IBHS News Releases

Myrtle Beach, SC - The first Fortified…for safer living® homes in South Carolina are under construction, and the largest domestic property and casualty insurer in the state is offering an insurance discount on homes built to the disaster-resistant standard.

Fortified…for safer living® is a national new-home construction designation program of the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), a national nonprofit initiative of the insurance industry.

Fortified techniques and construction materials raise a home’s overall disaster resistance above the minimum requirement of building codes.  Extra attention is given to areas especially vulnerable to disasters, including door and window openings, roof construction, the foundation and even landscaping. Fortified home buyers and their builders may choose from a package of affordable upgrade options based on the home’s location.  Depending on the options selected, building to the Fortified standard adds roughly 3 to 10 percent to the total cost of a moderately priced home. 

An independent inspector, trained by IBHS, verifies that Fortified features have been built into the home. The Fortified designation is registered with IBHS and remains with the structure indefinitely (unless major modifications are made).

Fortified upgrades not only offer homeowners a home that exceeds state building codes.  According to Susan Merrill, spokesperson for South Carolina Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, “We recognize the importance of owning a Fortified home in a coastal area and offer a discount to policyholders whose homes are built to the stringent Fortified standards.”  Homes must also meet all other policyholder eligibility requirements. 

Classic Home Building & Design, Inc. is building homes in the Myrtle Beach subdivision of Grande Dunes to the Fortified criteria for South Carolina.  This will result in a greater resistance to high winds and earthquakes, the state’s two greatest natural threats.

Classic Home Building is putting PGT® WinGuard® impact-resistant windows and doors in these homes. WinGuard's heavy-duty frames and standard laminated insulating glass offer maximum energy-efficiency and a special silicone glazing process keeps the glass from breaking away from the frame. Although the glass may crack on impact, a polyvinyl interlayer keeps wind out – which is key to keeping a structure intact and protecting the home’s contents from damage.

Though the Fortified standard can be applied to any form of construction, Classic Home Building is using Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) construction provided by AMVIC Building System with FormLock^TM  technology.  Blocks of expanded polystyrene (EPS) are filled with concrete and form the outside walls of the house, which also makes the home energy efficient.

The Fortified…for safer living® program kicked off in October 2000 with three homes in west central Florida.  Now the program has expanded to more than thirty homes in six states: Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Illinois, Missouri, Louisiana and New Jersey, with other projects underway.

For more information on the Fortified…for safer living® program, click here.

The IBHS mission is to reduce deaths, injuries, property damage, economic losses and human suffering caused by natural disasters.