New building code law bars a key inspection in most of NC. That raises risks, experts say

A provision in a new state law barring most North Carolina governments from requiring inspections of the plywood and nails that hold a home’s frame together could leave many vulnerable to high winds, building safety experts are warning.

House Bill 488, which was approved mostly by Republican lawmakers last week over Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto, received attention previously for pausing an effort to overhaul North Carolina’s energy efficiency building code. It also updates North Carolina’s code to require that homes built in largely coastal areas where engineers estimate wind speeds could reach 140 mph undergo a sheathing inspection while preventing local governments in all other areas of the state from requiring it.

North Carolina’s existing building code did not require sheathing inspections anywhere in the state, but does say builders are responsible for all elements of a structure being up to code even if they are not visible when mandatory inspections occur.

A sheathing inspection typically involves looking at the 4x8 pieces of plywood that are nailed to the frame and studs, tying the frame together so the structure can withstand storms or earthquakes. Inspectors pay particularly close attention to the patterns of nails, which play a major role in determining how much wind speed the structure can withstand.

Several building safety experts told The News & Observer that adequate sheathing installation is a vital part of a home’s structure. Inspecting what materials are used and how the wood is nailed to the frame, they said, is an important step in building safety.

Failing to inspect sheathing in most of the state makes North Carolina homes away from the coast “less resilient and less safe,” Roy Wright, the president and CEO of the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, told The News & Observer.

Wright compared sheathing to the brakes on a car, with both serving vital safety roles. But brakes are inspected when they come off the assembly line, Wright said, while North Carolina home builders are trying to avoid sheathing inspections.

“I don’t want to be cynical. But if it’s actually going on, why can’t it be inspected and assured?” Wright said.

The N.C. Home Builders Association opposed requiring inspections beyond coastal counties. Cliff Isaac, the association’s director of codes and construction, told The News & Observer that builders across the state are almost all going above what the code requires. Most builders use 7/16-inch oriented strand board as sheathing, he wrote in an email — thicker than the code’s 6/16-inch requirement.

And they’re nailing all of that sheathing into place using a pattern that’s typically required for bracing walls that are built to withstand high winds, Isaac wrote.

Builders have also argued that waiting for the sheathing inspection slows progress by preventing them from putting housewrap around the frame, leaving it exposed to the elements until an inspection can be conducted. Due to those concerns, the N.C. Building Code Council pared back efforts at increasing inspections as it worked on a residential building code rewrite in recent months.

House Bill 488 was introduced even as the council moved toward completion of that rewrite. It passed the General Assembly with bipartisan support before being vetoed by Cooper, who said it would cost homeowners money in the long run.

The General Assembly overrode Cooper’s veto on Wednesday, making the bill law.

“What’s happened in North Carolina now sets a very bad example and it’s not doing the citizens of the state any justice at all,” Steve Jones, an International Code Council government relations official, told The News & Observer. “Codes should not be politicized, they should not be regulated through the legislative process. Those that are in the know are the ones that should be helping to develop codes.”

Why sheathing is important

Sheathing is a key structural component, David Prevatt, a University of Florida structural engineer, told The News & Observer. When winds are blowing against a structure, sheathing and the nails holding it in place are what prevents a wall from buckling.

“The sheathing and the nails nailed to the wall studs are the only structure that prevents changing that wall shape from a big old rectangle into a parallelogram. If you don’t have sheathing or if the sheathing is inadequate, that’s the force that’s actually going to catastrophically fail your building,” Prevatt said.

Limiting areas to the places with the most potential for high wind speeds is also alarming, Prevatt said.

“Why should we as humans set an arbitrary line that says, ‘At this point, I declare the hurricane will stop blowing at 140 mph.’ We can do that. We have done that. But it makes no difference to the hurricane. And therefore it will make no difference to your family’s home when it experiences 140 mph winds,” Prevatt said.

The sheathing provision in the new law means that most home buyers won’t know for sure what wind speed or seismic activity their homes can withstand, warned Rob Zapple, a Building Code Council member and home builder who is also a New Hanover County commissioner.

“We’ll look at the year 2023 and everything going forward, you won’t know unless you’re on the coast or unless you’ve got a builder who you talk to if you know enough as a homeowner to ask specifically these questions,” Zapple said.

Homes built today are likely to stand for at least 50 years, Prevatt added, and need to be able to withstand hurricanes fueled by a warmer Atlantic Ocean that could last longer, gain power as they near the coast and bring higher winds.

“Those houses that we design to this standard today in 2023 may experience higher wind speeds in 2053 or 2063 and they will fail catastrophically because the sheathing may not be of sufficient capacity,” he said.

The Home and Building Safety Institute’s Wright questioned whether House Bill 488 means North Carolina’s codes will disregard updated building science in future efforts.

“Is this just indicative of further erosion that North Carolinians should expect? For a state that is clearly succeeding at attracting business and all kinds of economic drivers back into this state, it seems ironic that we’re inviting them into a state that’s not going to be able to withstand what Mother Nature brings our way,” Wright said.

Attempts at new sheathing inspections

At least two other states in the Southeast require sheathing inspections, while a third recommends it.

South Carolina and Virginia mandate the inspection, and Georgia recommends that builders have one done. It is an example, Jones said, of inspectors serving as consumers’ last line of defense.

“You can have the best sheathing in the world but it loses its effectiveness if you don’t attach it properly, and the only way to know it’s attached properly is to do a sheathing inspection,” Jones said.

Isaac of the Home Builders Association said that even if framing inspectors aren’t conducting a sheathing-specific inspection, they can raise concerns about the materials or nailing patterns that they might see.

“Inspectors when they visually see any elements that are noncompliant, that do not meet code, can require the permit holder to make those necessary corrections and reinspect,” Isaac wrote.

But sheathing is frequently covered with housewrap and thus not visible by the time the framing inspection takes place.

Zapple, the building code member, said he intentionally leaves the housewrap off when calling for a framing inspection so the inspector can look at the sheathing installation.

“It’s a good practice that does not take much and acts as an insurance policy for the homeowner who wouldn’t know if their sheathing was attached properly or not,” Zapple said. “I don’t think it’s burdensome and just think it’s a really good building practice that’s being thrown out because it’s considered a pain in the neck.”

The N.C. Department of Insurance supports sheathing inspections in wind zones of 140 mph or higher, spokesman Jason Tyson told The News & Observer, but would prefer to also see them also mandated in 130 mph areas.

“As anyone truly interested in safety and building longevity and resiliency would state, not mandating the elimination of any inspection that ties directly to the structural integrity of a home would be a better result,” Tyson said in an email.

This story was produced with financial support from the Hartfield Foundation and the 1Earth Fund, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.