New Construction vs. Old in Storm Conditions

[BocaGirl]

First, let me share my prayers and blessings with everyone who went through Charley. I was in Southern California last week and missed the whole thing! My son told me that here in Boca Raton we had worse weather from Bonnie's remnants than we did from Charley.

In another thread, my old friend scogor mentioned that most of the mobile homes built in the nineties and later seemed to come through the storm with minimal damage. (Of course the media loves to focus on the pictures of the parks that have been the most heavily damaged. Flattened. In some cases I swear I've seen the same pictures over and over again.)

When all the hype is over it will be interesting to see if the newer codes that were put in place after Hurricane Andrew really made a difference in the face of of a Cat 4 monster. Did the newer structures (especially mobile homes) stand up to the winds and rain better than the older ones?

BocaGirl
Barbara

[scogor]

Good to hear from you, Boca! Sarasota was minimally impacted from Charley (some homes in south county damaged and some power outages) but the devastation in Charlotte County just to our south defies description according to those I have spoken with who have been able to view it first hand. As to your post, what I am hearing from these eyewitnesses and one of my contacts with the statewide organization representing mobile home park owners is that the new, more stringent standards did make a big difference as the vast majority of the mobile homes that were destroyed or that suffered substantial damage were the homes built before these standards were in effect. The President of the FMO (the statewide group representing mobile home park residents) is taking a few of his board members down to Charlotte County tomorrow and I have asked him to give me a report. I will try to post a summary of what he has to say if and when he gets back to me. I do hope that the media follows up on this issue--I am certainly not a shill for the manufactured housing industry and would be the first to evacuate from a mobile home park but it certainly is not fair to anyone for the media to imply that all mobile homes are unsafe if in fact this is not the case--and I think we will find out that most of these newer homes did survive the storm. Again, this information doesn't sell newspapers or increase the ratings (no "sizzle" in facts and figures) but the public deserves to know what type of housing can survive these storms and what type of housing cannot.

[Guest]

Sorry, but nothing can truly survive mother nature's wrath. it is up to the public to seek this information.

[Patrick99]

Sco, how did Lido and Siesta Key hold up? I've always held a soft spot for those places.

My family used to visit Sarasota every year - I stood out on the Lido beach in 1985, as Elena made her right turn toward Florida. We watched the surf for a while, went back in to get news on the storm, then decided to leave when we went back out and noticed the Gulf getting very, very close to the hotel!

[bahamaswx]

Of course newer buildings (post-Andrew) would stand up better. Hurricane clips on the roof make a world of difference as to what they can stand up too. I'm pretty sure nailguns were banned and you have to nail the plywood on the roof down by hand too, which is also obviously an advantage.

[scogor]

Boca, no problems on either Siesta or Lido Keys. Charley's landfall was far enough to the south that beach erosion up here was minimal at the worst. I will tell you that I sense a new found respect (fear?) for tropical systems although I doubt that our developers share that respect/fear.

[mf_dolphin]

What kills me is that the use of ring nails in construction isn't mandatory. I've seen studies that they increase the strength of a roof by as much as 20% and yet they aren't required. It seems a very small price to pay (200-300.00) .

[Blown Away]

Typically, ring nails are used on the first row of plywood!
Plywood clips will reinforce the roof significantly!
It's more labor intensive, but good architect & builder
will glue the plywood to trusses!