An updated Florida Building Code (FBC) is on the horizon, with several additions set to impact the glass and fenestration industries. The most significant updates to the ninth edition of the FBC, which is updated every three years, could include stronger building envelope protection and a simplified permitting process for replacement doors and windows. The updated FBC is effective Dec. 31, 2026.
Stronger Building Envelope Requirements
Chief among the updates are proposals from the Florida legislature to further harden buildings against increasingly dangerous hurricanes. House Bill (HB) 911, along with its companion bill, Senate Bill 1218, would direct the next edition of the FBC to require stronger impact-resistant construction. If enacted, HB 911 would require the Florida Building Commission to update the next edition of the code so that certain buildings must have impact-resistant envelopes that can resist major wind events of at least 160 mph, including exterior walls and doors, roofs, skylights, glazing and glass blocks. It would apply to:
- Multistory residential buildings (R-1 and R-2 occupancies);
- New residential construction within five miles of tidal waters;
- Emergency shelters; and
- New residential construction in High-Velocity Hurricane Zones (HVHZ) under the FBC.
The bills also apply to reconstructed buildings destroyed by storms that meet those criteria.
Properties within Florida’s HVHZ, encompassing Miami-Dade and Broward counties, face additional construction standards stemming from Hurricane Andrew’s devastation in 1992. HVHZ standards impose stricter requirements on windows, doors and glazed openings that must meet Miami-Dade County product approval standards or Florida Product Approval with HVHZ designation. Products must also pass “large missile” impact testing (a 9-pound, 6-foot, 2 by 4 fired at 50 feet per second).
Simplifying Replacement Window Permitting
Furthermore, as part of amendments to Florida Statute 553.73, the commission must modify the FBC to state that sealed drawings by a design professional are not required for the replacement of windows, doors or garage doors in an existing one-family or two-family dwelling or townhouse if all of the following conditions are met:
- The replacement doors, windows or garage doors are installed in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions for the appropriate wind zone;
- The replacement doors, windows or garage doors meet the design pressure requirements in the most recent version of the FBC (residential);
- A copy of the manufacturer’s instructions is submitted with the permit application in a printed or digital format; and
- The replacement doors, windows or garage doors are the same size and are installed in the same opening as the existing doors, windows or garage doors.
The update follows a 2025 hurricane season in which no hurricanes made landfall in the United States, the first time since 2015 that the U.S. avoided a direct hurricane strike. However, as Marc Alessi, a science fellow, writes in the Union of Concerned Scientists, the frequency of hurricanes might drop in the future, but they will become more powerful due to warmer waters. In response, coastal areas will need to continue to update building codes to further protect structures and occupants from stronger, wetter storms.