A 2024 behavior-focused study confirmed what most in the construction field already know: many consumers do not understand the critical role that building codes play in creating a disaster-resistant home. The finding is part of a national effort conducted by the nonprofit Federal Alliance for Safe Homes – FLASH to connect with homebuilders and homeowners, identify knowledge gaps, and create solutions to increase code acceptance.

One of the most notable study findings is that homebuyers’ priority for the “sturdiness of construction” continues to rise. However, survey respondents did not make the connection between strong building codes as the delivery system for a resilient home.

To meet this challenge, FLASH and partners created the new “Strong Homes Scale” (Scale) and added the tool to the building code transparency website, Inspect2Protect.org. The Scale indicates how close a home is to meeting or exceeding the resilience features included in the 2024 International Residential Code. This allows the users to develop a framework for understanding how well their home can withstand six major natural disasters – including earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, and winter storms.

For each of the six hazards, there is a checklist of approximately 7–11 key structural features that make a home resilient to each hazard, including roof-to-wall anchoring for hurricanes or foundation reinforcement for earthquakes.

How does the Scale work?

After you enter an address, the Scale uses Zillow data to establish the year built. It then combines the year the home was built with an engineering analysis of the building code at the time and estimates which features the home likely has or lacks. In essence, it compares the building requirements in place when the home was built to a list of essential resilience features from modern codes.

These labels describe how your home compares to modern resilience benchmarks:

The presence of a feature earns a “green check” and its absence a “red X.” The combined results of all features then determine where a home falls on the rating spectrum, ranging from “Vulnerable” to “Good” and “Best.”​ A home with most of the recommended features will score toward the “Best” end, whereas missing many features will push the rating toward “Vulnerable.”

The Scale is interactive, so users can check any features or upgrades completed since the original home construction or those features required by state or local codes to see how those upgrades move the Scale closer to “Best.” Examples include adding hurricane shutters, re-roofing with an enhanced nailing pattern to resist high winds, sealing the roof deck, or adding insulation to prevent ice dams.

What features are on the Inspect2Protect.org website in addition to the Scale?

The scale provides information about improving resilience, but it cannot capture every factor influencing your home’s performance against a disaster. That is why it is crucial to conduct a custom home inspection to determine the exact features of your home before undertaking a retrofit project.

Check out the Scale today and begin your journey to answering the question, “How Strong is My Home?” For more information about the Scale, email Info@Flash.org today.