Best Built homes to withstand Hurricanes? (Cary, Pembroke: how much, houses, crawl space)

[ajgranda]

Hi,

I wish I received a $1 for every post Ive been placing lately :-). You guys have been very informative, thanks. As I've posted before, we are looking to relocate to Cary. We are a bit concerned about the possibility of future hurricanes around there. We are looking for a newer house (new - under 10 years). Are there certain building structure standards being built to curb down on heavy wind, flooding damage? Should we avoid certain structures or flooding areas?

Thanks

[dan4jeepin]

By the time hurricanes make it this far inland the winds aren't strong enough to damage houses unless you count blowing off shingles. They will cause alot of down trees so if your really concerned look around at the trees near the house and think how much damage it will do if it comes thru the roof. The hurricanes will cause alot of flooding so make sure that your not in a flood plain and that the yard has good drainage. I guess crawl spaces give you a little extra height in a flood but really no house is setup to withstand flood water especially fast moving water hitting a house. Overall people make a much bigger deal out of hurricanes I've been in the area for 18 years and Fran was the only one that did major damage to the area. Honestly I look froward to hurricanes it means that there will be plenty of local whitewater kayaking to be had.

[MikeJaquish]

i agree with Dan. Hurricanes aren't a real issue in the Triangle.

[OmegaBaby]

I also agree. We're never going to get a hurricane here that's strong enough to blow down a house. But we will get hurricanes strong enough to blow a tree down onto your house. And I doubt anyone builds houses strong enough to withstand trees

[ajgranda]

Thanks, I'll just make sure its not built on a flood plain.

[PDXmom]

Originally Posted by jbognar

But we will get hurricanes strong enough to blow a tree down onto your house.

My folks live in Eastern NC (about 2 miles from the Atlantic). Dad is a native. And over the years folks there have figured out ways to get the trees to fall away from their homes. Of course they have many acres as opposed to .30 so I don't know if you could get away with this in the Triangle. But he attaches chains to heavy farm equiptment and the Pine trees so that they fall away from the house if the wind is hard enough. He usually only worries about Pines. I think they are surface feeders?? I know people here in Oregon who live along the Columbia Gorge who have done similar things by chainning fir trees to the ground... so if the wind blows it over the tree falls away from the home. Dad was lucky with Fran. Lost all the Pines in the immediate yard but none fell on the house. Of course, Mom hated that she lost the shade but was glad she didn't loose the house.

Just make sure you don't chain the trees to your neighbor's car or home.

[JustChar]

PDX mom - I agree - pine trees do NOT hold up well in hurricanes. When I was little we lived in Pembroke MA (near Boston) when Hurricane Donna came through. My mom, my two sisters and I were in a single story house with no basement, on 2 acres. We had 19 pine trees on the property and 1 big oak, at least my mom said it was an oak, 20 feet from our kitchen. With all the winds, my mom was really worried about that darn old oak falling on the house. We set on the floor in the hall for hours. The next morning when we went outside, the oak was still standing along with 3 of the pine trees. Two of them in front of the house were snapped off in the middle like a match stick, one tree was accross the front door, and all the other were on the ground everywhere. They hired someone to come and cut up all the fallen pines, it was very depressing with only 4 trees on the 2 acres. We moved to Brockton in the spring and guess what - no trees on our 1/4 acre.