JOHN SIMKO: Engineering, construction standards can save Volusia, Flagler homes

Hurricane tracks for the last 100 years show that storms usually hit the south and west sides of Florida and then cross over to northeast Florida. This has saved the area from the worst effects of storms, so far.

Should a major hurricane make landfall, the coast of Volusia County would be ravaged by high winds and flooding. People would lose everything they have. The house that should protect them won't. Most homeowners are not given an option of a design to protect themselves and their lives.

The public should be made aware that the building code does not require the best or safest construction. It sets forth the minimum requirements only to minimize loss of life. If a building collapses totally in a hurricane, injuring people but not killing someone, it has met the code requirements. The code is not concerned with functionality after a storm, or with repair costs. Do homeowners realize that the present implementation and interpretation by designers, code officials and building inspectors of the building code provides even less than the "life safety" requirements of the code, giving no hope that they will have a house or anything left, should the design hurricane appear?

Houses are now built to various standards depending on the part of the county, the feelings of the building department or the politics in place. The design of private homes has been left to builders and other designers not trained in the principles of structural design. Strict plan checks are not performed to ensure the proper design was completed, and the inspectors often lack the skills required to properly interpret and enforce the code.

Professionals have a responsibility to "safeguard public health, safety and welfare." How can we continue to ignore the fact that hurricane force winds in our state have caused billions of dollars of damage? Damage that could have easily been avoided with proper design and knowledgeable inspections. Future hurricanes will not only continue to take this senseless toll but be devastating, unless we do something now about residential building requirements. Past action has only followed disasters, not been applied preventively, and it's not uniform or enforced.

Structural calculations and detail sheets for house designs are for the most part not submitted and, I believe, are generally ignored by building officials and left to the contractor. This means designers do not need to calculate loadings and the building inspectors do not need to know how these structures are going to be connected. City and county governments should assume legal liability for allowing these designs to be permitted. Crucial structural decisions are left to untrained personnel.

The following should be done:

•Require a professional structural engineer to seal the plans. This will help ensure that structures are anchored to the foundations and properly designed to transfer the wind loading forces to prevent uplift, sliding and shear failures.

•Require all structures within 140 mph wind zones to be designed by qualified, registered engineers. This is in line with the FEMA requirements now in existence but not enforced.

•Require submittal of calculations for all members and include proper load path transfers and connection details.

•Show flood plains and the required first-floor elevations so that structures are located above flood levels.

•Require building officials to show competency in design and loading requirements for the review of drawings and structural calculations. Devise an ongoing educational plan to bring current building inspectors up to current standards. Place a premium on experience, education and competency.

There would be some increase in engineering and construction costs. But this would be balanced against lower insurance rates, safety, and durability and reduced maintenance and repair costs.

It is time our officials stopped evading their responsibility to the public of this state to ensure that homes do not suffer major damage or that residents lose everything every time there is a hurricane or high winds.

If a hurricane of Category 3 or above comes ashore along our coast, damage again will be monumental. Now you know why.

Simko, of Ormond Beach, is a principal with MS Structural Engineers in Ormond Beach. Frodham is also a structural engineer.

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