Tougher Building Codes for Moore Being Considered

[Plutonic Panda]

Hope this happens.

Under proposed changes, homes in Moore would be built to withstand winds of 135 miles per hour and would require wind-resistent garage doors and hurricane clips on the roof.

Moore considers enacting a stronger building code | News OK

[ou48A]

Hope this happens.



Moore considers enacting a stronger building code | News OK

This is a great idea. It's something I have wanted since the May 3, 1999 tornado outbreak.


But I wish it were being done state wide for new home construction and for other new occupied construction, such as places of business.
Over time it would help save lives, money and help prevent a lot of suffering.

[Plutonic Panda]

I agree, it seems like a no brainer...

[Zuplar]

Yeah honestly I wish builders would adopt this on their own. A few simple things can really make a difference, especially if the house isn't hit directly.

[ou48A]

The Moore City council votes on this tonight.

Apparently the builders are for this proposal.
I hope they pass it....It would IMHO be the right thing to do.
It would seen a good message to all of our elected leaders in our state.

[ou48A]

In an historic move, Moore City Council members Monday night unanimously approved new, stringent residential building standards to strengthen homes against tornadoes.
The council hopes the standards will serve as a model for other cities, particularly those vulnerable to tornadoes.
Implementing the standards may make home prices rise by about $1 a square foot, or $1,500 to $2,500 more per home, Haworth said.
Moore City Council takes historic step in bolstering homes | News OK

This is great news
Considering the life of an average home building it right from the very start is very cheap insurance.....
To further promote similar building codes it would be an act of good faith if the insurance industry offer insurance premium discounts to homes and buildings constructed with these new standards.

[jerrywall]

I think this is great. I've always thought an increase in building code requirements, and making improvements using attrition, are much more favorable than trying to implement retroactive requirements.

[Zuplar]

In an historic move, Moore City Council members Monday night unanimously approved new, stringent residential building standards to strengthen homes against tornadoes.
The council hopes the standards will serve as a model for other cities, particularly those vulnerable to tornadoes.
Implementing the standards may make home prices rise by about $1 a square foot, or $1,500 to $2,500 more per home, Haworth said.
Moore City Council takes historic step in bolstering homes | News OK

This is great news
Considering the life of an average home building it right from the very start is very cheap insurance.....
To further promote similar building codes it would be an act of good faith if the insurance industry offer insurance premium discounts to homes and buildings constructed with these new standards.

This is a very good point. Maybe now that it's being talked about this will become a thing, similar to burglar alarm and sprinklers, etc.

[ou48A]

For those of you interested in building stronger this recent DOK article may be of interest?

Concrete blocks provide resistance to high winds | News OK

[Plutonic Panda]

From Moore Monthly

City Council Approves New Building Codes for Residential Homes
share by Christiaan Patterson
Mar 18, 2014

After engineers from OU conducted a study on the disaster area, the findings led to a change in building codes. Since the weakest point of any home is the garage door, new building codes will require homebuilders to strengthen that point of entry. Currently, garage doors can barely withstand 3 seconds of 90 mph winds. These new codes should raise the wind resistance up to 135mph.

Residents currently in progress with construction are not required to comply with these new codes, however, they can chose to incorporate the codes if desired.

All homeowners receiving a build permit after April 17, 2014, will be required to comply with new codes.

- See more at: News | Moore Monthly

[Garin]

This subject did not go over well with most of the builders , the response below was from one of the two builders on the committee advising the council.


" I'm not sure why people are reacting today and not 2 months ago. The City Of Moore and the engineer have been to Moore Home Builders meeting and The City had a open Forum last month telling everyone this was coming down the pike.
Marvin and I were the 2 builders on this committee for the new changes.
The City is trying to prevent some of the damages that happens in the outer ring of these storms, they know they cant stop a F2 thru F5 but can help prevent a bunch of damage on the small stuff. The old saying that lighting won't strike twice in the same place doesn't ring true for Moore and there Tornados.
We felt these changes can be improvements and are common sense things that we can do and that some of us do already. Some of these things I will require my framers to do even in other areas besides Moore. I hate change to but all change isn't just to stick it to us!
For example upgrading the garage door to a double skin door and one that resist higher wind speeds and being sucked into the house opening that hole up this will help tremendously.
Windows weren't discussed much because it was determined that is such a small opening in a house and the ones used in Florida are for major wind speeds that are constant for hours.
Some of the other items are just framing requirements and straps.
We excepted these changes and even recommended the Engineer they should use from OU because he approached all this with common sense glasses and not look at builders as idiots.
The City was being pressured by the Council to do something and looked at by outside sources like HUD and Fema to make a changes. So by them being proactive and working with us, they came up with something that is more digestible than the alternative."

[ou48A]

I read today that OU is going to spend 12 million on storm shelters.

[Plutonic Panda]

Stronger Homes Being Built In Moore - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |

[zookeeper]

Stronger Homes Being Built In Moore - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |

Glad to see it. It's a tough thing to talk about publicly. But one has to wonder how certain other areas of the Oklahoma City would have withstood the same storms. Moore has been exceptionally bad over the past few decades at throwing up quick, cheap additions. Better quality homes being built is good news.

[MWCGuy]

The whole state could be better served by applying tornado resistant standards. We can pay a little more for construction or we can pay a lot more for insurance. Either way we are going to pay more money.

Honestly, I think it is time to get away from the single story flat roof school houses. Many districts are already doing this. Mid Del just replaced four elementary schools with two large twin two story schools with tornado shelter areas built into the buildings. They designed the schools with room for future growth in the district.