On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 15:28:38 -0600
Notan wrote:

Matt Whiting wrote:

Nehmo wrote:
Let's say you're building a 1,500 square foot house plus garage on a
sufficiently sized lot from scratch in New Orleans after the water has
been drained. You want to build so that the house would suffer zero
damage should it endure a hurricane of similar size as Katrina.

You would have to build to survive the wind, the flood water, the
wind-caused waves in the water (In Katrina-NOLA, the wind had subsided
before water came in; this may not be the case in the future), and the
impacts of debris.

You need to anticipate looters and unwanted government interference.

The house would have independent utilities, communication, and supplies.
And the house would need a secure means of transportation for escape if
necessary.

How should this house be built and what should it have?


I'd build it using reinforced concrete with metal shutters to close over
the windows, it's own 30 day water supply and enough fuel to power a
backup generator for that same amount of time, and I'd build it on
columns at least 20' tall above the ground, or whatever the storm surge
level from a cat 5 storm is expected to be in that area.

And, while building it off the ground, to get out of harm's way of the water,
aren't you exposing it to more potential wind damage?

Notan


So let's do a FULL recap of this house. I am going to save this for future use and reference.

Let's fill in the blanks and develope this and have it stand the test of back-and-forth until we ALL agree on the resultant.

Let's also be realistic, but don't limit yourself. Let's be practical but without any sacrifice on anything for the sake of safety & security most importantly.

HURRICANE-HOUSE
--------------------

FUTURE BUILDING SITE: N.O.

FOUNDATION SYSTEM: ?

FLOOR SYSTEM: ?

WALL SYSTEM: ?

ROOF SYSTEM: ?

DOORS & WINDOWS: ?

MOISTURE & THERMAL PROTECTION: ?

FORCE PROTECTION: ?

MECHANICAL SYSTEMS: ?

ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS: ?