Learn How to Hurricane-Proof Your Home – Home Building Tips
Drainable, dryable walls or a flooding-durable bathroom, a hurricane “safe room” walk-in closet, hurricane resistant window shutters and coverings, and impact-resistance fabric screen protecting the porch are just a few of the features that visitors will see when attending an open
house at LSU AgCenter’s LaHouse in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The house is open to the public daily and has some Saturday open house dates throughout the year. The house was actually being built prior to Hurricane Katrina and was either intentionally or unintentionally used as a “teaching tool” for builders after the storm because it was left uncompleted until it was finished and furnished in 2008.
During the time that that home was left standing incomplete, local builders in all parishes were able to view the structure and framework of the home to see how to build a hurricane-resistant home. Features of the home include hurricane straps that anchor the roof rafters to the studs and the studs to the foundation, the option to use 2 layers of 3/4” plywood to secure a room or portion of the home against 150mph winds, stronger, more durable sheathing and hardware, moisture resistant insulation and wall designs, and much more.
Claudette Reichel, the director of the LSU AgCenter LaHouse teaches home buyers and builders all of the techniques at her disposal to build a more durable home – one that would hopefully withstand a hurricane. She starts by explaining how hurricane-force winds affect a home’s structure, “The wind is pushing against one side of the house, creating a positive force,” she said, turning the house on its side. “When the wind goes around the corners, it increases force, so the corners are really taking a brunt, and it tends to want to push or tilt off the foundation. On the backside of the house, there’s a negative pressure, creating a suction, and the uplift is trying to take the roof off.
The forces on the house are like turning it upside down and shaking it,” she said, flipping the little model home over. “Most houses aren’t designed to do that.”
The living square footage of the house is 3,000 square feet, and it is beautifully and “liveably” designed and decorated. The garage of the home is used as a training center with plenty of documentation, samples, and information on the types of materials used to build the home. There is also a a new trailer, LaHouse Mobile, which contains the same information as the training center and is used to present and teach seminars to interested organizations. So, if you are a home buyer who is interested in building a hurricane-resistant home, you should visit the LSU AgCenter LaHouse to get more information.
The house is open 5 days a week from 10am – 4:30pm. The next Saturday open house will be October 19th. The address to visit is 2858 Gourrier Ave., across from Alex Box Baseball Stadium on LSU’s campus in Baton Rouge. A donation of $5 per adult is requested. For more information, visit the LSU AgCenter website or call 225-578-7913.
