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Building to Beat Storm Surge

Todd Davison from FEMA is with Bob to talk about Hurricane Ivan and the power of storm surge. Ivan, unlike Hurricane Charley, had a very wide path and was slow moving. As a result, the storm surge was tremendous and the damage widespread. In the Florida Panhandle, 15, 000 homes were destroyed and another 25, 000 were uninhabitable. Storm surge built with this hurricane because of its slow, forward-moving track that pushed Gulf water ahead of it. This surge lifted bridges off their supports and homes off their foundations. Davison points out that there are building guidelines to prevent such damage. FEMA is actively involved in promoting guidelines for how to rebuild to fend off future damage. Protecting against storm surge is a huge focus for building practices because it forces water under slabs and presents a vertical risk of uplift to the home. Model codes now require that new homes be raised above the projected flood height. The Punta Gorda storm-ready house is nine and one-half feet above the water, a move that will save the homeowners more than half of the non-code premium for flood insurance. For homes built before the code, they are grandfathered and eligible for insurance but at a much higher rate.

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Chapters from this episode

Building an Energy-Efficient Florida Home Now Playing

Building an Energy-Efficient Florida Home

Building to Beat Storm Surge Now Playing

Building to Beat Storm Surge

Storm-Ready Vinyl Roof Soffits Now Playing

Storm-Ready Vinyl Roof Soffits

Metallic-Look Porcelain Floor Tiles Now Playing

Metallic-Look Porcelain Floor Tiles

Applying Clear Coat Sealer on Color Stained Concrete Now Playing

Applying Clear Coat Sealer on Color Stained Concrete

Color Staining a Concrete Floor Now Playing

Color Staining a Concrete Floor

Clip Transcript For:

Building to Beat Storm Surge

computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" All right let's recap a couple of the features of our storm ready house like this door. French door that swings out instead of in that means it really has -- stop behind it and high winds will not blow it in that's just a primer color it's going to be painted dark. Like the colors of the windows over here the other thing is the impact resistant glass that we have throughout the house and then of course the fact that all of our exterior walls are solid structural walls are poured concrete. Leslie Chapman Henderson is with us again from flash I've got -- and -- and now we are building this house so that it can withstand really bad storms and one of the last structural systems that hasn't been completed is the roof overhang. They the soffit detail as it's referred to."

" That's right we've really beefed up the framing here because the because are largely silent on soffits so we had we seen a lot of failures in high wind events and let me get failure. The wind pushes up and the winter clearing house right behind it in the immediate aftermath mold develops and all types of problems."

" Your insulation gets wet your ceilings collapse and it's a nightmare. Although I think there are two schools of thought right now about whether you have venting or no venting -- golf some people like the idea of a totally enclosed. Attic system."

" That's right a lively debate is underway and I don't think we have all the answers there yet but in the Spirit of finding the right answers that debate will continue --"

" Well the debates. Had taken place over all the different elements of this beautiful red tile that's up there used to be put on the roof with just paddy of cement now we have to. Mechanical devices screws that fasten it to the plywood but anyway getting back to the soffit is aluminum."

" This is vinyl and this is -- priest turned out how I judge -- so vinyl is final but is also pretty flexible isn't that a problem when you're talking about high winds and and what about wind driven rain getting into the soffit well normally when people think about -- they think of aluminum soffit yeah and what we found is that. Vinyl soffit actually has a lot of a lot of advantages over aluminum soffit one of them being that it has this locking system on. So when a wind load this locking system this locking system where from one panel to the next finished they kind of just come in and they lock together. Like that. Yet I -- yes. So what this actually what occurs when a wind load or any kind of load is placed upon this panel. It actually. Forces itself together and pulls itself together a lot like a lot like two hands gripping together OK so that's the thought and how is it actually applied up there as an attached to our soffit frame and to the house we -- Larry's doing right now is he's placed and AJ channel on the wall which he. That's basically this material here yes exactly yeah. -- attached that is actually is that with -- five eighths stub nails. And he's doing that about every sixteen inches along the wall. All right it's. And now he's cutting them to shape. Now saying this is. And of course he's got a corner here so he's starting off with a 45 degree."

" Staples."

" Wanting the best about this soffit is that you really can't see any type of ventilation. Surface of it typically soffit has. Ten holes and it -- of land things that allowed air to flow into it. What we've done with this panel we've actually hidden that ventilation. Up inside the grooves. And it gives it a real nice aesthetic but at the same time this panel actually has about 80% more ventilation than any kind of standard vinyl panel you find out there."

" All right we'll thank you Joe and Leslie great to see how many go out back -- find Todd Davison from FEMA and ask your questions."

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