This tornado/water spout hit this coastal home and the ENTIRE ROOF came off in one sweep. How in the world did that happen when homes next to the coast have special building codes that should prevent this. It's as if the home was built with some seriously shoddy roof construction.

Tornado Footage

It looked as if the center of rotation passed directly over the house that lost its roof. Would be difficult to have a building system that could reasonably resist those forces. Notice that the homes to either side kept their roof structure.

Maybe that is why they call them "Hurricane Ties" versus "Tornado/Waterspout Ties"?

It's weird on how the roof lifted off all in one piece, it didn't break apart into sections. I would still like to know what kind of construction techniques were used on that roof.

There's no way to tell how old that house is- strict coastal building rules have only been enforced in recent years. The roof of our 1981 house in FL is simply toenailed on. I don't think you can tornado-proof a house. After Hurricane Andrew in south FL, they found a huge chunk of concrete with re-bar sticking out of it, evidently from an embedded tornado. I don't think Simpson makes a connector for THAT!

Posted By jdebree on 13 May 2012 06:56 PM
There's no way to tell how old that house is- strict coastal building rules have only been enforced in recent years. The roof of our 1981 house in FL is simply toenailed on. I don't think you can tornado-proof a house. After Hurricane Andrew in south FL, they found a huge chunk of concrete with re-bar sticking out of it, evidently from an embedded tornado. I don't think Simpson makes a connector for THAT!

Agreed, no home is 100% tornado proof (Except for an underground bunker). Advancements in technology and engineering has made safer & stronger homes very possible.

Just like with cars, engineering advancements have made them safer. Simpson designed and engineered a 7-story wood framed building that was placed on a rack table that simulated a 7.0 quake. It passed without any structural damage.

Hurricane straps on roofs make a HUGE difference when uplift forces are applied. Without them, the nails simple slide right out of the wood and the roof becomes airborne.

From the way the "box" peeled away after the roof lifted, I'm wondering if this is some type of modular home. Possibly the roof was constructed on the ground and lift in place by cranes.

Most of the buildings in GrandIsle are camps that were built on the weekends by DIY's. That structure could have been 20 or 30 years old. The newer stuff should be up to codes but not the old stuff.

Once again, Lbear, if there was an economic or public health reason for building a roof that would not take wing, as in your video, you'd find tougher building codes and skyhigh insurance rates in tornado country. The reason you don't is because there is no economic or health reason. Louisiana averaged 37 tornadoes a year in the 20 years ending 2010. http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/severeweather/tornadoes.html Even in Texas, with 155 a year, the chances of a tornado scoring a direct hit on you is right up there with winning the lottery. If tornadoes happened every day, the Weather Channel would have network or affiliate film rather than YouTube. But then they wouldn't post the video because tornadoes wouldn't be news.

I'm not sure what you hope to accomplish as the Chicken Little of GreenbuildingTalk unless it's to sell more ICF. Still waiting for the YouTube film of an ICF tornado survivor.
T

Posted By toddm on 09 Aug 2012 06:13 PM
Once again, Lbear, if there was an economic or public health reason for building a roof that would not take wing, as in your video, you'd find tougher building codes and skyhigh insurance rates in tornado country. The reason you don't is because there is no economic or health reason. Louisiana averaged 37 tornadoes a year in the 20 years ending 2010. http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/severeweather/tornadoes.html Even in Texas, with 155 a year, the chances of a tornado scoring a direct hit on you is right up there with winning the lottery. If tornadoes happened every day, the Weather Channel would have network or affiliate film rather than YouTube. But then they wouldn't post the video because tornadoes wouldn't be news.

My post was about the damage the tornado did to the roof/roof anchoring and it had nothing to do with ICFs. Unfortunately, due to your vitriolic mindset and emotionally charged rants, you are making comments that have nothing to do with the thread at hand. Not to mention, the above post is filled with strawman arguments. Go back and read my post instead of not reading it and responding with completely unrelated gibberish.