Hurricane, Tornado, Tsunami, Flood, & Fire Proof, with Earthquake-Resistant Options

Do You Want a Safe Home?

We have home construction designs that will bring revolutionary changes in the way houses in harms way can be built to survive natural disasters!

Our designs are able to withstand Hurricane, Tornado and Tsunami forces, in addition to Flooding and Fire damage. Resisting up to and including category 5 hurricanes. Each home is made from all Epoxy-Coated Steel and all Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Construction, raised above storm surge threats on concrete pilings, with Earthquake-Resistant Options.

Our concept recognizes the geographic challenges of New Orleans and other coastal regions; that the next hurricane season is only a year away, and it is forecast to be possibly worse than 2005. We propose immediate, forward-thinking construction that will not only utilize monetary resources to rebuild efficiently, but at the same time prepare for the coming hurricanes. The sooner our construction models can be implemented, the less money will be wasted on temporary housing and other inadequate housing waiting to be destroyed by future hurricanes.

Remember a category 3 hurricane will demolish mobile homes, and a Katrina like category 4 hurricane will demolish even well constructed homes. How much money are FEMA, and the state co-pay, spending on mobile homes to relocate 2004 and 2005 hurricane victims? Are they in greater harms way? What are they going to do with these mobile homes afterwards? Where will they be stored?

How much tourist revenue is lost with reconstruction delays by not acting sooner rather than later?

We propose to build demonstration models of our Natural Disaster Proof Homes in coastal locations in the Florida Keys, Biloxi, MS, New Orleans, Galveston, TX, and Hawaii; and with enough money we would include earthquake-resistant models in California and Alaska. The object is to build a model directly in the path of a future category 5 hurricane in order to prove the concept.

We propose to spend $2,500,000 to construct demonstration models in the following locations, which are most likely to experience strong hurricanes next year:  $700,000 in the Florida Keys, $600,000 in Biloxi, MS, $500,000 in New Orleans, and $700,000 in Galveston, TX. These numbers include the land and construction costs.

These houses will only cost 20 to 50% more than wooden construction costs. The increased costs would be off-set by far less storm damage and reconstruction costs, the Energy Star efficient design, which would reduce utility costs, and insurance discounts, and/or other new incentives such as tax rebates or reduction in real estate taxes.

This new type of construction would reduce the catastrophic outcomes for the future, not to mention the reduction in the loss of human life and human suffering caused by these more and more frequent catastrophes.

Need for New, Safer Homes

The governor of Mississippi stated that, “90% of all buildings were destroyed in Biloxi, MS and Gulfport, LA”, by Katrina in 2005, a category 4 hurricane.

An unexpected development that adds to the need for new, safer homes comes from the insurance industry. Insurance companies are now considering limiting their losses by restricting or refusing to cover hurricane losses in the future. The 2005 hurricane season has resulted in losses of nearly $100 Billion dollars; and the 2004 hurricane season losses of $50 Billion dollars, and none of these were the stronger category 5 hurricanes (see table below). Are they looking at $200 Billion dollars of losses in 2006? With the forecast of both increased numbers and intensity of coming hurricane seasons it is no wonder that they want to limit their losses.

Hurricane resistant construction becomes even more important if people can’t get insurance.

Natural Disaster Forces and Construction Challenges

The overall damage above is a function of a number of forces including wind forces and storm surges already briefly mentioned, as well as projectiles and salt water erosion. While the types of major forces vary little, the ratio of these forces is altered per the type of natural disaster. See Table 2.

Table 2. Forces per Natural Disaster

Storm surge damage is a result of tsunamis (no wind damage) or hurricanes. Wind and projectile damage is a result of tornadoes (no storm surge damage) or hurricanes (both storm surge and wind damage). Flood damage results from tsunamis and hurricanes, but seldom from tornadoes.

Hurricane history updates our design strategy

The old story of the wolf and the three little pigs is somewhat analogous to the design problem of traditionally built homes. The 1^st pig had a house of straw, the 2^nd pig had a house built from sticks, and the 3^rd pig had a house made from bricks. The wolf was able to blow the straw and stick houses, but not the brick one. In our case a hurricane blows much stronger than the story book wolf, and can even blow down the brick house. Thus building with better materials is only part of the solution.

Our design looks at the damage from natural disasters, and integrates solutions to each one, while adapting, enhancing, and applying them in a new and economically efficient manner. We have come up with creative ways to both bolster the strength and cut costs by re-designing the old traditional foundation-laying techniques. Once more, the Devil is in the Details: for example, piling integration, height of pilings, number of pilings, and the composition of the pilings are the first element of our design.

Telephone: 303-883-8000       

Address: 5082 E. Hampden Ave, Suite #138  Denver, Colorado  80222       

email: hurricaneproof@hotmail.com

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