On August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew ripped through South Florida causing more than 30 billion dollars in damage. No structure was left untouched by this ravaging storm. Buildings that you would think safe such as a Twin T precast furniture store was left in rubble. Dade County was a disaster zone and on September 30, 1994, they enacted the most stringent building code in the United States
Dean Steel Buildings, Inc. was the first pre-engineered metal building system to be approved by Dade County. After many months of testing and documentation, we met the challenge set forth by the South Florida Building Code.
Some of the tests required to qualify the building envelope were as follows:
Impact testing with a 9 pound 2x4 traveling at 35 mph, shot at six different spots on the wall and roof panels including the laps.
Wind driven rain test simulating 110 mph force wind and an 8.8" per square foot per hour at a roof sample with a flashed valley condition. If one drop of water were to leak, no approval.
Static wind pressure tests ranging for 65 psf to 345 psf, while testing for air and water infiltration after these loads were applied. Test pressures were 150% of design pressure.
Cyclic pressure testing after impacting. 671 cycles of varying load to simulate the vibrations associated with hurricane winds, with the last cycle at 130% of design.
Other tests included flame spread, salt spray and weatherometer tests.
