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April 23, 2007

Letter to Sun City Hilton Head residents:

After reading reporter Ginny Skalski’s article, Resident’s Question Roof Safety (April 22, 2007), we question her simplistic interpretation that some roofs at Sun City Hilton Head may be unsafe in the event of a hurricane.

When we provided information to Ms. Skalski, we clearly stated that County inspectors, our licensed structural engineer, and Pulte Homes/Del Webb all agree that current and past methods for connecting trusses in the homes at Sun City Hilton Head are sound and acceptable within the standards of current County building codes. In fact, a meeting was scheduled for Monday, April 23 with Ms. Skalski, Chuck Thom (our licensed structural engineer), Arthur Cummings (Beaufort County’s director of code enforcement), and officials from Sun City to discuss truss connections. However, Ms. Skalski and the editors of the Island Packet decided to run several articles on the subject on Sunday, April 22, without giving us the opportunity to present the full and clear picture with all expert parties available to answer questions.

Every home at Sun City Hilton Head is built under the direction of a licensed structural engineer and inspected by a County building inspector to obtain a final certificate of occupancy prior to any person moving into the home. We rely on the expertise of a licensed engineer to determine the appropriate methods for installing truss systems in every home at Sun City Hilton Head and there have been no instances where a truss system in any of these homes has been determined to be unsafe by County inspectors. Only a licensed structural engineer can make the determination that trusses have been properly installed and County building inspectors confirm that with follow-up inspections. In fact, Chuck Thom, our licensed structural engineer, assures us that the truss connections have been engineered to meet twice the requirements for wind in the event of a hurricane to compensate for the possibility of human error in installation.

We rely on qualified experts to review and confirm the safety of the truss systems in all homes built at Sun City Hilton Head and are confident that the homes meet current building code for safety. We encourage any concerned homeowner to contact us with questions about their individual home.

Sincerely,

Mark Taylor,
President, Pulte Homes Carolina Coastal Division

Material found at the community web portal. WWW editor  - Steve Koehl.  Revised: April 30, 2007.