More shutters may be required

Could protect from hurricanes

Engineers have found a recurring form of damage in hurricane-torn areas: Homes that literally blew their tops after flying debris penetrated windows and caused pressure inside to build.

Federal emergency officials and the state Department of Insurance want legislators to require protective shutters or shatter-resistant glass in new homes and businesses to reduce the phenomenon in parts of a 16-county coastal area. Homebuilders and the group that sets the state building code oppose the measure, saying it would be unnecessary and expensive.

The state already requires fortified windows on structures within 1,500 feet of the ocean. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency is threatening to cut off disaster rebuilding funds unless North Carolina extends the requirement to coastal areas that are likely to experience winds of 110 mph during a hurricane. That would affect all or parts of 16 counties, double the number under existing rules.

"This is critical," Fred Folger, a lawyer for the Department of Insurance, told a legislative study panel Tuesday. It's "a question whether the state's citizens will start having to pay for their own cleanup" after a hurricane.

Insurance companies support the proposal because they said it will reduce damage and keep premiums low. But builders said the existing code is sufficient, and that the proposed changes would add thousands of dollars to the cost of coastal construction.

"It will be a significant financial burden on the citizens of the state," said Dan Tingen, a Raleigh contractor who heads the N.C. Building Code Council.

Tingen said hurricanes are so powerful that it's hard to pinpoint the source of most devastation, and the building code already requires extra-strong roofs to eliminate flying shingles, along with bracing and deep pilings for structures in hurricane-prone areas.

The building code council has declined to implement wind-borne debris measures three times since 2001, said Wanda Edwards, a state Department of Insurance deputy commissioner.

State and federal officials eventually want to follow an international building code that eliminates the option of plywood for window protection. Tingen and Paul Wilms, representing the N.C. Home Builders Association, said homeowners should have the cheaper option.

Wilms said some mechanical shutters could add $11,000 to the price of a 1,500-square-foot home.

According to estimates from the Department of Insurance, the cost of protected windows on a house with 20 windows and two doors would range from $360 for plywood to $5,600 for impact-resistant glass. Storm shutters for 20 windows would cost $627 for corrugated panels and $3,705 for accordion shutters.

Federal officials want the state to begin requiring window protections by late summer, but members of the Subcommittee on Building Code Issues in Hurricane and Flood Prone Areas said Tuesday that more meetings are needed before a recommendation can be made.

Co-chairwoman Sen. Julia Boseman, a Wilmington Democrat, said a recommendation might not be made until next year.