required to be protected. But if the ground floor entrance door is open to the second floor, then it should be protected. Look up ‘Breakaway’ wall codes.
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Then I would explain to him the situation. If the bottom level is part of the home envelope, it needs to be included.
Report what you see. Insurance fraud is not worth the meager fee from a wind mit. If you don’t want to be scolded, just drop the issue entirely, call it a learning experience and cease communication with the home owner.
As Bradley eluded, is this a home on concrete stilts/piers, with a separate exterior door entrance to the stairway? Or is the lower level finished, with an opening to the second floor?
All the doors on lower level and that picture frame window were not impact rated. Lower level is not insured but it’s a finished space and I would always say no but the previous guy must have told them something else
I see a seawall in those photos…definitely in a flood zone. These are designed to allow flooding through the ground floor with either breakaway walls or flood vents. It wouldn’t make much sense to require impact protection for the openings if they are designed to allow flood waters to pass. The original inspector was correct.
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Thanks for the clarification. Now I can finish this up.