The Innovative Function Behind Hurricane Resistant Homes

Why a Hurricane Resistant Home?

When owning a home, the idea of something destructive occuring that is out of our control is a terrifying thought. All humans require shelter to survive and maintain a stable lifestyle and having that nessecity destroyed by a natural disaster is a common worry especially when living in areas prone to hurricanes. So, if we cannot control the weather, what are some design choices we could invest in to prevent this from happening to us?

How Hurricanes Destroy Homes

According to the National Hurricane Center The major concerns when it comes to the destruction a hurricane can cause a home is the roof and the frames. Category 4 storms have fierce winds ranging from 130-156 miles per hour. The strength of the wind can tear or lift roofs with ease. When something like a roof that seals in the house gets damaged the storm will damage the interior of the home with debris and heavy rain. Not only can the high-speed winds rip away portions of your interior, debri will only add to this. The heavy rainfall is likely to cause mold damage afterwards.

Keeping this in mind, it seems that a hurricane safe home would need to be tightly sealed shut from every window to every door to the roofing. We will now take a look at actual homes built for this purpose and why they work so well.

Miraculous Home Designs built to Survive Hurricanes

A construction company by the name of Deltic Homes is renowned for creating hurricane proof homes that have survived fierce storms. Take a look at this home after Hurricane Katrina.

The shape of this home is something to take notice of. Addressing the first concern mentioned, the roof spreads out in a radial pattern to stretch over the entirety of the home and has a lower slope than an average house design. The reason for this choice is wind deflection. Because the roof pattern points directly downwards and out all around the house, the wind will slide off of it rather than build in certain areas.

Something all of these homes have in common is the circular form of the home and the high elevation upon the base layer of the house. Circular homes can be beautiful as they give you a variety of options when decorating your interior. However, they are also one of the best options when preparing a house to survive hurricanes. Wind pressure tends to build onto certain sides of a house, but with a cirucular home the wind will only deflect and become impossible to build enough pressure to break through.

As previously mentioned, mold destruction is common after a hurricane and can be very difficult to repair. The elevation of these hurricane proof homes keeps floods from getting into the home and from submerging it.

Final Touch

The last method of reinforcing a house is by reinfocing any openings to the house. Windows and doors will typically contain glass which is very fragile and breakable. Impact glass is common to use in construction with any design that suggests some kind of danger in the event the glass breaks and is a must in houses designed to withstand bad weather.

With elevation, circular shape, roofing and sturdy glass, all of our concerns have been put to rest and the house is officially hurricane proof.

Witheringtonb474@students.fsd1.org