Just a question. Are most buildings in Florida constructed out of wood? Due to the wrath of Charley and such, why aren't buildings constructed of brick instead?

Is it cost, or bylaws, or what? Just wondering.

Thank you.

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Originally posted by Tree:
Just a question. Are most buildings in Florida constructed out of wood? Due to the wrath of Charley and such, why aren't buildings constructed of brick instead?

Is it cost, or bylaws, or what? Just wondering.

Thank you.

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Primarily cost, I believe. As to the damage, it wouldn't make much difference what houses were made of when they meet a hurrican, unless construction standards were so altered as to render the houses unrecognizeable as such. If one wished to live in a concrete vault, one could ride out a hurrican anyplace that flooding and surf damage aren't going to be important factors, but it would be expensive and uncomfortable.

Alan Moore

Many of the newer homes (and other structures) are made of concrete and stucco. The majority of the real damages are done to the modular homes and lightweight trailers in the parks where so many elderly people retire to. The requirements for new buildings (and new trailers) are much different than they were years ago and there are lots of homes that were built with wood, but that is changing and I'm sure will change even more in light of Charley!

Thanks for your answers! It's such a shame to see the match stick heaps from the used-to-be housing of the elderly etc. Very disheartening.

Florida, as expected, has some of the toughest building codes in the United States. The state building code officials are in the middle of a massive undertaking to revamp codes to a state standard rather than having hundreds of separate local codes.

The state is divided into six zones based on the force of expected winds. Buildings in the keys and coastal areas, for example, will have different requirements from buildings in, say, Orlando.

Metal window shutters or pre-set anchors for plywood window covers is a primary area of focus. In the absence of such protection, a structure must be designed to withstand hurricane force winds inside if a window is broken.

Other considerations include additional nails for roof sheathing, more adhesive on asphalt shingles, and more connectors between the foundations, walls and roof frames.

Georgia, the Carolinas, and other states are also tightening their codes for hurricane-prone areas.

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Just a question: Why do news crews always rush to the nearest mobile home park for eyewitness comments. "Yessir, I seen it a-comin' even though Ailene said them TV weathermen weren't never right about nuthin. We mighta been clued in when the National Guard come by last night and said to leave. I'm just damned lucky I rolled the Monte Carlo eight times in my wreck last year so we was ready for the ride we took last night in the trailer. I guess I coulda took my truck up to Montgomery and stayed with my brother Earl but I can't even find it now. Anybody seen my dog...?"

They do that because that guy is experienced in talking to the news camera, Fuse. For years, he traveled the Midwest, in the wake of tornados, arriving at the trailer court just before the news truck.
"Boy, that one threw Harley's double-wide like it was nuttin. We still ain't found Aunt Daisy. Say, you gotta smoke? Mine was in the pick-up. Guess its 2 counties over by now."

It would seem God has a particular affinity for/grudge against trailer parks. Until they start making mobile homes out of brick, there'll always be a good story there.

While we in this area don't endure such things as hurricanes and tornadoes, it seems that trailer parks get the brunt of what does happen here. There's a town in Northern Idaho, Cataldo, that consists mostly of trailers, and gets flooded every year. There's also a famous Catholic Mission, built in the middle 1800's, at Cataldo. Obviously the Fathers who established the mission had more forethought than the current day residents, because the mission is situated on a high hill. And it always amazes me to see the same thing year after year after year: some poor sap, clutching his baseball cap in one hand and scratching his nuts with the other, standing next to his pickup truck with a gun rack and a hunting dog in the back, wondering how in the heck his trailer could have flooded, never mind the fact the town is on the banks of the river and the mission is safely far above it on the hill.

Thank you for the interesting stories and information!