Florida – Wind Design and Wind Mitigation Requirements

The Sunshine State is known for it’s beautiful beaches and tropical weather. Surrounded by warm ocean waters, it is this location that makes it especially vulnerable to severe tropical storms. Winds from these storms can cause severe destruction; therefore, the State of Florida has enacted building regulations to help minimize the damages caused by severe storms.   This interactive online course will cover the latest wind design and wind mitigation requirements from the Florida Building Code (based on ASCE 7-10, the 2010 version of the ASCE standard).  In this course, we will cover what is applicable in this building code, types of issues covered in the wind design arena, and changes to the wind speed maps. Other issues covered include exposure of a building site, opening protection and enclosure classifications for how to protect a building in wind regions. The code has an alternate all heights method, which will be covered briefly. We will also talk about roof and wall components, and the special requirements for those components in high velocity hurricane zones, or more specifically, south Florida.