Friday, September 26, 2008

More Heartbreak

Posted by Keith and Martha Sutton at 8:42 PM

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I see the terrible destruction caused by the hurricane, but I have a different view on why this is so. I think the problem is that most people in the affected zone used standard construction techniques; that is the homes were built with 2x4's and 2x6's, sided in chipboard and sheathed with PVC siding. I'll bet not one in a hundred had the trusses strapped to the top of the framing. But this isn't the real issue. The big issue is that none of these homes had any pressure release mechanism to deal with hurricane force winds. Once the windows popped out, the home was like a war zone.

It doesn't have to be this way. Homes can be made that don't fly apart in a storm. Shingles can be made that don't flutter off like leaves in the Autumn. Roofs can be bolted to cement slab floors.

In short, some of the cheap-and-easy ways we build homes these days don't work too well when Mother Nature comes to call. Maybe it's time to rediscover the value of storm shutters, double brick walls and slate roofs.

Just a thought.

October 1, 2008 at 11:19 AM

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