Resilient design for homes helps them survive disaster unscathed. Home building science and advancements in materials allow for homes to be built with a better chance to withstand natural and man-made disasters. This is exceptionally important in Florida, where every year sees tropical storms and, typically, an aggressive hurricane.
Resilient Design
The idea behind resilient design is that it should be able to better withstand the various impacts of disaster. This includes flooding, fires, high winds, damaging hail, and a range of other factors. These each bring additional elements into play, such as tree limbs and branches falling on your home.
After 1992’s Hurricane Andrew, a number of Florida codes were strengthened. This demanded new thinking from builders. Homes could now withstand higher winds and the debris they bring with them. Since then, the science behind resilient homes has only improved and created safer, more durable houses.
How Does Resilience Help in a Storm?
What goes into something like this? Home building science uses proven resilient design approaches to make structures stronger:
A continuous load path resists uplift from the wind. This helps the side of the home resist strong gusts that tend to be funneled between structures. Lateral bracing helps to resist the wind’s sideways pressure. In other words, the walls are better supported. Hardened windows are a must so that branches, stones, and other debris that gets thrown against your home don’t break a window.
Beyond this, watertight design keeps your home safer from flooding. Water shedding design shears the water off more effectively so that even heavy downpours don’t result in leaks. Beyond this, changes to the landscape around the home itself can help it resist flooding and drain more quickly when it does.
Resilient Home Building Science
Resilient design methods are all tested in labs. Engineers deliberately try to defeat their designs just so they can know how much they can take. This allows builders to use the best resilient design strategies when it comes time to building your home.
Comments are closed here.