Hurricane Resistant Homes
North Carolina-based prefab home builder, Deltec, has designed a home that can withstand even the strongest hurricane. It was designed so that families displaced by these catastrophic storms can have some peace of mind as they evacuate, that they’ll be returning to their home in one piece.
Deltec has built over 5,000 hurricane proof homes over the past 50 years that have withstood storms as bad as Katrina and the even more recent, Harvey, Irma, and Maria. 100 percent of Deltec homes have survived these storms and many more due to its unique design, but how does it work?
How does it work?
Deltec homes drew their circular structure inspiration from a wheel, with spokes extending from the center of each home to help reenforce the walls. The walls are built with Southern Yellow Pine wood, one of the strongest woods available which adds to the structural integrity of the homes, and the roof pitch is optimized at 6/12 to deflect the high winds and reduce lifts.
With the circular shape, the high winds that come with hurricanes can’t build up enough pressure on any side to cause a structural failure like on traditionally built houses. Deltec homes disperse the energy from the wind instead of building it up in a single area. It also transfers the environmental loads more efficiently throughout the structure because of the circular shape.
Deltec also reinforces the windows with impact glass that prevent wind and water from getting inside your home and causing even more damage. With the passive solar design, and through appropriate placement of windows, these homes can heat and cool the building as well as provide uninterrupted hot water even during the storm.
Thousands of people around the world have been satisfied with the quality of the homes that Deltec has provided. From the Bahamas, all the way across the United States of America and in even more countries around the world.
“Most commonly people may lose a shingle, five shingles, off of one of the ridges of the home,” explains Steve Linton, the president of Deltec, “It’s sort of intuitive that the wind is going to flow around it,” he continues, “the physics of that essentially mean that about 30% less wind pressure builds up on the outside of the Deltec home than on a rectangular home.”
