Norfolk, VA Hurricane Preparedness: Roof Standards (2026)

Sec. 1 requires all exposed structures or parts of structures to be designed to resist wind pressure in any direction based on a minimum sustained one-minute measured wind speed of 100 miles per hour, referencing the applicable USBC wind provisions. Sec. 2's climatic and geographic design criteria table then sets a roof live load of 20 pounds per square foot and a roof snow load of 10 pounds per square foot for the city, noting the two loads are additive rather than substituted for each other.

The same table places Norfolk in Seismic Zone 1 and confirms the city is subject to weathering, frost line depth, termite, and decay design considerations. Footnote 2 requires 2,500-pound compressive strength concrete grade where frost protection applies, and footnote 3 sets a minimum footing depth of twelve inches below finished grade. Sec. 3 ties the base flood level, the 100-year flood elevation, to whatever the separate zoning ordinance establishes rather than setting its own number here. Sec. 5 requires water service piping to be installed at least eighteen inches below grade and sewers at least twelve inches below grade, both below the recorded frost penetration depth.

These figures were adopted by Ord. No. 36,932 in 1992 and apply on top of, not instead of, the wind, flood, and structural provisions already built into the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code that Sec. 1-1 adopts citywide.