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
