THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 11, 1996 TAG: 9606110339
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SOUTHERN SHORES LENGTH: 44 lines
Members of the North Carolina Building Codes Council made a stop at Blue Sky headquarters Monday morning during their tour of the Outer Banks.
Blue Sky is a nonprofit program to strengthen residential construction against storms.
About 25 building council members - who had selected the barrier islands for their annual meeting - were presented with an update on the program, a view of construction model section samples, and a slide show. The meeting was followed by a visit to Southern Shores Fire Department to discuss the retrofitting needs of such a facility.
Lee Lawton, program controls engineer for Blue Sky, said council members seemed very interested in the progress the program has made since they first learned about it last year.
``They are the people who write the rules and write the codes,'' Lawton said. ``It applies directly to their work.''
With nearly $3 trillion in existing residential construction along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, retrofitting buildings to withstand powerful storms has become a major financial concern, Lawton said.
``It's what is really going to drive this program,'' he said.
Outer Banks builders are held to state standards for coastal regions, which require construction to bear winds up to 110 mph. But Lawton said while the codes are specific, it does not always address the construction features typically used in coastal communities.
``The code is basically prescriptive in nature; it doesn't tell you exactly what you need to do,'' he said. ``There's just a lot of things in the code that do not get addressed and as a result of that we see the potential for a lot of failures.''
Some of the major storm damage Blue Sky is trying to prevent includes blown-off roofs, shattered windows and blown-out doors, and gable-end wall collapse, Lawton said.
``The main goal in a storm like that is to keep the building tight,'' he said. Much of the destruction of homes during storms happens after wind and water get inside the structure, Lawton said.
A Blue Sky construction model adjacent to Town Hall off Skyline Road will be completed in November, Lawton said. Funded by federal, state, and local governments, with 15 corporate partners, the 4,000-square-foot building will include offices, mock-ups and demonstration areas. by CNB