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Old 05-11-2015, 12:57 AM
 
Location: Fort Myers, Fl
79 posts, read 112,663 times
Reputation: 85

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I would imagine, since Florida sits in a hurricane zone, that people would build much sturdier fixed foundation homes instead of flimsy mobile homes. I have been studying about hurricanes for a long time, and from what I have studied, mobile homes are totally not built or designed to resist hurricane winds; in fact, an unanchored single wide mobile home can tip over in winds as low as 70 miles per hour; even 55 to 60 mile per hour winds, if there isn't a lot of furniture in the mobile home, can potentially cause the mobile home to tip or lean sideways. At around 90 to 100 miles per hour, anchored mobile homes start peeling apart at the seams.

Now I have also seen what the kinds of winds that might only tear some tiles off the roof of a concrete block structure, or CBS, house, can do to mobile homes. For instance, right after Hurricane Andrew tore through southern Miami-Dade County, there were areas of reinforced CBS houses that lost only some shingles/tiles off the roof and maybe even a few windows next to mobile home parks that were just totally ripped to shreds by Andrew's violent winds. Same thing apparently occured during Hurricane Charley in the Port Charlotte area. Even Hurricane Frances, producing maximum winds of only around 105 miles per hour upon landfall in Florida, did some rather heavy structural damage to numerous mobile homes, especially in and near Fort Pierce.

Additionally, according to my Hurricane Survival Guide, homes of wood frame construction are not a whole lot better than mobile homes. Especially when they have gable end roofs. In case you didn't know, a gable end roof is that type of roof that normally slopes in two directions and, at each end, overhangs a triangular wall. According to my survival guide, a gable end "catches wind like a sail." Numerous wood frame homes in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew were missing roofs and oftentimes even entire top floors, ground floors of those same houses were often littered with fallen ceilings and wreckage from the second floors.

But apparently, according to Google Satellite View, mobile home parks still exist in Florida, even including in Homestead and Florida City, which were directly hit by Hurricane Andrew. And just roughly 4 miles north of me are literally tons and tons of mobile home parks! I also noticed a few mobile home parks in Punta Gorda, which took a direct hit by Hurricane Charley in 2004.

Why exactly do people still put mobile home parks in hurricane regions such as Florida? Also, why do people still put gable end roofs on new residential buildings in hurricane zones?
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Old 05-11-2015, 01:35 AM
 
1,905 posts, read 2,771,213 times
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Well as you know Florida is/was a popular destination for retirees so it was a cheap alternative for those only living on social security. IMO I don't think they are very attractive and I get low class from them but sure enough someone is going to be offended by that. A lot of them especially in the Miami Metro area are being torn down and turned into actual residential developments. All new construction in Florida must adhere to strong regulations as far as hurricane protection so I'm pretty they use certain materials that follow those rules.
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Old 05-11-2015, 01:48 AM
 
Location: Fort Liquordale, Florida
242 posts, read 343,803 times
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Unfortunately a lot of people from the northern states move to Florida thinking they can afford the strolling-the-beach-with-my-corona-beer-in-hand lifestyle then after some years they begin to realize their "life" up north wasn't so bad after all but now they are stuck like chuck. The funds ran dry, high and dry if you will, they buy a trailer then hope a pray a hurricane does not come. Bottom line it's about the cheapest way to live in Florida and stay in Florida. Eventually they are wiped out by a Hurricane and move back up north.

Last edited by doggiebus; 05-12-2015 at 08:02 AM..
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Old 05-12-2015, 08:09 AM
 
Location: Miami
6,853 posts, read 22,369,037 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by explorerman1 View Post
Why exactly do people still put mobile home parks in hurricane regions such as Florida? Also, why do people still put gable end roofs on new residential buildings in hurricane zones?
The only reason mobile home parks are in hurricane regions is affordability. They are cheaper than buying a concrete block townhouse or single family home.

As for the question of gable end roofs, I would guess its cheaper to build, that is just a guess.
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Old 05-12-2015, 08:26 AM
 
1,490 posts, read 1,207,055 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by explorerman1 View Post
Why exactly do people still put mobile home parks in hurricane regions such as Florida? Also, why do people still put gable end roofs on new residential buildings in hurricane zones?
You say "still", as in doing so actively right now. Are you seeing new mobile home parks popping up everywhere? Because I don't, but admit I am not looking for them online or otherwise.

Same question on the gable roof...I see more hip & other variants on newer construction so not sure where you are seeing these being built. But on small rectangular homes built decades ago (GDC was famous for these), likely the cheapest & easiest way to build that type in mass production.

Keep in mind, Florida has had substantial influxes of people in short bursts dating back to the 1920s. In each of these periods, there was a need to build mass housing quickly and efficiently so a lot of decisions get made hastily and/or by less long-term thinking people sometimes.
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Old 05-12-2015, 08:30 AM
 
17,454 posts, read 38,838,370 times
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To me, mobile home parks are going the way of the dinosaur here ...... land is too expensive and they are being sold and commercial properties or condos going up, at least in any coastal cities.
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Old 05-12-2015, 03:01 PM
 
2,407 posts, read 3,161,001 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by doggiebus View Post
As for the question of gable end roofs, I would guess its cheaper to build, that is just a guess.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinEden99 View Post
You say "still", as in doing so actively right now. Are you seeing new mobile home parks popping up everywhere? Because I don't, but admit I am not looking for them online or otherwise.
There is a section in our community that was built in 2006 and there are roofs that are partial gable. The front of the roof facing the street is gabled. The roof doesn't go all the way back but stops mid-house and butts up against a hip roof on the back side of the house. It's an odd roofline, but I was wondering if the fact that there is no gable on the back stops the wind from getting up under the roof?

I know when we got our insurance, the company looked at an aerial view of our roof and had to determine no more than something like 30% was gabled. We have a hip roof with two little gables over the front door and garage.
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Old 05-12-2015, 04:25 PM
 
Location: Fort Myers, Fl
79 posts, read 112,663 times
Reputation: 85
Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinEden99 View Post
You say "still", as in doing so actively right now. Are you seeing new mobile home parks popping up everywhere? Because I don't, but admit I am not looking for them online or otherwise.

Same question on the gable roof...I see more hip & other variants on newer construction so not sure where you are seeing these being built. But on small rectangular homes built decades ago (GDC was famous for these), likely the cheapest & easiest way to build that type in mass production.

Keep in mind, Florida has had substantial influxes of people in short bursts dating back to the 1920s. In each of these periods, there was a need to build mass housing quickly and efficiently so a lot of decisions get made hastily and/or by less long-term thinking people sometimes.
Well, what I mean is that people continued to put mobile home parks even in cities/metro areas that have allready been devastated by a major hurricane, such as Punta Gorda in 2004 by Hurricane Charley and Homestead in 1992 by Hurricane Andrew, and even during rebuilding of those cities after those same major destructive hurricanes. I also heard that Hurricane Charley even inflicted some pretty big damage as far south as Fort Myers and especially North Fort Myers, where I am sure many more innumerable mobile homes (in North Fort Myers) sustained structural damage.

For example, according to Satellite View on Google Maps, in Homestead, there are at least a couple mobile home parks just east of US 1, between Campbell Drive and SW 328th Street, plus another one just north of there on Biscayne Drive about a couple miles or so west of what was once Homestead Air Force Base. There's also a couple more mobile home parks just off Tamiami Trail in Punta Gorda, one just off Harbor View Road in Port Charlotte (the Harbor View mobile home park), also the Maple Leaf Golf & Country Club looks like it contains mobile homes.
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Old 05-12-2015, 08:36 PM
 
1,905 posts, read 2,771,213 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by explorerman1 View Post
Well, what I mean is that people continued to put mobile home parks even in cities/metro areas that have allready been devastated by a major hurricane, such as Punta Gorda in 2004 by Hurricane Charley and Homestead in 1992 by Hurricane Andrew, and even during rebuilding of those cities after those same major destructive hurricanes. I also heard that Hurricane Charley even inflicted some pretty big damage as far south as Fort Myers and especially North Fort Myers, where I am sure many more innumerable mobile homes (in North Fort Myers) sustained structural damage.

For example, according to Satellite View on Google Maps, in Homestead, there are at least a couple mobile home parks just east of US 1, between Campbell Drive and SW 328th Street, plus another one just north of there on Biscayne Drive about a couple miles or so west of what was once Homestead Air Force Base. There's also a couple more mobile home parks just off Tamiami Trail in Punta Gorda, one just off Harbor View Road in Port Charlotte (the Harbor View mobile home park), also the Maple Leaf Golf & Country Club looks like it contains mobile homes.
To be honest I think I heard about one of those mobile home communities being torn down and also Google Maps does not update regularly.
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Old 05-12-2015, 09:02 PM
 
Location: FLORIDA
8,963 posts, read 8,822,565 times
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it seems like there are less and less mobile home parks throughout the South. I dont see too many anymore.
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