# Reinforced attic



## Howard Ferstler (Sep 27, 2007)

We live in North Florida, at the bend in the panhandle. (Yeah, we're in Tallahassee.) While this is not as much into the hurricane belt as South Florida (we were hit once in 1985 with a category one storm, and that is all that has happened to us since I have lived here), it pays to build a house that withstand wind and falling limbs. And there are a lot of limbs to fall, because our "natural" yard is basically a woods, with trees surrounding us like an invading army.

Obviously, then, we are at risk. Our 1976-built house is a greatly expanded tract unit that has a typical roof made of 2x4 trusses on 24-inch centers, except with one of the additions, where I had them use 2x8 and 2x10 trusses on 16-inch centers. The roof sheathing throughout is 1/2 inch plywood.

To protect the house from falling tree parts (I would be naive to think that it can be protected from entire trees falling) and help keep the sheathing from pulling loose, I went into the attic and using a framing nailer and some premium PL construction adhesive to beef things up. I installed additional vertical braces (the light-colored boards in the photos), as well as some horizontal ones (shoehorned in between shingle nails poking through) that were also nailed/glued into position on the trusses, with the upper surfaces of those horisontal boards solidly glued to the underside of the roof sheathing. (I tested the PL adhesive to see how well it would hold boards this way and the results were impressive.) While the trusses are attached to the outer walls with hurricane straps, I also installed brackets on the truss crosspieces to attach them to the interior walls. Ugh, what a job.

The end gables of the house were also given additional cross bracing and 45-degree angle bracing. (Gables are often the weak spots during wind storms, since builders seem unable to provide them with enough internal bracing to keep them from buckling.) The gables are also blessed with oversized vents to help keep the attic cool during the summer.

The photos also show the insulation in the attic. The additions we have made to the house over the years have R-30 insulation above the ceilings, but the older part of the house was only R-19. I have worked on those older sections, and now they are up to R-50. This is a lot of insulation for North Florida, but every little bit helps in this high-energy-cost era. I have also wrapped the AC/heat ductwork in the attic with additional insulation. Anybody who has worked in a fiber-filled attic knows what a fun job this can be.

Eventually, I hope to have (or do myself) sprayed-on insulating foam thickly applied to the underside of the roof sheathing, to hopefully keep the attic temperature itself under better control in the hot summertime. This would help to keep the ductwork cooler, an important result. If anybody here has experience with that kind of insulation foam, I would appreciate reading what you have to say.

Howard Ferstler


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## Ol' Dave (May 2, 2008)

Well, Howard, the only way to eliminate the falling tree problem is to get rid of the trees. I had the same issue here in Alabama, no hurricanes but tornadoes seem to be in style...any way, I had my fill of storm downed trees and cut every one of them that could reach the house, in the next 10 years.

You did good work, no doubt about it, but nothing can stop the wind.


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## Howard Ferstler (Sep 27, 2007)

Ol' Dave said:


> Well, Howard, the only way to eliminate the falling tree problem is to get rid of the trees. I had the same issue here in Alabama, no hurricanes but tornadoes seem to be in style...any way, I had my fill of storm downed trees and cut every one of them that could reach the house, in the next 10 years.
> 
> You did good work, no doubt about it, but nothing can stop the wind.


I agree and we all have to gauge the odds and then cross our fingers. A buddy of mine in North Carolina has the same outlook as you do, and no doubt both of you will not have to worry about some damned big oak crushing your abode. At least I did cut down all the pines within falling distance of the house. Oops, my neighbor in back has a big one that might just be able to reach us. Fortunately, the part of the house within that tree's smashing range is the addition that has the 2x8 and 2x10 trusses on 16-inch centers.

I figure that the trees are saving me a bundle in the way of summer cooling bills, and so I take my chances and hope. For some reason (knock on wood) tornados seem to ignore this area, and indeed the tornado belt seems to be moving northward as global warming takes hold. There is also something about the location of Tallahassee that weakens or fends off hurricanes that try to swing in our direction out of the Gulf. The west coast of the state will cut the power of any that sweep northward in the Gulf in our direction, and hopefully the most I will have to deal with are smaller branch droppings and a power outage. (See my "garage ceiling" photos on this website for my comments on how to handle power outages.)

Howard Ferstler


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