Yeah, it's a neat house and a great design, but far from hurricane proof. If it would have been on the beach in Biloxi with the 30+ foot storm surge that came with Katrina, the main living area would have been gone. I saw this guy (the house owner and a film crew) on TV riding out Ivan. No way in Hell I would've tried it. I went to Waveland, MS, or what is left of Waveland, last week. Neither words nor the talking heads on the news channels can describe the utter devastation. It looks like the whole town was put through a tub grinder and spit out all over the place. I'll try to post some pictures later in the week. SO.
You know because my girlfirend lives in Monroe, LA she deserves nothing less than a 15,000 square foor mansion. See my new post asking about the Richardsonian Romanesque style house since my dream is to build her (&me) a huge tornado proof mansion if I ever become rich enough. But all of your ideas are good though.
Bottom line is 30 days! Katrina shows areas still under flood waters, well after a week. The object is NOT rescue! I maintain 6 months food and water in my food cellar. This will allow me to ride out the worst and be able to relocate to safer area if need be and still maintain a solid homefront!
Precisely my point...to do what HMFIC wants in general is a very difficult and expensive task. You can be prepared for ordinary events pretty well and make things a lot easier on yourself, but in a catastrophic situation things are likely to get out of hand for almost everybody in the affected area.
Yes, when one attempts to do something inherently fool^h^h^h^hrisky, one should at least make the effort to protect the investment. It's still an area not really suitable for the use.
Those that were flooded, probably not, although what is going to be done is pretty well still in the future...
Relocated, yes. Permanent location, job? I suspect that would probably be In 20 years the only thing that will be allowed to be built around here will
As it should be if in such a location. It simply isn't a very good choice of location for building permanent structures. I've thought what folks who want to live in such places should do would be to simply build disposable houses and when the big one comes leave, planning from the beginning to simply bulldoze and start again. Be cheaper, structurally, albeit less convenient.
No, not specifically. They have made some efforts particularly since the spate of FL hurricanes to address design issues regarding roofs, etc., for enhancing survivability. The results I've seen haven't been uniformly successful attempts as, for one example, the guidelines for upgrading asbestos shingle roofs apparently were developed and published internally or w/ consulting input but not using any input from any of the manufacturers, etc. Consequently, there are published guidelines for which there are no commercially available materials to meet.
Cat-5 Hurricane winds start at 155mph. Tornados start at around 200mph, and a Cat-5 tornado has wind speeds in excess of 300mph.
Wind loads appear to be calculated according to the formula PSF=(mph^2)/250, or thereabouts.
So for a worst-case hurricane, you have to design for side-loads (and uplift) of 160PSF, whereas for tornadoes, its around 360PSF. For comparison, the floor of your house is typically designed for around 60PSF. (Of course the limit for the floor is acceptable deflection, rather than yield strength, so if you built your house so that any face could be the floor, you'd probably be OK in the hurricane.)
The good news is, if you can manage this, floodwaters should be trivial, at least in terms of mechanical damage.
Less than 50 cubic feet, but not much less. If you stored it under the bed, the bed would have to be 32" high, plus the mattress. It would also weigh in excess of one US statute ton, so you might want to spread it around a bit.
(Reality check: Dinty Moore Beef stew is 222 calories/cup, so you need 10 cups/day. Since it comes in cans, there's wasted space to the tune of an extra 25% so the storage volume is 12.5 cups/day or around 10 days/cubic foot, for food. Counting the wasted space, water is around 7 gallons/cubic foot. with around, .4cuft wasted space. Figure 2000 calories/day, and 1 gallon of water.) Use the space between cans and bottles for vitamin supplements, other drugs, variety-food)
Each of your 1,800 cups of stew weighs 236 grams, or around 1/2 a pound, call it 1,000 pounds of stew and can. Each of your 180 gallons of water weighs 8 1/3 pounds or 1500 pounds, total.) Note that you can probably get your food volume/weight down if you work at it, but most of the really lightweight/small packaged foods depend on having a ready supply of water to re-constitute. Rumor has it that eating a dehydrated ration without rehydrating it FIRST is really, really bad. As in, may well kill you bad.
I'm not a survivor nut just a Cosco, BJ, Sams kind a guy. Food really not much space, but water is a lot, but you can cut water if using a lot of canned foods (because of water). I keep lots of dried legumes, nuts and fruits. I also pick up cases of ensure and power bars when on sale. But don't laugh I actually have a river next to the house... The water is for the little woman. I got my filtration pac. I use 1/2 Gal. perday this is good for heat of summer. I have 20 5 gallon and 10 1 gallon and 6 32 bottle cases. With all the food and gear 12 foot wide by 36" deep and 8 foot high. It takes up one small wall.
The water is really no problem I get it delivered, plus we don't use tap here many years ago it was great but the last 10 heavy chlorination. and normal daily use is pretty consistent with morning coffee to 1 G.
The food is expensive? Look if need be I can pack a canoe or the Kayaks and head where ever!
Don't over estimate the fear factor, in a catastrophic event, you already beat the system if you live. Then you have to address what and where. I'm located in a pretty good valley that protects is from all directions because of how it follows the river. I could flood but that would have to be enough to flood the whole valley and since it's most narrow miles north the flood plains will handle it there. and honestly if anything does flood the food and gear are all sealed.
I wouldn't build a house to take a Cat 5, I'd let it go and move!!!
Adam Weiss wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@blockspam.org:
I' ll have to look into that, it's interesting.
But how do you keep all the houses from floating around and smashing into one another?
Off the top, maybe deep pylons (reinforced etc.) that would rise up through "grommets" (for lack oa a better word) built into the house? Or steel cabling?
I like that ;)
OTOH I've always wondered just how strong those structures are. I've seen them here and there along coastlines, but the one;s I've seen ate mostly wood - seems a bit fragile...?
More than one!
The one with the micro-optics that can be hidden in the smallest thing.
It'd depend upon how the interior was done. Then too, the exterior could be "prettied up" with the right sorts of plantings. Heck, hand colorful "flags" (multicolored nylon type) around the exterior.
And, when designing the exterior, use rounded lines and shapes rather than sharp corners. Better for wind resistance anyway.
IOW no reason why living in it should be "unpleasant".
SOmeone had mentioned a composting toilet. Then there are the ones made for RVs and camping. You put enzymes into them, if I remember correctly.
Adam Weiss wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@blockspam.org:
There is a yearly Engineering competition for "best concrete boat". The students have to design and build the things themselves. I've seen the "races" on teevee.
My questions is, where the heck did he get the notion of *2 acres*? Since I've lived in various areas of North America, I've consequently looked a a
*lot* of housing, and in the past 15 years, I've seen damn few developers who give ya much more than maybe 8000 sq ft.
The "developer's dream" - no way in bleep is that 2 acre lots - it is to cram the maximum number of structures, built with the minimum amount of quality materials and in the minimum amount of time, onto the smallest possible piece of land possible - meaning, that people will still be silly enough to buy. Plop a pile of oatmeal onto a 20'X20' lot, and sell it for $500K, that's their dream.
And real estate agents?? Their dream is to squeeze the maximum commission out of the biggest sales possible. A 7% (or more) commission on a $5million house, that's their dream. And even better if it's not 50 miles out of town - better if it's a small property in the city, so they don't have to spend so much on gasoline and wear'n'tear on the car.
Where and how does anyone get the idea that either give a crap about how big a lot you want?
Man, I WISH I could have 2 acres. but screw mowing. I'd want to leave a lot of it natural and xeriscape the rest - i.e. use tavive species and cultivars thereof, for minimal maintenance and maximum "critter friendliness".
I can't mow anyway, it gives me hives and make me cough blood because I'm so allergic to the shit. I loathe lawns. They're boring, they're environmental wastelands, and the chemical pollution from them is apalling. Also, I can't stand the drone of powered lawnmowers.
Also, sheep. Also geese. But IMO, use groundcovers or low-growing native grasses. For example, there is a cultivar of Buffalo Grass (native to the plains regions of North America) that only grows 4" high and has a fairly fine texture, *much* finer than this crabgrass-like junk (?St.Augustin?) that's everywhere - whetehr you want it or not because it doesn't creep, it RUNS, and gets into everything, very aggressive and a real pain to get out of planting beds. I hate the stuff with a passion.
God, I'd love 2 acres. I'd love more - 20 acres. Keep most of it natural and just put a walking path through it.
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