Orlando Sentinel - 01/12/05
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-bk-builders011205,0,1884604.story?coll=orl-home-headlines
HURRICANES 'OVERWHELM' AREA BUILDERS
By Dan Tracy | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted January 12, 2005, 12:31 PM EST
The three hurricanes that howled through Central Florida this summer "overwhelmed" the building materials and techniques employed by area builders, causing thousands of new homes to leak through walls, windows, doors and roof vents, a report released this morning by the Florida Home Builders Association concluded.
After reviewing the results of the study, headed by a Massachusetts forensic engineer, top area builders pledged to change their ways and push for changes in the state construction code that could make houses more watertight.
"I fully embrace the report, its content, what it said," said Dan Gilmore president of the FHBA and a Pensacola developer.
But Gilmore was adamant that builders were not to blame for water damage done to homes by the hurricanes. Thousands of houses had warped walls, floors and cabinets and stained and mildewed carpeting because of water that seeped in during Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne.
Gilmore said insurance companies should pay for repairs because the hurricanes were a "once in a lifetime" occurance that no builder could anticipate. Most insurance firms refused claims for water damage, arguing the problems were the result of shoddy construction.
Engineer Joseph Lstiburek, who compiled the study, found plenty of reasons why water got into the homes, saying "a lot of the (building) practices might not have been the greatest building practices, but they worked before they were overhwelmed."
