Again? But the answer is no. I was shocked to see no ties in the house.
I thought I did, but I don't build homes. There appear to be far more types of shear walls than I'd been aware of.
I've never seen one which wasn't tied down with thick steel to the foundation, and most of those I've seen were steel or aluminum.
-- Experience is a good teacher, but she send in terrific bills. -- Minna Thomas Antrim
Better than Energy Star rated.
Actually this house is the same I was refering to but in a different and IMHO better location. That along with slow new home sales, except in this area apparently. The builder has been in this particular location since late August. They have completed 4 spec homes and sold 2 of them, is building and sold 2 made to order homes. Currently there 8 spec homes under construction. They plan to build 50 or so homes to finish the community IIRC.
Houston is in a very unique location along the gulf coast, It is a rare event to have a hurricane strike directly and or get much wind if any from a close hitting storm. Five years ago about a month after Katrina hurricane Rita was aimed for Houston and there was a mass exodus. The storm ended up hitting about 60-80 miles to our east and IIRC it only got a little windy, it was basically a non event. I grew up in Corpus Christi, about 200 miles south and literally on the water. While I lived there and during the period from 1962 to 1971 I went through 3 major hurricanes. Only 1 of those storms was a direct hit, the other two were at least 100 miles away and those storms delt a major blow in Corpus Christi. I think because Houston is inland about 60 miles and is sort of in a bend along the coast line the winds deminish quite rapidly when the storms hit land.
You have to draw the line some where and those things don't help when a tornato hits the house. Typically most damage during a hurricane is not caused directly by the hurricane winds rather from the debris that is flying arouned and as swingman will attest to, rising water is the biggest threat. Again hurricane straps don't help in that instance. Additionally hurricanes in this region typically spawn multiple tornatos and again the straps are not going to do much good against those winds and or micro bursts. If I lived closer to he water, I would opt for the straps.
Included, with 15 drops plus home security ;~)
Actually should be going in today.
Excellent. So I guess we can expect the live video feed to be up and running tomorrow. Of course that's necessary so we can keep track of the project. Please ask the builder to put in a speaker on each floor and a remotely controlled laser pointer so we can point out things to the workers. If they can put in a high powered laser pointer, maybe Robatoy or Mac could work some CNC magic so we could leave written messages for the guys when they arrive in the morning. They shouldn't mind the help, right? ;)
RGood going Leon! I can't imagine what it would be like to have that much room to work whenever I wanted. Years ago I had a large rented space with a small office attached that I ran my business out of for a few years. Moving everything back home and having only a 12X16 shop to work in is painful.
Since it must also serve as storage for materials and a staging area for the projects there isn't any room in there.
I'll bet you and Kim are as happy as two newlyweds. < For different reasons!! ;^) >
Congrats on everything. The house, the shop, being a good Dad, and doing a find job raising good kids. That goes for Kim, too!
Robert
Thank you Robert! Finally we will have enough room for guests to spend the night, so when y'all are in town you need to plan on spending a night. Then there would be the night at Swingman's house, then you can visit your sister, in that order. ;~)
Are you guys going to get biker jackets with crossed chisels under a saw blade patches? Hmmm...making up Wreck patches isn't a bad idea.
R
Let's get Marlowe in there too ... he wants to come down when it's warmer than in NY, but not hot, which means Feb or March ...
... otherwise known as GUMBO weather!
i think you'll find that people from the north who visit the south during the winter tend to stay around. i always ask northeners to visit during july/aug.
regards, charlie phx, az
My brother went down to Phoenix in the summer twelve years ago and he's still there. He might be your neighbor. Do you have a neighbor with numerous trucks, cars, motorcycles, four dogs and he's always working on something - usually loudly? That's him.
R
Excellent.
--snip--
That's good...for you, but not the inline folks.
Yeah, I forgot about that. It's just a few miles which take the wind out of a hurricane's sails, isn't it?
Gotcha. Hey, structured wiring is a great tradeoff if you're not in a windy corridor. Enjoy it!
-- If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do, we shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we cannot do. -- Samuel Butler
I just realized why you need the extra large home: You built your own bedroom castle...I mean "set".
-- If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do, we shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we cannot do. -- Samuel Butler
There are innumerable old houses that have withstood hurricanes just fine, thank you very much, before the advent of the "new and improved (now less nutritious!) code". You're buying into the insurance lobby's efforts and scare-mongering in general. Leon had it right. You get hit by a tornado or a serious flood, and, no matter how well you built it, well...it was a nice house, wasn't it?
A hurricane is no great shakes unless the house was substandard and shoddily built, which was exactly the situation with a lot of those Florida homes that got blown up. Stapled shingles (with a lot of missing fasteners), unbraced gable walls, and just shit construction in general.
The insurance industry saw an opportunity to tighten their belt (which means the noose around the homeowner's neck) and pushed to have the code "fixed" to prevent them paying out...errr...the homeowner sustaining a loss. Now there's this ridiculous impact code thing for windows in areas that are hardly at risk. I'm in NY, and I've experienced a few hurricanes, and many high winds. The old houses, without all of the metal strapping and bullshit window code stuff, aren't flying apart. Biggest problem are trees hitting the house. I'm surprised that the insurance industry and the scare-mongers haven't outlawed trees within 100' of a house!
When the big wind does come, the insurance companies are looking for ways to not pay. They're building in new and improved ways to not pay. You opted for the $250 window instead of the $1500 impact one? Sorry, no dough for you! When you start adding up the cost of all of that bullshit, and the real risk of your particular home getting blasted, it's a better move to not carry the insurance and assume the negligible risk yourself.
Unfortunately, since they were able to get all of this nonsense incorporated into the code, you don't have a choice if you're pulling a permit and getting inspections. You pay _and_ you lose! How convenient. Must be nice to drum up business by selling stuff that isn't needed by scaring the shit out of people and buying off code officials with dinners, vacations and hookers.
R
Welcome to the United Corporations of America, backed by a Congress which keeps getting itself re-elected by an ignorant, easily manipulated electorate. A land where the "right" of _everyman_ to vote will be its eventual kiss of death.
Swingman wrote in news:IKSdnbkx_cr4zUjRnZ2dnUVZ_u- snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:
Well said.
Basically, I've had it, Han ...
I present to you that the electorate ... voters who can knowingly send to Congress a proven LIAR of the first magnitude; a despicable, base, lying lawyer who cheapened, without outrage from the media or public, the service of every combat veteran who ever served this country ... represent a country not long in standing.
Swingman wrote in news:XPWdnZf5xqOCxEjRnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:
Sorry, Karl, don't know which one of the 1000 or so liars you are talking about here. I know of one CT guy who did some such thing, but I'm not sure how really bad his statements were. Remember, I hesitated just a tiny bit when coming to the US in '69 because I didn't agree with the Vietnam policies of that time.
I'm very worried about the demagoguery (spelling?) going on, on all sides. Wish there was a regulation that would force vetting of truthfullness BEFORE broadcasting.
Take a look at the pictures again and you should see that the sill plates are bolted to the foundation every 48" ...
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