September 2, 1999

Coastal Residents Shown How to Retrofit Houses for Hurricanes

            CHARLESTON, S.C. (ANS) -- As the annual hurricane season gets under way, two demonstration projects are educating coastal residents in disaster-proofing their homes.

            In Charleston, a 125-year-old cypress-sided home is being remodeled into an education center on disaster-proofing. The 113 Calhoun Street Project, a partnership between the South Carolina Sea Grant Extension Program, Clemson University and the city of Charleston, S.C., is being retrofitted to resist potential damage from floods, hurricanes and earthquakes.

            Located in the city’s historic district, the house was a crumbling wreck when the project took it over. A new concrete foundation was poured complete with steel-reinforced footings. The wooden frame was bolted to the foundation. Metal connectors were run up the walls between floors, and clips were used to attach the roof to the walls.

            The costliest damage to a house in a hurricane -- outside of complete collapse -- is water damage, project managers said. To make the roof more resistant to high winds and water, screws supplemented nails in the plywood. Construction tape was run along the wood seams, a layer of felt installed and extra roofing cement used to hold down the shingles.

            Windows in the house feature impact-resistant glass designed to withstand a nine-pound two-by-four traveling 34 mph, said Robert Bacon, who directs the program. Visitors also can see the practicality of bolts predrilled into window frames making it easy to slip in plywood boards as a storm approaches. Aluminum window coverings and wooden shutters are also shown for their protective capacities.

            While much of the work at 113 Calhoun was tempered by its location in a historic district, many cities along the Eastern seaboard have similar restrictive building codes, Bacon pointed out. The center also features a wide enough range of solutions to be applicable to modern construction, Bacon said.

            New building codes were on the mind of civil engineer Tim Reinhold this weekend as he monitored wind from Hurricane Dennis along the North Carolina coast. Reinhold posted several towers with wind-measuring devices along the storm’s path. The Clemson University professor is interested in gusting wind that tends to pull shingles and sheathing from houses.

            He’s also prewired 10 homes along the south Florida coast with wind instruments to get detailed information during hurricanes. The houses were retrofitted with $15,000 in storm improvements. How they stand up to storms will ultimately affect building codes and improve disaster preparedness, Reinhold said.

© COPYRIGHT 1999 The American News Service

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Contacts:

Robert Bacon, program leader, 113 Calhoun Street Project, Charleston, S.C., 843-727-2075, <baconrh@musc.edu>.

Tim Reinhold, associate professor of civil engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, S.C., 864-656-5941.