At The May 3 Tornadoes Enhancing construction minimizes property damage to homes in areas prone to hurricane force winds, and those same techniques can be just as effective in guarding against damage from moderate to severe tornadoes. Also, proper construction techniques and materials based on the most current model building codes can be used in both new construction and into existing construction to reduce the damage from low to moderate intensity tornadoes. Property Protection Use common connections in wood frame buildings, such as anchors, clips, and straps to provide a continuous load path for all loads-not just gravity loads. Reinforce masonry walls that provide structural support to a building to resist gravity, lateral, and uplift loads.
Garage doors are highly susceptible to wind damage.
Existing garage doors can be retrofitted to improve the wind resistance, particularly double-wide garage doors. Use of retrofits and installation of new reinforced doors should better resist wind forces and, as a result, reduce roof and wall damage. Use adequate ties to foundations and roofs when reinforcing concrete and partially reinforced masonry. Secure your chimney. Masonry chimneys that extend more than 6 feet above the roof or have a width of 40 inches or more, should have continuous vertical reinforcing steel placed in the corners to provide greater resistance to wind loads.