Hurricane-proof buildings...It can be done

[SoCalDem]

http://www.scrapbookscrapbook.com/DAC-ART/home-building-plans/home-building-plans.html


You need to scroll down a bit to see these homes, but it seems as though places on the coast should start requiring buildings that can withstand the elements..

It may mean that Florida and some other places will soon be out of the financial reach of retirees on fixed incomes, but maybe they will need to retire to areas that are not "storm prone" if they insist on "tin-can" building methods..

Coming from Kansas, I always marveled at how ignorant it was to allow mobile homes (tornado magnets), and places without basements, and every single year, the most damage done was usually to that type of home..

[freetobegay]

1. Back in 1992 I lived in Homestead

Just moved into my new home which was above specs for hurricanes. I lost the whole house. Hurricane proof hangers at Homestead AFB was lost.

What is a hurricane proof home?

[Kathy in Cambridge]

2. Hurricane proof is like saying something is tornado-proof

it can't be done. I agree.

[SoCalDem]

5. For a direct hit, maybe not, but

for the periphery of a storm and for the "flying objects", they could do a better job..

I think the problem is that builders sometimes take form over function and build with "pretty" in mind..

[RubyDuby in GA]

3. And call me crazy

But since they get these things, oh every year, has anyone thought of maybe putting the utilities, say, underground????

[SoCalDem]

4. I think the high water table is a problem for that

but it would be nice if they could...

[RubyDuby in GA]

8. Ok, I'll give ya that

but I think they could come up with a way to get around that. :)

There's just got to be a better way than just watching them get blown down everytime. I'm actually starting to feel bad for the people of Florida.

[spinbaby]

10. Lots of underground utilities in Florida

I have friends who evacuated to Disney World and one of the reasons they gave for that choice was that they have underground utilities. I've seen underground utilities in lots of other places in Florida, too, like in industrial parks, around malls, and in upscale housing developements.

[SoCalDem]

12. If that's the case, the the Jebster is doing a crappy job

for not pushing for that state-wide..

[muriel_volestrangler]

27. Underground cables always cost more

"Costs of underground construction can range from two to ten times as much as an equivalent length of overhead line."
http://psc.wi.gov/consumer/brochure/document/electric/6011b.pdf

And if you do get a problem with them, it's much harder (and lengthier) to fix them.

[bleedingheart]

6. I was expecting to see more dome shaped homes

so that the wind would "roll" over them rather than hit a square wall...

The homes are made of concrete..(many are very nice)..which generally would hold up better than a mobile home which isn't in many cases firmly rooted to the ground. However that said, wind is a very powerful force so depending upon the magnitude of the hurricane I doubt even those homes wouldn't succumb to some sort of damage.

[Warpy]

9. If you want windows

especially windows that open and close to let the breezes in, then you're going to have damage in a strong storm. Once the wind gets in, the top is going to part company with the bottom, dome or not.

I do agree that if we really are at the beginning of a more active storm cycle, trailer homes should be prohibited within 20 miles of the coast. Father inland, they have a decent chance of survival if a tornado doesn't happen to touch down on top of them.

I'm afraid "tin can construction" is an increasing fact of life, since more and more people are priced out of the good life, or even the barely decent life.

[bleedingheart]

11. sadly a lot of people get shoddily constructed homes that

are not mobile. I know of people who have spent $200k on homes that aren't very well built.

[SoCalDem]

13. Pretty stucco-y boxes

that implode when the wind blows.. :(

[phylny]

30. I dunno

because my mother-in-law's house has windows, but has built-in hurricane shutters. Her house sustained a little bit of water damage (think puddle) but that's it, and she's in Martin County. Her whole place held up quite well.

[AtTheEndOfTheDay]

7. Reinforced concrete.

Can't be done my ass.

[tedoll78]

34. Bingo.

My dad's an architect (in New Orleans), and he heavily recommends the exact same thing for my home if I want to live near a coast. I'll pay the extra.. gladly.

[Vickers]

14. We'll get right on that

As soon as California's houses are earthquake and fireproof, the Midwest's houses are tornado and floodproof, etc.

:P

FTR, my house was built in 1998, and is concrete block construction with metal shutters and screwed down concrete tiles. I felt pretty safe, but a tornado might still give it a fight.

[Karenina]

15. Hey SoCalDem...

Is that house, top of the bluffs on PCH just north of the 10 STILL THERE? When I left they had all sorts of stilts holding it up where the earth had crumbled away. That was some time ago! ;-)

[SoCalDem]

18. I have lived in SoCal for 23 years and have NEVER been on PCH

I have been to the beach ONCE..Disneyland ONCE..KnottsBerryFarm ONCE..

The beach was such a let down.. (I grew up using pristine beaches in Panama, and the beaches here in the US are SEWERS).. I would not even let my kids go in the water ..

[Karenina]

29. Good idea.

Took the kids up to Zuma to wade in the surf one day and the next was dealing with NASTY rashes all over their feet and calves...

[politicat]

16. There are ways to make manufactured housing storm safe.

It's not cheap. It requires putting the house on a tie-down foundation instead of on piers. It requires storm shutters that an elderly person can put up herself. It requires forethought. (This all requires forethought....)

My grandmother is in North Port. Her house, a 1980s era doublewide on a foundation in a co-op park (one of the evacuated parks) survived perfectly well. In fact, she's currently sheltering three friends who lost their concrete block house entirely - the roof blew off. She's cooking for half the neighborhood it seems because several of her neighbors are doing the same thing - sheltering people who lost their standard homes. Her park required foundations; this seems to be the major difference between her house surviving and other mobiles in the area being destroyed. (The other park in North Port did not require foundations. That park may not re-open.) My grandmother can put up her shutters by herself with a Makita cordless drill. She is pretty certain that the house did not move or even shudder in the wind from Charley - none of the blown glass she collects was broken. (I never said she had taste...)

I'm not saying that a foundation will save a house; obviously, concrete block houses that don't have good roofs are in trouble. There's no such thing as perfect shelter, of course.

However, the one thing I do know about construction is that the cost comes down the more units one builds of the same type. If "hurricane resistant" housing is what's available and offered, the price will come down. Maybe not to the price of a mobile, but then again, maybe. Doublewides aren't cheap.

Pcat

[Jacobin]

17. Yes, it can

On Elbow Cay in the Out Islands of the Bahamas is a group of cottages up on a coral reef hill which is a little resort. I stayed there a few years ago and noticed the construction. There were strong beams, the eaves and roof were attached very securely, there were real wooden shutters (heavy ones) to lock closed in a storm. The owner said they had been through several direct hits with minimal damage.

You're right that the cost of building the stronger structures is higher, but in a place like Florida, in the long run it would be cheaper than re-building the cheaply built structures every few years.
Having a mobil home in a hurricane prone area....well, let's just say they should be considered disposable housing, like a tent and insurance companies shouldn't insure them for hurricane damage.

There are sometimes tornadoes embedded in hurricanes. If you get hit by one of those, all bets are off.

[LanternWaste]

19. Cinder block homes in Cancun

There's a huge structural difference in homes built in the U.S. and homes built in Mexico (or, at least in Cancun and most of the Yucatan).

U.S. homes are built around a wood frame and use mostly wood in construction. Almost all of Cancun's houses and apartments are built using cinder blocks and cement.

I never thought about it before I moved here, but there was a distinctive, "Duh!" moment when it was explained to me that since Cancun has a pretty tough hurricane season, and that cinder block is cheaper to build with...

:)

[SoCalDem]

21. Our house in Panama was concrete

tiled floors, metal louvered windows and built on pillars (carport underneath the whole house)..

It rained A LOT there and even though it was always flooding, we never had any damage..

The tiled roof overhang completely covered the top part of the thick screened window tops (the bottom was protected by the metal louvers..)

There would be lots of "mist" coming in the top, but the "breeze" blew in one side of the house and out the other.. windows were on all 4 sides..(I not a single pane of glass in the whole house)

[LanternWaste]

25. Ahhh... tiled floors, no carpeting.

Ahhh... tiled floors, no carpeting. That was another sublime difference that took some time getting used to. Again, it took me looking like an idiot and asking, "Hey... why no carpeting?" to realize that flooding is an assumption.

[Babette]

32. I lived on Guam for a long time...

most of the homes there are reinforced concrete. I've gone through repeated direct hits within a few months by lots of nasty typhoons with no problems.

Here's a link to a photo of a house on Guam with typhoon shutters in place after SuperTyphoon Pongsona hit a few years back.

http://www.duenasstreet.com/photos/pongsona/photos/photo_65.html

There are lots of other photos of typhoon devastation too.

When I came back to the states I couldn't believe that the houses were built of wood. I did not, and still don't, feel really safe in them.

[SoCalDem]

35. Too lazy to dig for old photos, but here's one I found online

It's an awful pic, but it's how base housing looked in the 50's & early 60's when we were in Panama..

officers' quarters in the middle..ours (enlisted) on the right

[KayLaw]

20. We live in the Tampa Bay area

We have underground lines in our neighborhood and kept power throughout Frances. I'm from Homestead and have to say I was surprised at the lack of preperation in this area. We were one of three houses in this large neighborhood to board up and stock up on food and water.

Of course, down in Miami most people I know have some sort of shutters and even bars on their windows. Everything changed around here after Charley though. Talk about born again! They're taking these storms seriously now.

OTOH, my s-i-l lives in a waterfront mansion in Satellite Beach and didn't even bother to board up before they left and now she has major water and roof damage. You've got to keep the wind out.

I love Amber, SoCalDem, she's such a doll. Do you remember when I was so upset by that other cat? :dunce:

[SoCalDem]

23. the weepy eyed one?? or the recursive one ??

:)

[KayLaw]

24. Jingle Bells?

The photoshopped one I thought was mistreated. I sent you a PM and you reassured me then changed it to Tom Delay chasing a bug. I feel so silly now.:crazy:

[DebinTx]

22. It's also not so much the external wind action

pushing on the homes as the sucking action that hurricanes and tornadoes' circular air movement creates. When your windows are closed, the inside of the house becomes a vacuum which increases the winds' forces on the structure. This is one reason that you hear to open a few windows during a tornado - it releases the pressure.

Hurricane ties are designed to resist wind movement in both directions. The frames of the homes are bolted to the slabs with what's called hold-downs all around the sills of all the walls. When a wind catches on the house, it may suck off the exterior siding, but the frame will remain, which is a big chunk of the cost of the home.

[Blue Gardener]

31. You don't have to open your windows

I live in the Midwest, they tell you not to bother taking the time to open your windows. Just get to the basement!

[Vickers]

33. Huh? I have always heard NOT to open a window

Your house isn't airtight in the first place, no matter how well built.

Also, when Frances passed us, at the beginning the wind was coming from the North, then later it was from the South and West. And the storm came from the East...which windows to open? :shrug:

[Cheswick2.0]

36. NOOOO...wrong

Please don't tell people that. During Andrew Brian Norcross begged people not to beleive that theory. In fact he urged people to go into the bathroom and hold the door closed while plugging up the bottom of the door.
Letting wind in allows the house to be torn apart. You have to keep the wind OUT.

[jjohnson]

26. start hurricane proofing...

By duct-taping republicans to th eoutside of the house, especially around the windows, and strapping down the roof.

[SoCalDem]

28. Now THAT'S an idea I can support

and Welcome to DU :hi::)