Is my pool cage hurricane-code compliant?
Today’s standard for a Seminole County screen enclosure is 129 mph, Risk Category I — the wind speed the Florida Building Code permits pool cages to be designed to, and a materially lighter load than a coastal county carries. Whether a specific older cage was built to that standard, an earlier one, or none in particular depends on when it was permitted, and is not something this page can tell you without an inspection.
What is actually confirmed
Seminole County’s current published Ultimate Design Wind Speed designations are 129 mph for Risk Category I, 139 mph for Risk Category II and 149 mph for Risk Category III/IV. The Florida Building Code permits screen enclosures — a Risk Category I structure — to be designed to the lowest of those figures. At 139 mph Risk Category II the county sits below the 140 mph wind-borne debris region threshold, and Seminole County is not in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone — that is Miami-Dade and Broward. The current Building Division enforces the Florida Building Code 8th Edition (2023).
What “pre-2002 vs. post-2002” is actually about
Florida adopted a single statewide Florida Building Code, replacing the patchwork of local and county codes that preceded it, effective in 2002 — widely documented building-code history, not specific to this site. Most of Lake Mary’s cage stock was built across that line: Greenwood Lakes from 1978, Cardinal Oaks 1979–1990, Timacuan 1989–2001 and Chase Groves 1991–2002 predate it; Tuscany (2000–2004), Magnolia Plantation (2000–2012) and Steeple Chase (2014–2019) were built under it or its later editions.
What this means practically
It does not mean an older cage is unsafe, and it does not mean it needs a structural rebuild. It means the honest answer to “is my cage hurricane-code compliant” is that the frame usually survives storms here regardless of exact permit date — because Seminole County cages carry a lighter engineered wind load than coastal ones — and the actual, observed failure point is the mesh and spline, not the frame. See why splines pop out for the mechanism.
Sources
- Seminole County Ultimate Design Wind Speed designations — seminolecountyfl.gov · SC_WindSpeedDesignations.pdf
- Florida Building Code Chapter 16, Structural Design — codes.iccsafe.org
- City of Lake Mary Building Division, code edition enforced — lakemaryfl.com/157/Building
Questions people actually ask
Is Seminole County in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone?
No. The High-Velocity Hurricane Zone is Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Seminole County publishes Ultimate Design Wind Speeds of 129 mph for Risk Category I, 139 mph for Risk Category II and 149 mph for Risk Category III/IV — at 139 mph Risk Category II the county sits below the 140 mph wind-borne debris region threshold, and it has no coastal exposure. A contractor’s spec sheet that cites HVHZ requirements for a Lake Mary job has copied it from somewhere else.
What wind speed is a Lake Mary pool cage actually engineered to?
129 mph, Risk Category I — the category the Florida Building Code permits screen enclosures to be designed to, and the figure Seminole County publishes for that category.
Not sure when your cage was permitted?
Send the street address. Confirming the jurisdiction and what can be found on the permit record is the first step here.
Phone: (689) 666-9380 · Email: quotes@lakemaryrescreening.com