Most homes need one hurricane strap at every spot where a rafter or truss lands on an exterior wall. On a roof framed 24 inches on center, that’s a strap every two feet down both bearing walls. The real count depends on roof size, truss layout, and the wind speed your local code is built around. San Antonio sits in a lighter wind zone than the Gulf Coast, so our requirements aren’t as heavy as Corpus or Houston. A roofer who pulls permits in Bexar County can give you an exact number after looking at your framing.
A hurricane strap is a metal connector that ties your roof framing to the walls so high wind can’t peel the roof off. People call them hurricane ties or clips too. They do one job and they do it well. They create a continuous path that carries wind load from the roof, down through the frame, to the foundation.
Here’s the part homeowners actually ask about. How many do you need? The short version is one strap at every roof-to-wall connection. For most San Antonio homes that means a clip everywhere a truss or rafter lands on the top of an exterior wall. On a roof framed at 24 inches on center, that’s a strap every two feet down both bearing walls. Tighter framing at 16 inches means more straps and more holding power.
What moves the number is your roof. A long, simple gable needs fewer connections than a cut-up hip roof with valleys and dormers. Wind zone matters too. We’re inland, so our design wind speeds sit below the coast. But Hill Country gusts are real, and code still wants every connection tied down.
What do building codes say about hurricane straps?
Texas builds off the International Residential Code, and Bexar County inspectors work from it. The baseline is simple. A strap goes at every roof-to-wall connection, sized for the wind load in your area. The code spells out the fastener type, the nail count, the metal thickness, and the angle the connector has to sit at. Miss those details and the connection won’t hold its rated load, even if the clip looks fine from the attic.
Inspectors check this at framing stage, before the drywall goes up. They’re looking at three things. Is there a strap at every connection. Are the right nails driven to full depth. Is the metal seated flush against the wood. (That last one trips up a lot of DIY jobs.) On a permitted job your roofer documents the count and the locations so the inspection goes clean.
How far apart should hurricane straps be?
Spacing follows your trusses. There’s a strap wherever a truss lands on a wall. So on a roof framed at 24 inches on center you’ve got one every two feet down each bearing wall. Some higher-wind areas drop that to 16 inches. Tighter spacing, more straps, more holding power. Simple as that.
Roof shape changes things. Hip roofs need extra ties at the corners where several rafters meet, because that’s where uplift concentrates. Gable ends want concentrated straps along the rake wall. Throw in dormers, valleys, or an odd footprint and you’ve got custom placement at every weak point. A 12-year-old tract home in Converse is a different count than a custom build out in Fair Oaks Ranch with three rooflines.
Which hurricane clip is right for your roof?
The connector has to match your framing and the load it’s carrying. Here’s the short version of what we reach for:
| Connector | Best for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| H2.5A clip | Standard 2x trusses or rafters to the top plate | The workhorse on most San Antonio homes |
| H1 clip | Lighter rafter-to-plate connections | Lower load rating than the H2.5A |
| Twist strap (LTS) | Retrofits and odd angles where a flat clip won’t sit | Good for tying into existing framing |
| Heavy hurricane tie (H10 type) | Hip corners and high-uplift edge zones | Where wind pressure concentrates |
Galvanized is standard here. You don’t need the stainless coastal-grade hardware inland unless there’s a moisture problem in the attic, like a chronic ventilation issue letting condensation sit on the metal.
How do you figure out how many straps your roof needs?
Count the connections. That’s the whole method. Every place a truss or rafter sits on an exterior wall gets one strap, and the corners and edges of the roof get extra because uplift hits hardest there. Wind exposure factors in too. Open ground around the house, like a lot of the newer subdivisions out past 1604, pulls harder than a house tucked into an established neighborhood with mature trees.
Here’s a real example. Say you’ve got a simple gable, 40 feet long, framed at 24 inches on center. That’s about 20 trusses, and each one lands on a wall at both ends. So you’re looking at roughly 40 connections, which means 40 straps. Drop the framing to 16 inches and the same roof needs closer to 60. Add a hip end or a couple dormers and the corners need extra ties on top of that.
That’s a ballpark, though. Nobody should quote you an exact number without getting into the attic and seeing how the roof is actually framed.
Can you install hurricane straps yourself?
Some of this you can do yourself. A lot of it you shouldn’t. A simple gable with open attic access and easy connections is one thing. A cut-up roof, soft decking, or anything that touches structure is where it stops being a Saturday project.
The catch is always the details. Wrong nail length, shallow nail depth, a strap that sits a quarter inch off the wood. Any of those builds in a weak point that fails at the exact moment you need it to hold. We’ve pulled back insulation on retrofit jobs and found clips hanging on two nails when the spec called for eight. Looked installed. Wasn’t.
How do you keep hurricane straps in good shape?
Once they’re in, hurricane straps mostly take care of themselves. The thing that kills them is water. A roof leak or a poorly vented attic lets moisture sit on the metal, and over a few years that corrosion eats into the holding strength. So the real maintenance is keeping the attic dry and the roof watertight, which you want to be doing anyway.
Check them when something changes. New skylight, added dormer, an HVAC unit going up on the roof. Those shift the load and may call for straps at new connection points. And if your home went up before straps were standard practice, an inspection is worth it. A lot of older San Antonio homes are still riding on toenailed rafters, which is a far weaker connection than a modern clip.
Get an exact count from BH Roofing
Figuring out how many hurricane straps your roof needs comes down to one thing: eyes on the framing. Our crew will get in the attic, check how your roof is tied down, and give you a real number instead of a guess. Our 27-point roof inspection covers the roof-to-wall connections along with everything else, and you walk away with photos and a written report.
Call BH Roofing at (210) 267-9029. We’ll tell you straight whether your roof is tied down the way it should be, and what it takes to get there if it isn’t. Already had a storm roll through? That’s an emergency call, and we respond within 24 hours.
