Disaster Housing

There's a house for replacement housing after disasters being tested in New Orleans. It uses sheets of steel with insulation between them and a strong frame. It can stand high winds and is not prone to water damage. It's based on the fact that walk-in coolers stood up to the disaster. The house costs $100,000, takes 14 weeks to build, and is about 1100 square feet.

Well, I previously suggested replacement housing for disaster areas in the Caribbean after hurricanes hit. This house is pre-cast concrete but cored to reduce weight. The pre-cast would have raised ledges for floor joists and then a wedge joint for adding a second level pre- cast. The second level pre-cast would have upper ledges for roof rafters. The pre-cast itself is just a perimeter shape without floor or roof. A bulldozer would make level pads and then helicopters or ground cranes would set the pre-cast on the pads. The locals, being given the houses, would finish the houses with lumber.

For New Orleans I suggested steel frames with steel legs that sit on concrete footings. The steel frames would have brackets that floor joists, wall studs, and roof rafters wedge into. The steel frame would not be incredibly strong but would take final shape as the building materials were wedged into place. The idea is that steel is relatively lightweight as a building material while lumber avoids the vibration of steel. And so the two building materials are combined together. The legs of the steel frame could be whatever height is required for flood level but still be braced with replaceable wood beams. Finally, this steel frame with legs could have been given to lot owners after demolition of disaster damaged homes and then finish of the house up to the lot owner.

And there is a charity that built a dozen or more of innovative and experimental houses in the most flood prone areas of New Orleans. Personally, I'm not really saying to try and save the worst areas but am trying to build lightweight houses for soft ground.

In fact, why not dredge the lake on one side of the levee and fill the low land on the other side of the levee ?

And another idea was a commute-city with express buses.

A third idea was a wall of stacked rocks that are 4 feet in diameter. The wall would leak water but would stand up to a surge of water if a leeve broke.

But there are many disaster prone places around the world where permanent structures could be re-fitted after disasters.

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