If you own a home in Florida, there's a good chance someone has mentioned a "wind mitigation inspection" to you — either your insurance agent, a roofer, or a neighbor who saved hundreds on their premium. The inspection produces a one-page form (OIR-B1-1802) that looks like alphabet soup, but every checkbox on it directly impacts what you pay for homeowner's insurance. Here's what each section actually means in plain English.
Roof Covering: What's On Top and How Old Is It?
The first thing the inspector documents is your roof covering type — asphalt three-tab shingles, architectural (dimensional) shingles, metal standing seam, concrete or clay tile, or something else. They also record the age, verified by permit records when available. Newer roofs get better insurance treatment because the materials and installation methods haven't had time to degrade. A five-year-old architectural shingle roof will score better than a 20-year-old three-tab roof, even if both are technically "functional."
If your roof was installed under FBC 2001 or later, it automatically qualifies for certain credits because the code required stronger attachment methods starting with that edition.
Roof Deck Attachment: How Is the Plywood Fastened?
This section looks at how the roof decking (the plywood or OSB sheets) is attached to the rafters or trusses. The options range from weakest to strongest: staples, 6d nails at 6-inch spacing, 8d nails at 6-inch spacing, and so on. The stronger the fastener and the tighter the spacing, the better the roof decking resists uplift during a hurricane.
This is one of the most impactful sections on the form. Homes with stapled decking (very common in 1990s Florida construction) score poorly here, and upgrading to proper nailing — which can sometimes be done during a re-roof — can produce meaningful premium reductions.
Roof-to-Wall Connection: Clips, Straps, or Just Nails?
How your roof is connected to the walls below it is arguably the single most important wind resistance feature of your home. The inspector identifies whether the connection uses toe nails (weakest — just nails driven at an angle), clips (metal connectors that wrap partially around the truss), single wraps (metal straps that wrap over the top of the truss), or double wraps (straps that wrap completely around and are nailed on both sides).
The premium difference between toe nails and double wraps can be substantial — often hundreds of dollars per year. This is because the roof-to-wall connection is where total roof loss begins. If the wind lifts the roof off the walls, everything else is academic.
Roof Geometry: Hip vs. Gable
Hip roofs — where all four sides slope upward to the ridge — perform better in hurricanes than gable roofs because the wind flows more smoothly over the surfaces. A flat gable end acts like a sail, catching wind and transferring large forces into the wall framing below. The inspector records whether your roof is hip, gable, flat, or a combination. A "hip" designation qualifies for a discount; anything else doesn't.
If your roof is mostly hip but has a small gable section (very common in Florida), the inspector measures the percentages. You generally need the hip portion to exceed a certain threshold to get the credit.
Secondary Water Resistance: What's Under the Shingles?
This section documents the underlayment — the material between the roof covering and the decking. Standard 15 lb or 30 lb felt paper provides basic protection, but it tears relatively easily once shingles are gone. Synthetic underlayment is more durable, and self-adhering modified bitumen (peel-and-stick) membrane provides the best secondary water barrier. If your shingles blow off but you have a fully adhered peel-and-stick underlayment, your home stays dry much longer.
This is a common upgrade during re-roofs. The cost difference between felt and peel-and-stick is modest relative to the total roof cost, and the insurance credit plus the actual storm protection make it one of the best investments you can make.
Opening Protection: Shutters, Impact Windows, and Garage Doors
The final major section covers whether your openings — windows, doors, skylights, and especially garage doors — are protected against wind-borne debris. Options include hurricane shutters (accordion, roll-down, or panel), impact-resistant windows and doors with a valid Florida Product Approval, and reinforced garage doors rated for the local design wind speed.
To get the full opening protection credit, every opening in the building must be protected. A common mistake is installing impact windows throughout the house but leaving the garage door unprotected — that one gap disqualifies the full credit.
Know the Difference
Wind mitigation inspections and personal damage documentation serve completely different purposes — one is for insurance underwriting, the other is for claims and evidence. We wrote a detailed comparison of wind mitigation inspections vs. personal damage documentation — worth reading if you're confused about which one you need.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Consider two houses on the same street. House A has a gable roof with 15-year-old architectural shingles, single wraps at the roof-to-wall connection, standard felt underlayment, and no opening protection. House B has a hip roof with 8-year-old architectural shingles, double wraps with clips, synthetic peel-and-stick underlayment, and full hurricane shutters. Both houses are the same size and value — but House B's insurance premium could be significantly lower because every section of the OIR-B1-1802 form scores better.
The Most Common Misconception
Many homeowners believe that installing hurricane shutters alone will dramatically reduce their premium. While opening protection does matter, it's just one of six sections on the form. A home with brand-new shutters but a gable roof, stapled decking, toe-nailed rafters, and felt underlayment will still score poorly on five out of six categories. The biggest bang for the buck usually comes from roof-to-wall connection upgrades and improved deck attachment — the structural features that prevent catastrophic roof loss.
Using Your Results to Prioritize Upgrades
The real value of a wind mitigation inspection isn't just the immediate insurance credit — it's the roadmap it gives you for cost-effective improvements. If your form shows toe nails at the roof-to-wall connection, adding hurricane clips during your next re-roof is a relatively inexpensive upgrade that pays for itself in premium reductions within a few years. If your decking is stapled, re-nailing it during a roof replacement is another high-value improvement.
Use our Roof C&C Wind Pressure Calculator to understand the actual wind forces your roof faces — it puts the inspection results into engineering context and helps you see why certain upgrades matter more than others.