Today’s home buyers are looking for new homes that have increased safety and security built in. But building codes provide for only minimum requirements, leaving plenty of room for improvement. The Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) established the Fortified…for Safer Living program to go the next step and help builders provide customers with homes that are disaster resistant.

The Fortified program addresses exposure to a range of disasters, including: wind, wildfires, interior fire, water damage, freezing, hail and earthquakes. IBHS “strongly recommends” installing a residential fire sprinkler system, among its Fortified program Internal Fire Criteria, developed “for mitigation of damage caused by fire inside the home.”

The Fortified program includes building materials and techniques that work independently or together to increase the likelihood that a home will survive a disaster. By building to the program specs, builders set their homes apart and present a more desirable product to their customers.

The 2007 Fortified Builder’s Guide can be downloaded at no charge from the IBHS Web site at www.disastersafety.org/ text.asp? id=builder_guide. The Internal Fire Criteria are found on page 37 of the Guide.