Roof leaks spark idea for device
The Hurri-Plug is designed to cover roof vents during hurricanes.

Kelly Griffith | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted September 9, 2005

WINTER HAVEN -- It was 4 a.m. during Hurricane Charley, the first bad storm to barrel through Central Florida last year, and the power was out.

Donald Broadwater heard the smoke alarm and was stunned to discover water pouring from the ceiling into the detector, shorting out the device. The scene in the attic was even more troubling: Water was spraying like a garden hose through a roof vent, an open space underneath a metal covering required by the Florida Building Code.

"Buckets of water were being forced through that vent," said Broadwater, pastor of Cypress Ridge Presbyterian Church in Winter Haven.

Three Polk County businessmen think they have a solution for such problems in future storms. The "Hurri-Plug" is the brainchild of home builder Steve Daniel, 38; manufacturer's representative Johnny Walker, 48; and Mike Sakko, 56, owner of TSP, a plastics company.

The plastic-foam device appears simple but required eight months of work and hundreds of hours of research to get just right. The result is a polyethylene plug that fits many of the roof vents that allowed water to leak in during last year's hurricanes.

The device, manufactured in North Carolina, is lightweight but designed to fit snugly into "off-ridge" roof vents that otherwise are open holes in the roofs of homes. The idea is to place the reusable plug in as a storm approaches, then remove it after the storm has passed.

Many in the building industry agree that covering such openings is vital.

"If you have time to put it in, it's good," said Edgar Qunitin, who has a degree in civil engineering and has operated his own roofing company since 1991. "It will help."

All homes have roof vents -- openings through the roof protected by some kind of covering -- to allow heat to escape attics. There are three major styles of roof vents, one being the "off-ridge" vent installed on many new houses today. The off-ridge vent is the type the Hurri-plug works with. A typical home may have three or four off-ridge vents, usually located on the back side of a shingled roof.

A screen across the opening keeps bugs out. Heavy blowing rains, however, can spray water under the covering and into the hole and, as Broadwater found out, into a home by the gallons.

"This is not just a little bit, but buckets of water," said Daniel, owner of SRD Construction Corp., a Winter Haven custom-home builder and one of three partners in DSW Products LLC, which developed the Hurri- Plug.

After last year's unprecedented hurricane season, homeowners by the thousands in Central Florida reported problems with water intrusion, mostly in new homes.

An investigation by the Florida Home Builders Association, which resulted in a 65-page report, found leakage through roof vents to be one contributing factor. Other problems included poorly designed foundations, cracks in stucco or "cementitious" finish that allowed water to seep through walls, and sloppily installed windows and doors.

Of recommended changes to the state building code, the only one that appears likely to be adopted is one to allow homes to be built without the troubling roof vents, industry insiders say.

The Hurri-Plug, which is being sold on the Internet for $14.95, has been shown at the Orlando Hurricane Expo and the Florida Roofing and Sheet Metal Association convention in Orlando. Sakko said the partnership has sold about 200 by word-of-mouth.

One Tampa roofing company owner said it is the best new building product on the market.

While agreeing the device will likely work well with the vents it is designed for, Qunitin warned that water during a hurricane can have multiple points of entry, such as dryer vents and kitchen vents.

"There are still openings there," he said. "You need to close any opening."

Kelly Griffith can be reached at kgriffith@orlandosentinel.com or 863-422-5908.