Does a Home Inspector Perform a Wind Mitigation Inspection?

Wind-mitigation inspections are an inspection of a home’s to determine how likely it is to withstand wind damage from severe weather conditions like hurricanes but also generally high wind speeds found in some parts of the country, like Florida and Houston. The purpose of a wind-mitigation inspection is to identify weak-points in a home’s construction that will increase the likelihood of water penetration or damage to the structure during extreme winds. This is important for insurance underwriters, who need to know not just the general condition of the house at the time of issuance, but if its construction makes it more likely in the future that the insurance company will have to pay out claims due to wind and water damage caused by the aforementioned weather conditions.

In areas where high-winds are common, builders and building codes typically take this into account. Additions such as hip roof structure design, roof clips and hurricane straps, impact-resistant windows or shutters, gable-end bracing, reinforced garage doors as well as a proper fastening of the house walls to the foundation with hurricane straps are all common design features in areas where high-winds and hurricanes are common.

In some states, home inspectors perform wind-mitigation inspections on request during the home inspection or as a separate service, but there are also professionals who only do wind-mitigation inspections as well. Generally, licensing of some sort is required or when not required, the insurer will likely want some proof of credentials from the inspector to demonstrate that they are competent to perform this service. The inspector creates a report that is then delivered to the insurance representative to assess your property. In some cases, homes with the features listed above can receive discounts on their premiums.

At Ensure Home Inspections, we don’t perform wind-mitigation inspections. You may be asking why not? Well, we don’t get very many hurricanes in San Antonio, TX, and although we get some powerful winds, they are nothing like those you see near the Gulf.