wood frame homes vs. concrete homes (Jacksonville, Miami: tornadoes, insurance, budget)

[rbayle]

Hi, it's me -the Contractor's wife again who chose a wood frame. Harry mentioned Manufactured and that is what we went with. I should have said that. The manufactured homes are so great. They are inspected time and time again and many exceed codes. they are built on an assembly line so the people building do this over and over again adn know what they are doing. The strenth, in my opinion, is far superior to site built concrete.

[spainbrit]

Just out of interest, can you buy one of these and put them anywhere? If you say demolished a house in a neighbourhood, that doesn't have deed restrictions as to the type of home you put up, can you just drop one in there? Or do they have to go onto certain sites? I have seen a couple of these (I think thats what they are) pop up around St Pete.

Just curious - also how do they stand for insurance purposes - can you get them insured, presumably they are not classed the same as mobiles?

[Dave_n_Tenn]

Originally Posted by filo74

I put an offer for a wood frame home built in 1987..it is located in the acreage area of west palm beach....way inland in the western part of palm beach county. Very far from the ocean

My father keeps telling me to NOT buy a wood frame house because it will not do well in a hurricane. I would like to buy a concrete structure, but there are none at the price I am looking for (low 200's)....at least in the specific area I am looking for. Out of the 10 houses I see for that price, only 1 or 2 are concrete.

I don't know what to do..I am confused. This house looks perfect..the roof looks perfect...everything looks very good. Why is it that miami-dade building code prohibits new wood frame construction and palm beach still allows it ?? They are both in hurricane prone areas. I do not understand it and it just leads me to believe that wood frame homes do well in Hurricanes....the building officials in Palm Beach know something I do not know. Are concrete homes over hyped and over rated ? What is your opinion ?

Fact.... 99% of residential construction have "frame (wood) roof". That includes, trusses, rafters, sheathing (plywood).

Fact.......Exterior Walls do not fail in storms... roofs fail.

Fact.... most homes are destroyed by water... water enters through failed roofs, blown out soffits, garage doors, and windows during Hurricanes... or by storm surge, or flooding.... and it's the stuff inside your home that costs the most. Your concrete walls and metal studs will be fine, but your house will be trash.

Fact.... the energy dept ,data shows frame houses have lower energy loss.
(lower energy bills) argue with Uncle Sam on this one.

Fact... Concrete homes are easier to maintain.

Fact ... termites eat wood

Fact.... termites eat wood inside concrete homes... see note on roofs above

Fact... Insurance companies give lower rates to concrete homes.

Fact... wood burns

Fact... watch the roof burn and the walls, and the furniture, etc.

Fact....... after the fire... replace the concrete block

Fact ... Concrete homes are "wetter" (damp) than frame homes.

Fact.... older concrete block homes offer less protection than older frame homes. Why? 'cause older block homes did not use re-bar in the walls and did not pour a tie-beam... making them extremely brittle, and not reinforced.
Hence the reason you MUST reinforce concrete.

Fact... frame homes are easier to "modify" or add on.

Ok.. I live in a frame home. Designed and built by myself, 1995. I've had 3 Hurricanes pass over my home (eye, @119 MPH) and guess what... didn't even lose a shingle. I built my home to 140 MPH standard (coastal construction design) using the Miami-Dade building code which is the most stringiest for residential construction anywhere.

To answer the Op... yes... concrete homes are over-rated IMO. However with all things being equal... concrete does have better resale value... because of prevailing attitudes, like your Dad's, with all due respect. Frame homes save in energy costs (see uncle Sam) and if your like me... I keep the AC on in summer. so........If the house is still there (after this many years) and in good shape, passes inspection, and can save in up-front costs... anyone could make and argument for the frame home. Frame homes can be "mitigated" for additional Hurricane protection as well. Check insurance rates on the frame and block home. Make sure if it's an older block home... the trusses are tied in, tie beam poured, and reinforced.

Do not be ''afraid" to buy a frame home or concrete block home.... be smart .

[rbayle]

yes, you can put a manufactured system built anywhere, I believe, as long as the truck bringing it can get through. We built in a highly deed restricted neighborhhood and had no problem getting our home approved, and it is the prettiest one in here-it looks like the Walton's home. We had no problem getting insurance and no problem with inspections when we were in the process of building, becuase the house was already so inspected when it got here! Anotehr great thing about it is it's up on a concerete stem wall. Anytime we want to add on or work on something we can crawl under and access our electric and plumbing very easily! I love it. It's for sale now becuase we are leaving FL. but we will definitly build another one. We got the old norther look with dormers and crawl spaces and everyhting (charm and character galore) that is not available in today;s concrete house. In your situation though, you really need to look at the individual house with a contractor and/or look at the blueprints.

[tallrick]

Originally Posted by Dave_n_Tenn

Fact.... 99% of residential construction have "frame (wood) roof". That includes, trusses, rafters, sheathing (plywood).

Fact.......Exterior Walls do not fail in storms... roofs fail.

Fact.... most homes are destroyed by water... water enters through failed roofs, blown out soffits, garage doors, and windows during Hurricanes... or by storm surge, or flooding.... and it's the stuff inside your home that costs the most. Your concrete walls and metal studs will be fine, but your house will be trash.

Fact.... the energy dept ,data shows frame houses have lower energy loss.
(lower energy bills) argue with Uncle Sam on this one.

Fact... Concrete homes are easier to maintain.

Fact ... termites eat wood

Fact.... termites eat wood inside concrete homes... see note on roofs above

Fact... Insurance companies give lower rates to concrete homes.

Fact... wood burns

Fact... watch the roof burn and the walls, and the furniture, etc.

Fact....... after the fire... replace the concrete block

Fact ... Concrete homes are "wetter" (damp) than frame homes.

Fact.... older concrete block homes offer less protection than older frame homes. Why? 'cause older block homes did not use re-bar in the walls and did not pour a tie-beam... making them extremely brittle, and not reinforced.
Hence the reason you MUST reinforce concrete.

Fact... frame homes are easier to "modify" or add on.

Ok.. I live in a frame home. Designed and built by myself, 1995. I've had 3 Hurricanes pass over my home (eye, @119 MPH) and guess what... didn't even lose a shingle. I built my home to 140 MPH standard (coastal construction design) using the Miami-Dade building code which is the most stringiest for residential construction anywhere.

To answer the Op... yes... concrete homes are over-rated IMO. However with all things being equal... concrete does have better resale value... because of prevailing attitudes, like your Dad's, with all due respect. Frame homes save in energy costs (see uncle Sam) and if your like me... I keep the AC on in summer. so........If the house is still there (after this many years) and in good shape, passes inspection, and can save in up-front costs... anyone could make and argument for the frame home. Frame homes can be "mitigated" for additional Hurricane protection as well. Check insurance rates on the frame and block home. Make sure if it's an older block home... the trusses are tied in, tie beam poured, and reinforced.

Do not be ''afraid" to buy a frame home or concrete block home.... be smart .

Finally, some sense. People would be horrified to know that their "concrete block" home is really a wood truss roof sitting on concrete walls. There are a lot of misconceptions, like a flat roof being worse than a sloped one. Any wood roof has only 1/4-1/3 inch of roofing seperating it from the elements. Add insulation and cover with drywall, and a dime sized leak can cause catastrophic damage to the interior. Only a POURED concrete roof can withstand hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. I will not even use drywall in a home or insulation because its a mess. I like modern, flat roofs and no wood at all. That was common for many small commercial buildings and some homes up till the 70's. None of the homes or buildings with poured concrete roofs failed in hurricane Andrew. The "concrete" homes with wood roofs all seemed to sustain some damage. I even saw homes near Robert Morgan vocational school leveled when the roof and tie beam was lifted off and the whole house collapsed. You really need to know how your home was built. I built my own because the existing ones looked like trash to me.

[heydade]

thanks for the tips. If they accept my offer, I will get an inspection done. The home was built in 1987. I wonder if the trusses are strapped down with hurricane straps!? If not, how much $$ will it cost me to retrofit these into the trusses ??

[tallrick]

Originally Posted by heydade

thanks for the tips. If they accept my offer, I will get an inspection done. The home was built in 1987. I wonder if the trusses are strapped down with hurricane straps!? If not, how much $$ will it cost me to retrofit these into the trusses ??

They will have hurricane straps, but that's not usually the issue. Check the thickness of the sheathing, it should be 5/8" or greater. Avoid any homes with gable-end roofs. If you must buy one, it will be necessary to diagonally brace them. If your roof sheathing is stapled on, don't even buy the place. If any sheathing is 1/2" run as fast as you can. Also be careful with stucco homes, they usually conceal a house of horrors.

[spainbrit]

rbayle thanks for that - good to know, if we ever do build that way, I'd love a character home, with all the bells and whistles, are there any websites for manufactures of the type of home you had, that I can look at?

[MikeP]

I'm no expert but I can give you a real life example. I own an all wood (frame and siding) home built in 1984 in Bokeelia on Pine Island. We had nearly a direct hit from hurricane charlie (CAT 4) a few years back. We had VERY little damage. A broken window, lost about a dozen shingles, some of our deck railings where pulled off, etc... but nothing major and nothing that CBS would have prevented.
CBS is overrated, ugly, cracks and most cbs homes look the same.
I've owned 2 wood homes in florida and the only drawback IMO has been the people who think CBS is king if you try to sell.
I wouldn't hesitate to buy another.
Good luck

[spainbrit]

MikeP you are right to defend your home as are all the other ones who built their own homes or live in custom built all wood and wood frame homes. They were built well. You have to look at all the complaints out there with these huge new communities, it's not simply bad plans and materials, its often poor management and oversight that causes these homes to be insecure from leaks, damp and other things. There is much to be said for concrete block homes in which I live. Most of my neighbourhood is built this way and yes, it does all look a bit cookie cutter, but it has withstood storms since the early 70s and there is no evidence of cracking. The only problem I have seen lately in my area was around a chimney breast that was added to a home and done badly, it cracked, the rest of the house and all our homes are fine. They don't look ugly, thats an eye of the beholder thing. They are old fashioned though, but then these houses were the object of desire in the 70s, as older homes from the 20s and 30s are now.

The initial poster talks about a property that apparently sits on its own land and I am thinking it might be a custom built home, but maybe it's not. However, a really good home inspector will find faults with it if there are any, really good ones know what to look for, particularly in new construction, but these days, if its done well, either are a good prospect for buying.