The Commissioner of Insurance, by Commissioner's Order 03-0019, has adopted, effective February 1, 2003, the structural provisions of the International Residential Code and the International Building Code along with Texas Revisions concerning protection of openings, attachment of asphalt shingles and updated manual edition references to the National Design Specification for Wood Construction and the Wood Frame Construction Manual for One- and Two-Family Dwellings, as the applicable building code standards for windstorm and hail coverage through the Association. The new building code standards are applicable to structures constructed, repaired or to which additions are made on and after February 1, 2003 in the designated catastrophe areas along the Texas coast for which the Association provides coverage. The Order also specifies May 31, 2003, as the date through which applications for windstorm building inspections will be accepted for structures constructed, repaired or to which additions are made to comply with the TWIA Building Code for Windstorm Resistant Construction, the Standard Building Code, as amended May 8, 1973, or with the Windstorm Resistant Construction Guide in the applicable designated catastrophe areas along the Texas coast.
Along with the adoption of the new building requirements, new and revised windstorm inspection forms have been adopted to implement the new International Residential Code and the new International Building Code, and the Texas Revisions thereto, and to refer to the application process under the current building codes.
The Commissioner's Order and full text of the new rule may be accessed on our web site as follows: http://www.tdi.state.tx.us/orders/index.html. Refer to Order Number 03-0019.
The international codes are published by and available from the International Code Council, 5203 Leesburg Pike, Suite 600, Falls Church, Virginia, 22041 and the Texas Revisions to the international codes along with the new and revised windstorm inspection forms are available from the Windstorm Inspections Section of the Inspections Division, Texas Department of Insurance, 333 Guadalupe, P.O. Box 149104, Austin, Texas, 78714-9104.
Any questions regarding this bulletin may be directed to Sam Nelson at 512-322-2212 or Sam.Nelson@tdi.state.tx.us.
Alexis Dick
Deputy Commissioner, Inspections Division
Texas Department of Insurance