AWC/ICC Publish High Wind Guides

AF&PA’s American Wood Council (AWC) and the International Code Council (ICC) are pleased to announce the release of AF&PA’s newly-developed Guides to Wood Construction in High Wind Areas.

With a tremendous need in the hurricane-prone Southeast for simple design tools, AWC has developed a new series of easy-to-use Guides for builders who are constructing one- and two-family dwellings in high-wind areas of the country. This new series of publications is co-branded with ICC and targeted at builders.

“These customized guides will be highly effective in improving construction and safety of homes in hurricane prone regions. When used in conjunction with the ICC’s hurricane resistant construction requirements, they provide simplified solutions, increased consistency, and improved building code compliance” said Wally Bailey, President of ICC and Director of Development & Construction with the City of Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Individually-published Guides address design requirements in 90, 100, 110, 120, and 130 mph wind zones, respectively. The Guides are simplified versions of AF&PA’s building-code-recognized Wood Frame Construction Manual (WFCM) for One- and Two-Family Dwellings 2001 Edition. Prescriptive solutions presented in the Guides are compatible with the WFCM 2001 and in compliance with the ICC family of building codes. For example, use of any of the Guides will result in design solutions that prescriptively meet the requirements of the International Residential Code.

These Guides were developed with input from, and in cooperation with, the National Association of Home Builders, FEMA/URS, ICC, and the Institute for Business and Home Safety.

To download FREE copies of the Guides, visit the AWC website at www.awc.org. To order printed copies, contact ICC at 1-800-ICC-SAFE (422-7233). For more information, contact John “Buddy” Showalter, P.E. – buddy_showalter@afandpa.org or Mark Johnson – mjohnson@iccsafe.org.