AMCA InMotion - September 2019 - 34

ANSI/AMCA Standard 540 and ANSI/AMCA Standard 550
are required by the ICC in hurricane areas everywhere.
To ensure proper compliance and to learn of any special
circumstances, designers and speciﬁers are advised to check
with local authorities.

Conclusion
By specifying louvers that bear the AMCA listing label for
high-velocity-rain resistance in hurricane-prone regions
and the AMCA listing label for impact resistance in windborne-debris regions, design professionals can rest assured
knowing their speciﬁcations comply with building-code
requirements.

References
1) C2ES. (n.d.). Extreme weather and climate change. Retrieved
A louver following an impact test.

from http://bit.ly/C2ES_ExtremeWeather
2) Ghose, T. (2019, May 23). Hurricane season 2019: How

requiring louvers in windborne-debris regions that are
within 30 ft (9,144 mm) of grade to be ANSI/AMCA Standard 540-compliant.
To safeguard against inappropriate product substitutions, design professionals are advised to include in their

long it lasts and what to expect. Live Science. Retrieved
from http://bit.ly/Ghose_Hurricane
3) Why the 2018 hurricane season was more active than we
predicted. (2018, November 29). Retrieved from http://
bit.ly/Hurricanes_2018

speciﬁcations language similar to the following: "Louvers

4) Destructive 2018 Atlantic hurricane season draws to an

shall be licensed to bear the AMCA listing label for high-

end. (2018, November 28). Retrieved from http://bit

velocity-rain resistance in accordance with AMCA Publica-

.ly/NOAA_Hurricanes2018

tion 512" (AMCA Listing Label Program). AMCA Publication

5) MacMath, J. (2019, April 4). AccuWeather's 2019 Atlantic

512 outlines a program assuring products were tested at an

hurricane season forecast. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/

AMCA-accredited laboratory and performed as speciﬁed.

AccuWeather_2019

When specifying a louver, determining which codes
to follow can be difﬁcult. The International Code Council

About the Authors

(ICC) offers guidelines, but does not mandate testing.

James K. Smardo is director, architectural sales, for Ruskin

Agencies such as AMCA, the Florida Building Commission,

and chair of AMCA's Louver Marketing Task Force. Doug Petty

and the Miami-Dade County Department of Regulatory

is product manager, louvers, for Pottorff and All-Lite Architec-

and Economic Resources all participate in certifying louvers

tural Products and a member of AMCA's Louver Marketing

in Florida. The Federal Emergency Management Agency

Task Force. Scott Arnold is manager of industry content for

offers guidelines for testing, but does not verify.

AMCA International and editor in chief of AMCA inmotion.

Although Miami-Dade approval has been considered
the default standard for louvers in hurricane areas-even
those outside of Florida-for years, it is not required by
code anywhere but in Florida high-velocity hurricane zones.

20 19 A M CA i n m o t i o n

Did you ﬁnd this article useful? Send comments and
suggestions to Editor in Chief Scott Arnold at sarnold@
amca.org.

w w w. a m c a .o r g

http://www.bit.ly/C2ES_ExtremeWeather http://www.bit.ly/Ghose_Hurricane http://www.bit.ly/Hurricanes_2018 http://www.bit.ly/Hurricanes_2018 http://bit.ly/NOAA_Hurricanes2018 http://bit.ly/NOAA_Hurricanes2018 http://www.bit.ly/AccuWeather_2019 http://www.bit.ly/AccuWeather_2019 http://www.amca.org

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