Since Hurricane Andrew
ripped across southern Florida
in 1992, causing $25 billion
in insured losses, code bodies
regulating Florida's hurricane
areas — Dade and Broward
County Codes, the Southern
Florida Building Code
(SFBC), and Southern
Building Code Congress
International (SBCCI) —
have been reworking their
building standards. Tougher
standards have spawned new
breeds of high-performance
windows, doors, and shutters
that not only promise to
reduce future storm losses, but
are also drawing wide interest
from consumers and code
bodies nationwide. In fact,
BOCA's 1996 code will
include provisions for windows
and doors that meet
Florida's impact standards.
Tougher glass. The
impact-resistant glass in the
new generation of windows is
made with two lites of 1/8- to
1/4-inch glass, laminated with
a PVB (polyvinyl butryal)
film between. A window
made with the new