Use of advanced building technologies helps homes stand up to recent hurricanes
By Mike Kruse, President
Home Builders Association of Midwest Georgia
In a hurricane season that is unfortunately providing Floridians with ample opportunity to test the effectiveness of more stringent building codes put in place after 1992’s Hurricane Andrew, representatives from the concrete masonry industry, as well as from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing are reporting some good news.
"Because of Hurricane Andrew and other storms in this area, the residential building codes have become much more specific in Florida," said Dennis Graber, a member of the International Code Council Standard for Hurricane Resistant Residential Construction and director of technical publications at the National Concrete Masonry Association, who was on site in Punta Gorda, Fla., to assess damages from Hurricane Charley.
As an example of how conformance with the new codes made houses better able to withstand the onslaught of Hurricane Charley, Graber noted that in modern, code-compliant structures in the Punta Gorda downtown area, concrete masonry withstood the high winds. By contrast, he reported that structures that were not built to current codes "suffered significant damage, because the concrete masonry was not reinforced to current construction standards even though the walls were substantial."
Recently, representatives of the National Association of Home Builders, the HUD and the Florida Home Builders Association visited areas of Charlotte County, Fla., to examine the damage first hand and to highlight how advanced building technologies can create safer, more durable and energy efficient housing.
The contingent visited the site of three panelized homes in the Port Charlotte, Fla., area that stood up well to the pummeling Category 4 winds of Hurricane Charley, largely due to their innovative structural impact resistance according to a report from PATH.
In sharp contrast to the damage sustained by the rest of the neighborhood, two of the homes were completely intact and the third required a minor one-day repair to its roof membrane, which was punctured by an uprooted palm tree.
Additionally, in 1994, HUD developed new construction standards to significantly increase the wind resistance and structural integrity of manufactured homes. Today, these new standards along with new technologies such as "structural insulated panels" and "fiber cement sheathing" are greatly improving the wind and impact resistance of manufactured housing.
HUD has released new consumer information designed to help homeowners to repair and rebuild their damaged or destroyed homes using the latest advanced building technologies. In partnership with the housing industry, HUD is working to improve the safety, quality, durability and affordability of manufactured homes through these advanced building technologies. For more information about HUD’s PATH Program, visit www.pathnet.org.
The National Concrete Masonry Association is a member of NAHB’s Concrete Home Building Council. For more information about NAHB Research Center studies, visit www.nahbrc.org.
(Mike Kruse, who is owner and president of Mike Kruse Contractors Inc., is president of the Home Builders Association of Midwest Georgia, which serves a membership of approximately 615 builders and associate members in Fayette, Coweta, Spalding, Meriwether, Heard, Pike, Upson, Lamar, Butts and Jasper counties.)
