On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 11:39:12 GMT, "HMFIC-1369"
Baa wrote:

Since everybody for the most part overlooked the obvious........ I'd say it
may stand, just nothing at home upstairs!





"Nehmo" wrote in message
...
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.


Normal houses should be able to survive a direct hit Cat 2 hurricane
(correct me if I am wrong). A direct hit from anything above that
will cause damage however strong you build it. Once there is damage
and the rainwater/floofwater gets in the inside contents that can
absorb water are toast. And the stronger and heavier your building
the more damage there will be to your house and to your neighbor's as
the parts tear off in the high wind or flood surge. You also don't
want to build a house so heavy that it looks like a prison and cost
more than one. You'll never pass the guidelines for neighbourhood
architectural conformity anyway.

So we can presume that your house will look be built like one of those
antebellum houses that makes New Orleans so charming. It should also
be a two storey house so that you will have a place of refuge in case
of flooding

If I were to rebuild what I will do is to design a house that will
have a concrete structural frame that will stand intact in a Cat 5
storm. Presumably the main panels and outlets for utility llines,
water pipes and other services will be attached to or be protected by
this concrete frame. This is so that while the service runs to the
rest of the house can be destroyed one can easily re-establish new
connections to the main panels and outlets.

Everything else of regular construction can tbe damaged, be blown or
washed away but the frame stands. That way I can easily tear down the
roof and walls and quickly rebuild without having to bulldoze the
whole structure or having to resubmit the building approvals.

A refinement to this house design will be to make the first floor
level a sacrificial part that a storm surge can wash away without
bringing the second floor with it, or damaging the structure of the
house. I saw some TV shots of a breachfront house in the Carolinas
that survived such a surge. That left the house looking like it was
built on stilits. The second floor was damaged and not worth
salvaging. But had someone taken refuge there (none) that person
would have survived. A conventionally build house would have been
totalled and killed everyone within it.

One can understand the desire to stay in and sit out the storm, mainly
to prevent looting, and perhaps to fix fixable damage on the fly
before it becomes a big one. The chances of a direct hurricane hit are
small enough for most homeowners to take this risk. The chances of a
direct hit is nonetheless there and it will seem very stupid by then
to risk life and limb for a house.

Therefore the problem should be recast as how can one stay for a less
threatening storm and yet survive the perfect storm?

The answer will be a storm-proof safe room built on top of this
concrete structure. It will probably be the size of a large bathroom
and made of steel or concrete for protection against flying debris or
tree falls. It should be capable of being buttoned down and float
upright like a boat should it be dislodged. At that level of storm
intensity there is no longer any consideration of living in it to
guard your property. All you want is to survive the perfect storm and
get the hell out, a stay of less than 48 hours.






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?

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|||||||||||||||| Nehmo Sergheyev ||||||||||||||||