Reliability of Conventional Residential Construction: An Assessment of Roof Component Performance in Hurricane Andrew and Typical Wind Regions of the United States

This report gives findings from and in-depth engineering and risk modeling evaluation of the performance of residential construction affected by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The study uses building characteristics and damage assessment data from a representative sample of 600 homes taken immediately following the hurricane. The focus of the study is on roof framing and the reliability of roof framing in the housing stock overall is assessed to provide a baseline for determining an acceptable level of performance for homes in low- and high-risk wind conditions in the United States. The findings give credible insights into the actual cause-and-effect relationships that explain the performance of homes in Hurricane Andrew. The ability of current engineering provisions to explain the damage frequencies experienced are also evaluated as a result of this scientific comparison of design theory and actual field experience. Prepared for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the National Association of Home Builders by the NAHB Research Center.

Published in 1998
67 pages
$50.00