What is a wind mitigation inspection?

The form is standardized statewide, which is unusual and genuinely useful. Every carrier in Florida reads the same seven sections on the same OIR-B1-1802 form, so there is no ambiguity about what was documented. Our job is to verify each feature with photographs, note the year and permit information where it is available, and record what the house actually has rather than what would be convenient. Underwriters and re-inspectors look at these forms closely, and an overstated form gets corrected in a way that helps no one.

Roof deck attachment is one of the most consequential lines. We need to determine the nail or staple type, the size, and the spacing at the panel edges and in the field, which usually means examining the underside of the sheathing in the attic and measuring. The difference between staples, 6d nails at wide spacing, and 8d nails at tight spacing is the difference between a roof deck that stays attached in a design-level wind event and one that does not. It is also one of the features most commonly upgraded when a roof is replaced under current code.

Roof-to-wall connection is scored in four tiers: toe nails, clips, single wrap, and double wrap. That is the metal connector tying each truss or rafter down to the top plate and, ideally, into the wall structure below. We photograph these at the required number of locations, in the far corners of the attic where the connectors are hardest to reach, because that is where the form requires them and because a house does not fail uniformly. Getting to those corners is the physical part of this job and it is the part some inspectors skip.

Roof geometry, secondary water resistance, and opening protection round it out. Hip geometry means all roof planes slope down to the walls with no vertical gable ends, and it qualifies only if non-hip features stay under a defined fraction of the perimeter, which we measure rather than eyeball. Secondary water resistance is a sealed layer applied directly to the deck beneath the covering, typically a self-adhering membrane or a foam-sealed joint system, and it must be verified from the attic side or from roofing documentation. Opening protection is scored on the weakest protected opening in the house.

That last point catches people constantly. If a home has impact-rated windows everywhere except one back slider, the entire opening protection credit is determined by that slider. One unprotected opening drops the whole category. We tell sellers and buyers this up front, because it changes the calculus on whether adding protection to one remaining opening is worth doing. A single door can be the difference between a full credit and none, and knowing that before you spend money on the wrong upgrade is the practical value of doing this inspection carefully.