Preventing wind damage involves strengthening areas where things could come apart.

The
walls, roof and foundation must be strong, and the attachments between them must be
strong and secure. For a home to resist hurricane and weak tornadic winds, it must have
a continuous load path from the roof to the foundation -- connections that tie all structural
parts together and can resist types of wind loads that could push and pull on the house in a
storm.

Imagine turning your house upside down and shaking it. That is essentially the kind of
stress that hurricane force winds put on a house. The weak link in the load path is what’s
most likely to fail. Wind exerts three types of forces on your home: (Figure 1, Load Forces
on House)

• Uplift load - Wind flow pressures that create a strong lifting effect, much like the
effect on airplane wings. Wind flow under a roof pushes upward; wind flow over a
roof pulls upward.
• Shear load – Horizontal wind pressure that could cause racking of walls, making a
house tilt.
• Lateral load – Horizontal pushing and pulling pressure on walls that could make a
house slide off the foundation or overturn.

The actual effects of these wind forces on houses depend on their design, construction and
surroundings. Among other things, high wind pressures tend to collapse garage doors,
window units and patio doors, rip off roofing and roof decking and destroy gable end walls.
Roof overhangs, awnings, porches and other features that tend to trap air beneath them,
resulting in high uplift forces, are particularly susceptible to damage. In addition, broken
windows and doors can expose your home to serious damage from internal wind pressures
and water entry.

Check the wind zone of your location (see Geographic Basics), and use the protections that
will help your home resist the design wind speed of your region or of a region closer to the
coast. Louisiana’s coastline is receding, which means many south Louisiana homes are
getting closer to open water.