Ok, so I'm a little (numb) and don't quite understand the house construction thing. Maybe some of you can help me out. When you live in a disaster zone (hurricane valley or tornado zone), would building a home with concrete as a foundation fare better in a storm or would it blown down as easily as homes build primarily with wood? Noah and I had quite the conversation about this when we were in the car (right behind a tractor trailer with a load of wood on it). I honestly don't know the answer - I've never been faced with that issue so it's as much a learning thing for me as it is for him.
Brenda what a good subject we were watching a program on Public Station last night and they were talking about re building in those kinds of area and they were saying they are going to build some of the place all out of heavy cement which I think they should. If you want to live in these areas I think it's crazy to have stick or wood house but I understand they are cheaper and go up faster. So, I really don't know. I think if I lived down here and bought a place I would want cement not wood. I would be to scare. But, thats just me.
Brenda are you asking if a slab home would fare better than the same home built on a basement or crawspace ??? Or are you asking if a brick home would fare better than a wooden shingled home ???
No, I want to know if a home made completely of cement (from the basement to the roof - except the roof of course) would fare better in one of those storms? We use ice blocking here for homes with the foundation as cement (not making any sense am I)...
I looked at a lot of real estate online in FL. The newer buildings are mostly concrete construction. The ones that aren't are more affordable. That's the bottom line. I heard about a hurricane proof house on the news, but I never went to the site. It was a Bob Villa thing... Here's the direct link... It might be interesting: http://www.bobvila.com/StormReady/ The sad thing is that most homes are not built to withstand the most severe hurricanes. Out of all the homes I looked at, there were only a handful that were built to withstand 155 mph winds, and a few that had windows that were designed to withstand the high winds.
But how often do you get those winds? Here in Central Ohio we do get tornados. But I've never been in one in all my 40+ years. But I can sure tell you about the Xenia Tornado that hit down about 25 years ago! I had camp friends who were in it. Even with the hurricanes, the ones we've had recently are worse than normal.
My husband builds houses and he prefers metal studs over wood any day. AND you can get roofing tile made of some kind of metal(I can't remember what kind, but I sure that can probably be found out online - looks like regular roofing shingles). You can practically make a house fire proof except for the inside things(like furniture, etc.). Sabrina
I'm sure that cement would be one of the best options for high wind areas, aside from an underground home (my grandparents have one--cool!). Something to think about though...an F5 tornado has one of its characteristics as "can lift pavement from a road" :shock:.
Lornaabc, if I cont. living in the south I would need more then a house of Brick or block to live here to keep up with the storms if you know what I mean.
Their house does fine. They have window guard things that look like awnings that they turn down to cover the windows and doors. It works for them. That is why I live in Sc. Nothing happens here. LOL Just beautiful lakes, small mountains, plenty of hiking trails and waterfalls the plenty to see.
I was looking at alternative building styles. I want to build a house in the near future.My computer isn't doing it's thing so I can't show the links. Monolithic domes has a good web site.so does earthsship biotecture. That hous is like my dream house. It is built out of TIRES and it has it's own power supply and water treatment system.
We have found out that Mobil Homes fared better here in Katrina. Than conventional homes did, they had less damage done to them.
My grandparents built an "earth home". Not sure what they call them nowadays. It is like a walk-out basement with no home on top. Very efficient! I'm interested to see the tire construction. I have also seen straw bale houses...those are interesting but I bet it would be hard to insure them.
Michael Reynolds designed the earthship and in my opinion is a genius. www.earthship.com has a photo gallery. It looks to be labor intensive. My FIL has freinds in New Mexico. They have one. The wife told me that they left on vacation and the temp outside got below zero and the temp inside was 55 degrees with no heat source.I like the idea of generating my own power and I like being self sufficient. Lord knows I have plenty of tires.
Anxious to take a look. I have a cousin who is a hermit, but his van is run on vegatable oil. I guess you can convert a diesel to use it??? Just thought you might be interested in that.
Yes, I have read about that. I am more interested in hydrogen. You can make any vehicle run on Hydrogen you just have a fuel regulator. The biproduct is water and carbon dioxide. The problem is Hydrogen is extremly explosive. If they ever get that worked out it will be interesting to see what happens.Michael Reynolds has info on bio diesel fuel.Definitely interesting.
