I partially agree with you. If you watched the first part, I said that concrete is the correct approach... We all know reinforced concrete is the best method. Now how do you suppose we break the barrier of creating reinforced concrete homes that are affordable for the average consumer? How do you suppose we build a workforce that can produce reinforced concrete homes starting today when wood construction today is also struggling to meet the demands? If reinforced concrete construction became the standard today, the costs to produce the materials, the labor costs, and the design fees for engineers & architects to plan & provide drawings would skyrocket. How do you cover for that? It's extremely easy to point out the superior material... but nobody can or has made a dispute to any of the logistic & economical downfalls of reinforced concrete construction that makes it STILL a less likely solution that the average person would use today. So should we look for other ways that have been backed & tested to provide more protection and have a much better chance of withstanding a tornado with damage that can be repaired? Or is it just reinforced concrete or bust?
@@JthaEngineer I’m from New Orleans. Growing up we never had tornadoes. Now it’s happening on a year. The prevalence of tornadoes and hurricanes due to climate change will make the cost worth it. I live in Japan where earthquakes happen every day. A concrete house holds a lot more resale value than a typical wooden house. How man multi million dollar wooden homes were destroyed in California wild fires? It’s a no brainer. Why are we building so cheaply in the first place? You’re going to pay one way or another.
@@JthaEngineer I wouldn't say RC building is intrinsically costly than wood construction house. That's more to do with demand & supply. Look at Asia, Europe ...etc where RC is commonly in use. The cost for building is even lower than in US. If people is aware of the pros and cons of RC building and starting to use widely. I am pretty certain the cost will go down.
@@JthaEngineer using concrete block is a step. 8 inch concrete blocks are relatively cheap easy and fast to work with. Then using rebar and 100%cell fill which would take around 2 trucks of concrete for the average home and it seems like you would have a pretty good home. That being said your design is quite the improvement over the relatively lousy construction standards of today. I would suggest coupling your design with a 24 guage standing seam metal roof and using zip system sheathing instead of regular plywood for increased waterproofing since all the hard work you did would be for nought if water penetrates and causes rot. I think matt risinger has some great insights in this area however his strategies are usually far from cost effective for the average person.
I had a house built last year in Tacloban City, Philippines, where I am now retired. The Philippines is in the "Ring of Fire" so we have earthquakes and typhoons multiple times per year. The worst typhoon in the history of the world, Yolanda, touched down in Tacloban in 2013 with a 20ft surge of water from Leyte Gulf, killing 20,000 people and completely destroying nearly all the buildings in the city. So, our house is of course concrete as are all new homes. Nearly all concrete buildings use hollow blocks, not poured concrete. Ours also has rebar going through the blocks vertically and horizontally and those spaces are filled. Ours is on a 400sqm lot (1/10 acre) and the house is 2-story with a finished flat concrete roof and a medium-sized room on the roof to protect the stairs and give entrance to the roof. It can be used as a 3rd living room since we have one on each floor. And we have a 2nd floor tiled patio and a 2-car tiled carport. The total floor space is over 5000 sqft. They no longer build wooden homes here, unless you're extremely poor and then you build them out of any junk you can find. These shanties always lose their roofs in a typhoon and most are completely wiped out. Besides, good lumber is difficult to find because there isn't much of a lumber industry. Coconut lumber is the most common dimensional lumber, but is only used for shanties and scaffolding because it is the lowest quality wood. Hardwood is rare, protected, and expensive and not processed properly. Homes are built with deeply set reinforced concrete pillars with a wide cage of concrete at their base. Our home has 25 pillars. I think the depth of the pillars is 2-3 meters. Each is then connected to each other in trenches. No one builds basements here because of the high water table. The property was filled with rocks and mountain soil so it is about 1+ meters above the road. All the floors are concrete with rebar and steel decking sheets and finally tiled on top of that. We have an 8+ft high perimeter block wall on the property edge and a 3-story concrete firewall on the side of our neighbor. Our house will probably withstand any structural damage from a typhoon or an earthquake, but the windows are vulnerable.
Hello Sr, this may be a bit late, but could you tell me how good it is to live in the Philippines? What are the pros and cons? And Would you recommend it for a middle age couple ? Tnx for your time 😊
I agree, we need more education on proper concrete and brick building material use here in US. I grew up in Eastern Europe and all they have there is concrete. The only problem I saw with that is the many cracks in walls of practically all building there, a lot more maintenance is required for concrete and bricks/cinder blocks. I suppose a hybrid type of house would be better, some concrete, some steel, some wood. Maybe also changing from a square shape to a more aerodynamic and better load bearing shape would be good too. We need to experiment and make it cheap so we can use storm proof designs as the de-facto building type. Maybe we can protect homes from storms, fires, floods, and earthquakes all in one go for similar price if we build correctly from the start !
That is one of the issues building with concrete, it always cracks as it settles. Not it may crack, it most definitely will crack, whic is why its constructed with fault lines, to control whrer the cracking takes place.
I didn’t mention anything about the design of the shear walls so I’ll say something here. The 3/4 plywood is the element I used to check if the shear walls were adequate. They would need hold downs. It is logical to say the steel plate also contributes to the lateral stiffness of the building but I’ve never heard of anyone doing this in a wood building so I ignored that.
As a carpenter /builder. . I have always gone hardcore in building . Just for instance .. Granted its not an exterior element .. When I set doors . I developed a way to set them so perfectly. By using a PLS laser . Checking for floor deviation ,then primary projection deviation in the plumb of the four points of frame .Then setting the door with extreme accuracy by tracing an anchored hinge . The using glue on the shims ,dovetail nailing at slight opposing angles and 3" tempered steel screws through the hinges and all locations . When done . . I slam the door violently . Hopeing to break the trim free and knocking the stop off .. The house will move before the door does .. I pity remodelers in the future that try to remodel one of my homes .. Pertaining to framing ..I have many rules .. " Gather strength whenever you can " It can be in nailing patterns . The application of glues , The lacing together opportunities of framing members . Analysing the wood for weakness . When the video started .. Even before the word was uttered .. " Concrete !!! " ... In frame . Low slope roofs act like wings and create high and low pressure uplift . 90 degree corners create vortices and unequally distributed wind loads . The uplift and load pathways need the be continuously bonded to the base . Nature seems to be the greatest engineer .. I guess the best structure would be one that is cylindrical that creates no eddy . And better a bubble that can take forces in all directions .. But bubble houses don't seem to be what people want Lol . I build mansions and the customers want detail . Many have safe rooms in the event of a tornado or The Apocalypse . I have thought before " Well it might take a few days to unearth you with all that rubble atop " .. I guess the goal is . To make it more durable in an F5 . Instead of watching the house sucked off the foundation and clinging to the pipes in a central bathroom
If you want a tornado proof home Pumicecrete is by far the best building material on the planet Pumicecrete is a mixture of pumice cement and water mixed and poured into a set of reusable forms walls are poured from 12"to to 25" thick pumicecrete is fireproof termite proof rust rot and mold proof non toxic and has a high R value and good sound attenuation solid poured walls means no critters can live in your walls Pumicecrete can be built for a fraction of the cost and time and pumice is one of the few building materials that can go directly from the mine to the job site ready to use without any additional possessing and zero waste Take care Ray
I have thought long about this. I grew up in Kansas. My idea for a home is simple. A single ridge home down the middle. about 20 feet wide, and XX amount of feet long. Whatever you need, want, or can afford. The basement is where you and your family live. The walls of the basement are ICF to keep you warm and cool. The ICF walls support the ground level of the house. The basement has an inner wall of concrete block that is filled with cement and reinforced with rebar of course. There are bolts sticking up out of the concrete. Installation of large steel plate spanning the basement is a simple matter but costly. Bolt the plate down to the concrete walls. This forms the ceiling which nothing can get through. Since it is level with the ground, you are safe. All valuables are stored in the basement. And all bedrooms are in the basement. Ground floor is where you store things that can be replaced. Like the kitchen stuff, the tv, the cars, the dishes and dining table. The tools in the garage. Everything important lives in the basement. Obviously you will need to have evacuation ability in each room. in case of fire. Good air circulation, and double sump pumps to ensure no flooding with easy access to repair them. Bathrooms in the basement with showers. And a kitchenette. People don't like the idea, because you don't get alot of sunlight in the basement. I vote for safety while sleeping. A tornado at 3 am during a new moon and pitch black storm clouds is not my idea of a fun game of guess where the twister is at.
Double sump pumps are great, the only problem is electricity is the first to go. Do you have an underground generator with tall snorkels to get air and let the exhaust out? Do you have enough battery to keep the pumps going and the air circulating? I’ve gone through many hurricane's laced with tornados. My house is fairly hurricane resistant going 25 years with little damage, watching neighbors houses have major damage. Florence came along, a cat. 1 with lots of little tornados. One of those tornados tore of a section of roof and let the water in. I had major damage from the water and then from mold since the rain didn’t end for weeks. It isn’t just the wind, it’s everything else working together in completely unpredictable ways that get you.
If you have a shovel you can make your home tornado proof. Earth berm it and you can stay above grade. No tornados ever have been digging holes in the ground. Second, build a monolithic concrete dome. If you use basalt rebar, that concrete will never explode from rust- it will last forever. Just use shotcrete on an airform. It will qualify for a bomb shelter.
OK, but this falls short. It's interesting, but continue the exploration. We build in California earthquake country, & I'm moving to the Florida coast with high humidity and hurricanes. Our projects are Net Zero Energy, Passiv Haus, kind of high-performance stuff. With what you propose, what's the energy profile here? Many of these structural systems kill energy performance. Look deeper. Solve this as a "system", not just a lowly turf war. Don't kill one in favor of another. A house is a system. Water condenses on steel surfaces. Make sure these ideas don't kill any of the 3 barriers (water, air, thermal). Otherwise, it's just jaw-boning. After-all, if it doesn't last, it doesn't matter.
This is awesome information! I am someone crazy paranoid, just on a windy day. (Been in 3 tornadoes and 3 micro bursts in the past 10 years). Given how unexpected and unpredictable, we have decided to construct our own home. We are no more than in the planning stages. But one part of the plan thus far, is the foundation. I am old school and prefer pier and beam. Current plan is concrete piers going 6-8 foot deep into the ground (central texas), the beam will be steel I beams anchored to the piers. (Oh and where the footings of the walls cross over the I beam, they will be anchored all the way though the steel beam. I have been planning a part of the house to be concrete, but after seeing this, may look into steel sheathing under the OSB. I am personally planning to build this house, but will bring in contractors to help complete the foundation, insulation (spray), etc. Thanks for the info!
I am a Swiss architect looking into tornado proof housing, because last month, we had our very first (!) tornado with huge damage in Germany. I find your project very interesting, and if I would be living in the US, I probably would do the same as you plan to do now. However I stumbled over the last part of it: spray insulation, and I would like to share my experience. In Switzerland we have quite a few regulations on our building material. Spray insulation is on the black list, partly because it can crumble after some years, particularly when exposed to heat, and partly because the gas used for spraying is poisonous to the environment. Also a house insolated with sprayfome is not breathing anymore, together with highly insulated windows that can cause mildew to grow inside your house. Styrofoam has the same problems and is also highly inflammable. There are other materials for insolation, for the most part here we use glasfibre mats (don‘t forget wearing masks and gloves). There are also new materials like hemp or sheep wool, that could be looked into. They need to be protected from dampness though. It is always possible that you have a different kind of spray foam, however I would do some research, if you want to build a high quality home. It would be a pity, if one part of it was not up to standard. Insulation is difficult to replace without a lot of work 😉. I wish you luck and a lot of energy for your project!
The choice between pier, perimeter, and slab also depend on site soil type. Pier in sand is difficult unless you're just going to dig out the whole area because of how hole edges fall in. But it'd work in clay very nicely.
Hey Jay, again awesome content, congrats on thinking outside the norm, I'm an ICF builder in Australia 🇦🇺, trying to be better with a passive home using self healing, green concrete, but you have touched an idea I've had for those difficult sites on sloping hills nearby stormy ocean storms but have almost impossible access for heavy equipment, by implementing your design although light weight but easier to carry into a site up a hill with lighter equipment, where we can use screw piles to anchor the footings to the hill then booker rods ( threaded bar) from footings to top plate spaced evenly, then tie down the roof at the booker rods as well there for ancohing the roof through to the screw piles, I'd be interested in a detail that I could adapt to the Australian standards, thanks mate for the inspiration. 😀👍🇦🇺 🇦🇺 🇦🇺
I’m not sure this response is in line with what you’re describing but I’ll give it a quick shot. I think if you lined up the wall studs with the roof framing and used a heavy duty metal fastener to tie the roof directly to the stud, you’d still have a complete load path that would take those forces right down to the foundation.
Some of what you describe was used 100+ years ago... I live in a 1914 foursquare, the main floor is approx. 30" above ground level. The walls are sheathed in 1"×6" "ship lap", which is also used as subfloor. The walls are and structural lumber is southern yellow pine, which is as hard as iron. On top of that, the siding was wood also which contributed to it's strength...
Compare this to "modern" construction where the walls are sometimes sheathed in 3/4" or 1" foam insulation board and covered in either vinyl or aluminum siding!
U know whats pretty funny theres a company out there called Bamcore that make prefab walls that do a really good job stopping 2x4's shoved into bamboo panel walls @ 60mph, idk if they work at 100MPH+ but it think its prettty dang cool in building more structurally sound homes. Bamboo imo is a severely underrated construction material.
My family's business made blast doors, blast dampers, hurricane louvers, etc. Made a launcher heaved a 10' 2x4 @ 100+ mph for internal testing. Fun times.
The answer is to build houses underground. The cooling and heating expenses are eliminated. Geothermal is the way to go. Shipping containers maybe a great prefabbed material.
Lessons learned from 200+mph tornado damage. We were in the house. I'm trying to rebuild a stronger house. Straps over top plate broke. Roofs system all gone and half of top plate gone. 90% of wiring gone . You can build for wind resistance and projectiles such as 2 x 4s. But building for the impact of a mobile home frame, or a 4 x 6 or 6x6 piece 5 or 6 feet long steel fence post. Ceiling fan motors. These things beat the hell out of my house. 40 space seimens 200 amp load center pull through brick wall along with studs it was attached to along with it. Beams 10 to 15 foot long from porches and carports moving fast through the air . Is it even possible to build to resist that type of projectiles. I'm building back as strong as I possibly can. My advise is build as strong as you can but make sure you have storm shelter or super strong safe room to get into to ride it out. Whipping winds at 200 + mph is one but what that wind is blowing with it is a game changer. We were in a fiberglass tub shower combo all fasteners pulled through fiberglass and unit lifted up about 3 inches. If I had steel ball for a house it would have a safe room. I saw things and took pictures of things that put chills down my spine. The stronger the better. The safe room needs to be in the plan. We took a direct hit from core of 2-1/4 mile wide EF 4 on 4 /12/2020 and 2 and a half minutes of violent destruction unimaginable and you're along for the ride weather you like it or not until its over. Homes are expensive and important. But first and foremost of all make sure the people that mean the most to you will survive . You can replace or repair the house. Have a plan to be alive and well to see it happen. Just my opinion from past experience. I learned some hard lessons that afternoon in South Mississippi. Easter Sunday will never be the same. Thankful to be able to get out on our own 2 feet battered and bruised and alive
Don’t forget Hurricane strapping - goes over the roof and has strong connects to the foundation. Required in Florida I believe. If you build to at least places that have the worst hurricanes and the worst tornados - you have a better chance. Now - some of the numbers I have seen and heard - it is more money up front but not that much. It’s my understanding you are talking $5-15,000 more depending on how over these top you go. Right now 2022 anything is ridiculously expensive. I would imagine if you live where much is standard code because of the billions of dollars of damage overall per event - it would be less than building somewhere that never sees a hurricane or rarely tornado. They just don’t build to that level so it’s just beyond understanding and see going to cost you big-time. Look at the building codes of those seriously impacted multiple times over the last 10 years like Texas, Florida, Nebraska, etc. etc. They may help somewhat in what you want. For example in Florida’s high impact of by the ocean type facilities ie hurricane resistant windows and doors. They are heavy and feel like commercial but they must have proper framing. Doesn’t do any good to have this triple panel high impact glass with a 2x4 or 2x6 wood stud. The framework has to standup. The other thing with tornado proof homes - they need to get the pressure issue right. The home might stand up to the winds but it’s the pressure of tornado that blows it apart.
The attached garage is a huge culprit in tornado damaged homes. The failure of the weakest point is the garage door, once it goes the wind has the ability to lift up on the roof and once the roof goes the structure is too far compromised and it collapses!
Not always... in a strong tornado if the house is blown off the foundation, unless you are under something reinforced you are still exposed to flying & falling debris. In the Parkersburg Iowa EF-5, one person was killed in their basement when a pickup truck was dropped on them!
@@timnewman1172 I watched that storm from Prairie Du Chien. That unfortunate death proves that tornados kill. We know that. But they rarely kill multiple people where there are basements, compared to those areas where there aren't. Similar strength tornados almost always take more lives where the houses are slab on grade.
Thank you for your information, I've been working with RC structures for the past 40 years in many countries in Asia and Africa, Tornado resistance homes are really needed in the RED zone. I think upper-middle-income family homes will be a good choice while affordable housing is not. The challenging issue is how to convert an existing house into Tornado cat 5 resistance. It's something I am working on for the past 10 months and the results are promising. Reinforced Concrete is the most feasible and economical solution.
There are also ICFs, insulated concrete forms. I built one bedroom on our house to withstand a tornado. Used standard 8" concrete block. Foundation goes into the ground 4', every fifth vertical core is grouted with rebar and there are five horizontal bond beams. There is a standard 2x4 wall with hardi-board siding on the exterior so the walls are one foot thick. the roof is 3/4" plywood with steel gussets along the seams. Windows are glass block. It's just one room, not very big but super strong. The rest of the house is stronger than average, I hand nailed all of it with good size nails and plenty of them. Used some screws but they are hardened and can snap. A lot of builders skimp on fasteners. Used lots of steel strapping also. Another thing I did was not use J bolts to fasten sills. I embedded heavy angle iron into the block foundation and bolted them through the rim joists. It's a much stronger connection.
Instead of building the whole house like a safe room, couldn't you just build a safe room as a usable space and build the rest so that it doesn't blow away, but you just patch holes? You'll be replacing windows anyway. So build it for the wind forces, not debris per se. That red area has to deal with a lot of water and hail that comes with the thunderstorms that create the tornadoes, but at the same time it's hot and dry in the summer, so maybe v2 can be fire resistant too? Use metal roofs, fiber cement siding and Rockwool insulation. Because temperatures can be extreme, maybe also make it energy efficient so you can survive a few days without power. Oh, and make it affordable 😂
Ive seen brick and concrete buildings completely leveled out right down to the foundation. It’s not just about impact resistance. It’s about Wind Shear as well.
After a tornado destroyed part of our hometown back in the late 90's we built a home using icf construction back in 2000. Not only is the home wind/tornado resistant, but the R value of the walls make the home more comfortable and much easier/cheaper to heat and cool. Living in western TN having good R value is key as we truly have 4 season weather here with 100+degree summers while during the winters lows can dip into the low teens or even single digits. My utility bills average about the same as a modern stick-built home that is less than 1/2 the size of our icf home.
Jay, The reason Concrete is not used in residential construction, is because it is considered a water retainer (Like Brick). There is already a Tornado and Hurricane proof building method in existence today, which can replace current stick framing. That method is Structurally Insulated Panels (SiPs). Test have proven time and again, SiPs can withstand the 100mph stud test. Further, there is a newer plastic, which if used as the sheeting on SiPs or stick frame, can withstand extreme tornado damage. Its the base material used to calibrate the stud cannons, engineers use to test wall structures. SiPs are the answer to replacing stick framing for home construction, they tick off all the necessary boxes for strength as well as high energy performance. Look into that method of construction. My question would be, why have we not replaced glass windows with Lexan, its far stronger and its impact resistant. Government does not care about Individual Residential construction. Its focus is upon housing masses of people in one space (I calk them ant farms). This allows the government to Control ... However massing people into small, joined spaces, is the worst idea, as it sets people on edge continually, because their privacy erodes. Humans need private space .... Your thinking correct.... just consider SiPs
Lexan is soft and scratches just from washing it. Layered up with glass and acrylic is now bullet proof glass that will work great but very expensive. Also needs to be replaced after an impact.
This is hilarious saying that Concrete is going to hold water when OSB in your sips is worse than a sponge. Icf is the answer and if done properly is not holding any water whatsoever.
that's interesting! but you didnt make it very clear where the metal goes. if you can specify 12-14ga steel as exterior cladding/roofing, then it could theoretically work, though be quite expensive, possibly more expensive than rolling the dice with the low probability of tornado hitting you. steel siding and roofing is usually 26-31ga steel. you could probably find a cheaper alternative with different geometry (at a minimum, corrugated metal and foam may have crush/piercing resistances that are much higher than flat materials). i would actually probably want to see a kevlar-like housewrap in this situation. it's very likely that two layers of standard steel stucco netting would to the job as well.
I tried to install cable TV in a house that would have been tornado proof. After drilling for most of an hour I got to the end of my 18” masonry bit and still wasn’t through. The house was a small square with only one window and a door like a safe. It was built in the 50’s to be atom bomb proof. The builder built a couple of them and stopped because nobody wanted to buy them. It was a very ugly house, more like a pillbox than living quarter’s. It was in a part of NY that does’t get tornados. I don’t know if they ever got their cable installed, I just turned the job back in and got hollered at. It had no basement and sat flat on the ground. You could drive past the place and never know it was there. When you are designing just realize that people have to want to buy it and be able to live in it.
You are brilliant. Building with reinforced concrete block should not be that much more expensive. YOU could offer the expertise to any gc to do it right. The GC just needs to hire 4 min wage workers with green cards, as I assume like in my area, the chance of finding anyone born in the USA willing to work concrete for even 2x min wage is non existant. I can't even find them to carry sacks for cash. Any rate. you need rebar sticking out of footings a few feet up through CMU cells, thats an upgrade to foundation but any foundation gc can handle the extra rebar work no problem or you shouldn't trust any work to them. After that, you teach the min wage workers how to tie rebars together and instruct them to put in 2x as many ties as needed and photograph each one. There's the way you ensure quality. It's a secret, shhhhh. Then teach them to shovel concrete into cells and rodding it. The mason should know how to install horizontal reinforcement so all you need do is tell him to put it in EVERY course and provide him 2 of those min wage workers to carry the extra horizontal reinforcing, align it with all the rebar sticking up and slide it down over it. Heh, that does take time, time is money. Another worker will be needed to lift the CMU up over the tops of the rebars and hold it while the mason does the mortar work. The fourth min wage worker is running the mixer mixing concrete all day. The solid steel sheet is something I didn't know. I have to look up sometime if multiple layers of expanded mesh might work too, also doing two 2x4 walls with offest studs to cut energy transfer. Like Siding, air barrier, expanded lath, plywood, expanded lath, 2x4, rock wool, expanded lath, air barrier, plywood, expanded lath, fiberglass insulation, wiring, conduit, ducts, etc., and the drywall. It's a lot more layers, thus a lot more labor, but it's pretty much unskillied labor, light materials. I'd have to consider screwing through 12 ga steel sheet to be a specialty skill and require specialty fasteners. The siding metal interface might also create a good deal of moisture buildup one way in summer, the other in winter, requiring a really air tight wall assembly to keep moisture vapor out of wall cavity, and with electrical boxes etc set into wall, it's just not going to every be air tight. Hope maybe just one person finds this and it helps them. I live outside of tornado country.
Given that we haven't had a tornado in decades, where I'm from, I never knew about what kind of research had been done in this field. Interesting stuff. I'd suggest that shutters for the windows would be a good idea, though. Sorta like what you'd see on really old houses, but strong enough to withstand those impacts. Much faster to close than to temporarily screw sheet metal to your window frames.
well...seems a "tornado-resistant" ROOM would be, you know...AFFORDABLE. And, better-suited to Designs that most-folks would actually PAY-for to Own. Say...Jay, do YOU live in such a structure, hmmmmmmm??? :-)))
I was thinking just pay to get a steel-frame house, with steel roof & cladding. And then finish the inside of it in a kinda unique way. Outer layer is the steel cladding, then lay 4x4x8 concrete brick (easy to make yourself in molds) inside... leaving an 8" gap to the outer steel cladding. Build up the brick a little over 2 feet, fill the gap with styro-crete (cement with styrene pellets for aggregate). Then repeat until you're all the way up. Styro-crete can only be poured about 2 feet vertically at a time. The outer cladding and inner brick form the pour void, and styrocrete is not heavy. It's an often overlooked building material because it uses cement, but is too weak to be used structurally. But it is _extremely_ robust compared to typical insulation materials, weatherproof, termite-proof, very mold resistant, and very fire resistant (if the mix is right). Steel cladding is a little boring for aesthetics, but you could add stucco or brick veneer or cedar, etc. in areas of the outside, season to taste. Similarly inside, you could paint the brick, cover it with paneling, whatever tickles your fancy for style. Final wall thickness is 1ft. (22 gauge steel, then 8" of styrocrete, then 4" of concrete brick wall). Looking at an insulative R-value of about 30, slightly less where the steel framing supports are. This is admittedly pretty thick, but it offers a lot of benefits for the square footage cost. The steel siding has a high "reflectivity" which affects heating & cooling, but is not calculated in R-values. And the brick inner wall has a high "thermal mass" which is also not calculated in R-value testing, but can dramatically affect heating/cooling (especially if it's _inside_ an insulation layer). Also, the styrocrete is a 'void-filler, so it will seal things up very thoroughly. With thermal mass & reflectivity, I would expect it to perform like it has something more like R50 insulation, though strictly speaking it would be around 30. Also, styrocrete, while not especially good for tensile strength, is very rigid, about on par with wood for compressive (not tensile though). It'd give a lot of reinforcement to the steel outer cladding, and anything which pokes through the steel would have a very difficult time pressing through the styrocrete. I would expect (not tested) that it would probably stop 7.62, let alone a mere 2x4 going 100mph. The siding won't want to be peeled away by wind, as it's fastened to the steel frame, and then laminated against the styrocrete. You'd want a relatively low-slope for the roof, as that is more aerodynamic, and makes the angle of impact more favorable vs flying debris. I was thinking to have a double-roof on the south slope, with a substantial overhang, and rising a bit past the main roof peak to shade the north slope. That would be for making heating/cooling still more easy, but it wouldn't be very aerodynamic. So I would think that you'd just let a tornado pull that upper roof away if you get hit, leaving the protruding steel framework for it. And then just re-roof that floating upper roof if you get hit. You'd still have a weatherproof roof under it, it's more of a whole-house awning to help make the house passive or near-passive in terms of energy needs. At 1 & 1/2 stories, steel framing would laugh at earthquakes. The structure should be fireproof, inside & out (depending on how you finish interior walls), termites have nothing to eat, it's not made out of mold fertilizer, and it should withstand a direct hit from a tornado with only a need for new windows and floating awning-roof. Also, with a list of other considerations in design, it'd be passive or near-passive for heating/cooling. You could probably drive a truck into it a wall with minimal harm. Not necessarily cost-effective. But I'd seek to recoup a lot from substantial DIY in the building, and long term energy needs.
* Building to survive an the center of an EF5 is way, way harder than building to survive the center of an EF1 or the outer periphery of an EF5; The odds of ever seeing 200mph wind force are so minimal you may as well be talking about comet-proofing your home. * The actual building standards for the center of the country appear to have zero concern for Tornado Alley due to the rarity of even an EF1 hitting a building. Instead, hurricanes are the focus. * Those windows being there invalidate the entire approach in practice. * The FORTIFIED Home standards provide a guideline already for dramatically improving wind rating of a wood structure itself, very inexpensively. It mostly comes down to mandating fully sheathed walls, some gable end reinforcement (and eliminating seams in cathedral ceilings), and a tight nailing pattern everywhere. The only expensive part is windows, and we could deal with that in the case of hurricanes using storm shutters.
I think ICF construction is the best and most effective way to go. The double 3/4 plywood and steel will easily put your costs into the price range of ICF. " has been determined that using ICF wall construction generally adds about 3 to 5 percent to the total purchase price of a typical wood- frame home and land …" "When comparing the cost of building a stick frame home to an ICF home, an additional $2 to $4 is added per square foot to the ICF home, according to the U.S. …"
Thank you for the video and the analysis and explanation. I was under the impression that STORM cellars existed for many years in the midwest for just this reason. The fact that they do not seem as "popular" today as in times past always seemed baffling to me. I do like your VERY robust design. My personal desire was always to have a home that was underground or at the VERY least substantially earth berm construction. I would never build in a flood plain so that was never, ever an issue to my mind. I still do not comprehend why folks insist on living below flood grade. New Orleans may have a rich history but it seems extremely foolish to count on "government planning and maintenance" for you existence day-to-day insofar as you can simply choose ***not*** to live in that risk prone an area. Peaceful Skies.
3:41 - Tornado's don't really 'suck' up buildings, it's rather the pressure difference between inside and outside the house that makes the roof BLOW off, just by the sheer air pressure inside the house. It's vital to have rooftiles that contain air pressure equalizers to keep the difference as low as possible.
I imagine that windows - and garage doors in particular, lots of single car garage homes get absolutely blown up by tornados - are the weak points when it comes to that pressure differential causing the explosive removal of roofs. As you said, some sort of air pressure equalizer for the roof/attic space would be absolutely necessary. My home is a 1920s brick/block home with deeply inset windows. I wonder if some sort of system of shutters which are capable of withstanding that pressure (some sort of seal perhaps?) would also help isolate the interior of a home from that huge pressure differential while also surviving 130-200mph wind and debris.
Man if you look at that Andover Kansas video from 2022 it sure looks like the houses are getting “sucked up.” Ultimately suction is just pressure differential where low pressure of the tornado is “pulling” on the lower atmosphere/ objects on the ground.
If you understand how they form you'd go with stuff being sucked up. As the funnel forms it doesn't touch down until a port opens behind the funnel. Just like any vacuum it won't suck unless it's ported, when this hole opens up it becomes ported and voila you have suction. It's nature's vacuum
Wouldn’t a 8x4 sheet of 12 gauge steel be very heavy and somewhat dangerous to install? I do heavy gauge framing for commercial buildings. 6” flat stock can cut you pretty easy and even at lower gauges bends a lot when handling it. Seems like it would be difficult to handle a full 4x8 sheet of it.
I've seen thick log homes in TN and MS go through some bad tornadoes. The log homes survived wonderfully. The insides looked like a standard home with sheetrock inside. Their standard truss roofs did not survive. So, either they improve that with straps and tie downs, use logs for flat roofing, or use precast concrete beams with rebar. I reckon it would then survive.
my double wide mobile home withstood hurricane Michael a category 5 hurricane and we had a heavy duty metal roof installed which with stood an EF 2 tornado that cam over it. It has 2 x 2 trusses on 16 inch centers and 5 1/2 studs. An impact knocked out two studs in the main bathroom. All the old siding had holes everywhere. the manufacturer did not use house wrap...that should be illegal. windows were single pain which should have been illegal. There are some corners that just should not be skipped over to save money.
Doesn’t a 4x8 12g sheet weigh like 100lbs and cost a quite a bit of money? I wonder what impact resistant plastics could be used. Might be lighter/cheaper. Likely much thicker for same resistance and need protection from UV (would want siding over it as well).
The forces involved in building destruction are. Blow in Blow out Blow off. Blow in, the pressure against a wall causing to collapse inwards. Blow out, like the sudden depressurisation of a plane a vast difference between the internal pressure and external pressure results in windows and walls being pushed out. Blow off, air rushing over the roof can create lift pull it up to be caught by the wind and ripped off. All these can be compensated for by fairly minor and often unseen design changes. Fold down eaves that can be anchored in the down position by cables to the ground would prevent blow off. Walls with buttress sections that increase side load capacity would prevent blow in. Special panels that act as valves opening inwards or outwards to vent pressure would mitigate blow out. All these minor changes would increase construction costs by about thirty percent at most and would reduce the risk of a building collapse in both storm and seismic events. With the exception of cows flying through the walls or the earth opening up these changes would save most homes.
Ok so homes in Florida r made of concrete we had a hurricane with winds of 130 mph and the wall did not fall. So I don't know if a tornado would be any different I don't know that one, I've never been thru a tornado.
I would bet that if you use a tie strap on every stud and Miami code to design your roof fastening and roof structure that it would hold those wall and roof panels in place. Two other considerations you should make. First, the garage. It should not be attached, or at least it should be able to tear away w/o wrecking the house's storm performance. Second, windows and doors There are windows and doors designed to withstand hurricane blown debris. Most of the windows are 3 or 4 pane windows with a polycarbonate layer in the middle that can stop things like your 100mph 2x4. The doors are usually steel or fiberglass with small armored windows. They need a doorjamb and hinges that are stronger than normal too. It will not do much good if you get a door or window blown in and the pressure pushes the walls out. You really have to make the entire envelope strong and air tight.
We can build houses that stand up to a tornado. Nobody wants to pay the extra cost. Just like we could still build castles but nobody wants to spend the currencies too. Fyi you just build it in ground. You could also build a timber frame like many old masonry houses have. It isn't about if but people willing to pay.
Ok, I like the idea, but putting any kind of siding over that sheet metal would be a job. I think a good middle ground would be to make part of the home tornado proof and build the rest normally. Covering a whole house in sheet metal at probably over $100 a sheet would be very costly.
I would just focus on keeping the structure from collapsing. Ok, maybe use thicker sheathing or something for the outside walls, but I would guess that puncture damage isn’t a huge issue in real life. If an object punctures your wall but the building is held together with hurricane ties and other strapping plus framing to withstand uplift or wall collapse, I think you would be fine. If a piece of 2x4 puncture a wall, just fix the puncture area after the storm. Replacing some siding and one punctured piece of exterior sheathing plus a section of drywall inside isn’t a big deal. It costs way less than cladding a home in steel under the siding. That would be very costly.
@6:10 I would love to help build a model for you to test this. Modeling will require "Non Dimensionalization" and without removing the unscalable dimensions you would only be playing with model toys. Really I could use the practice.
Keep it small,the large flat surfaces start flexing in high winds then progressively weaken with each cycle. I was surprised how the smaller houses built in the sixties had damage but the larger ones were destroyed in the high winds in Port Arthur from hurricane Rita.
I was out with some friends in Houston and we drove by a new housing area, the Philipinos I was with were shocked we built with wood,, they build (smaller) with concrete blocks due to all of the storms they get. they lift the better furniture up off the ground and go 'take cover',, when they return after the storm the power wash the floor (also made of concrete) put the furniture down and go about their lives. I have been thru a lot of hurricanes and tornados. in hurricane zones they use hurricane straps on every exterior board to the seal plate and rafter. tornado zones should do the same. if you notice 'hurricane proof homes' are curved outside the home.. a lot like your car,, the wind rolls past and many of those homes are made of a styrofoam!! now of course we would want something more than styrofoam to protect us from flying boards, but you can curve plywood.. or build igloo style.
When I built I was advised not to over build . A reinforced house will rack in high winds . Insurance will replace a lost roof but a racked house although basically ruined gets little to no settlement. Put in a safe room.
Hello, this sounds I guess sort of simplistic or unrealistic, but why can't the house have a roof that extends down to the ground in case of high winds or have the home partially descend into the ground in case a tornado is coming? Is this totally impractical? I wonder
I love smart people. I would spend the money and want it to withstand whatever nature has. I would do concrete walls and a concrete flat roof. Hurricane windows with built in shutter as both decoration and additional storm protection. Hurricane,tornado and flood proof.
Yeah the Texas Tech literature is great. I feel like money would be better spent on an in-house tornado shelter given the rarity that any particular house will experience tornado-level winds.
@@JthaEngineer yes and we never instal blocking between truss and we only toe nail the trusses to the top plate. Never see anyone use any type of structural screws or metal connectors apart from joist hangers. Educating myself online is making me realize how low the quality of our houses are here.
NOTHING is tornado-proof. I've seen where a tornado pulled up the asphalt road. You can be tornado resistant up to some point, then the tornado wins. You just hope you never get hit by an F5. F5 will pick up your neighbor's house and use it as a 150 mph battering ram to take your house down. It can drive a straw though a telephone pole.
Just use ICF, guys. Lumber isn’t solution for tornado. Here, in Europe, we have home made from bricks and concrete. No problems for hundreds of years. Yes, lumber is more sustenable, but we build to last a looooong no time. Quality comes with a cost, that’s reality.
You missed the boat by not including concrete/Styrofoam hybrid blocks such as Miracle blocks, EZ blocks, etc. The ones built north of Houston have easily handled hurricanes, tornados, flooding, while being highly energy efficient and lower cost to build than wood framing.
Thanks very helpful. I planning a custom house in tornado country. And I'll likely use Insulated Concrete Forms for the walls. But I've been at a loss as to what to use for the roof and it look like a typical gable or hip roof. The testing showing 130 to 133 mph penetration gives me one option for a wood framed roof. And based on what I know from playing tank games. Angled armor is stronger from penetration than flat. So it should survive everything but a direct hit from an F5 tornado.
Regarding the cost of reinforce concrete... Explore alternative materials... Basalt has been making inroads within the construction industry.... monolithic dome with laminated structural members...
My house has a wood foundation. I am finishing the basement with a second framed wall of 2 by 6 bolted to the existing concrete pad. With further looking on line I may need to double the 2by6 and add heavy duty hurricane ties on top and metal brackets for the bottom. Realistically what else can I do to improve the strength of this inner safe room? Rebecca
There are multiple videos online showing Hurricane testing that has been done by the insurance industry, including one done by Matt Risinger. It was actually recommended to me as the next video to watch after yours. I would encourage you to look at other TH-cam videos for tornado and hurricane testing of this sort and see who else has already gone down this road.
Thank You for sharing this valuable information , and the work you put into this well done video production. it is still helping the public stay safer two years now. I am building in Florida and plan to use these methods . You are a credit to your country and your parents who raised you.
How about a concrete core structure that would withstand tornadoes and would contain bedrooms and kitchen, bathroom, laundry, all the must haves. Then construct the less necessary spaces around it with traditional wood. It the structure is hit, it's possible the storage and accessory spaces may be damaged but you could comfortably live in the concrete structure until the other structures are replaced. Of course, you could beef the stick framed areas up to try to withstand higher winds etc. but this would allow for continuous use of the property in a tornado event.
I live in Tornado country. I'm building an IFC house with a full basement, in floor heat and an overbuilt roof with rafter brackets set into the concrete.
Very interesting video with lots of research data to back it up. Just wish authorities and communities would get involved more actively in finding such solutions to tornadoes and hurricane problems that have been here for ages, rather than only focusing on reconstruction and more funding, all the time!
homes in south florida are all masonry homes and they still get destroyed by tornados. i think the reason why safe rooms work so well instead of whole house it is because they're small and compact and could bind a lot stronger. A whole home you have to worry about windows , door, garage, roof, and walls. if you dont have all of that put together the whole house can come down with increased pressure due to the heavy concrete. which in turn makes the house blow out like a bomb. edit: they work well for straight strong winds like hurricanes but tornados are twirling winds coming from all sides like a blender
Masonry has been tested and they do fail requirements for tornado resistance unless they are fully grouted & reinforced. That could be a factor. Good point about the size & scale of a shelter as opposed to a house though. Geometry is a huge factor to determine how the wind pressure acts on a building.
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Just use SR concrete 🤦🏾♂️ The wall would require nearly zero maintenance after a tornado. These walls will take damage during an impact.
I partially agree with you. If you watched the first part, I said that concrete is the correct approach... We all know reinforced concrete is the best method.
Now how do you suppose we break the barrier of creating reinforced concrete homes that are affordable for the average consumer? How do you suppose we build a workforce that can produce reinforced concrete homes starting today when wood construction today is also struggling to meet the demands? If reinforced concrete construction became the standard today, the costs to produce the materials, the labor costs, and the design fees for engineers & architects to plan & provide drawings would skyrocket. How do you cover for that?
It's extremely easy to point out the superior material... but nobody can or has made a dispute to any of the logistic & economical downfalls of reinforced concrete construction that makes it STILL a less likely solution that the average person would use today. So should we look for other ways that have been backed & tested to provide more protection and have a much better chance of withstanding a tornado with damage that can be repaired? Or is it just reinforced concrete or bust?
@@JthaEngineer I’m from New Orleans. Growing up we never had tornadoes. Now it’s happening on a year. The prevalence of tornadoes and hurricanes due to climate change will make the cost worth it. I live in Japan where earthquakes happen every day. A concrete house holds a lot more resale value than a typical wooden house. How man multi million dollar wooden homes were destroyed in California wild fires?
It’s a no brainer. Why are we building so cheaply in the first place?
You’re going to pay one way or another.
@@JthaEngineer oh and what’s the higher cost of concrete over the stronger wooden house not the typical house?
@@JthaEngineer I wouldn't say RC building is intrinsically costly than wood construction house. That's more to do with demand & supply. Look at Asia, Europe ...etc where RC is commonly in use. The cost for building is even lower than in US.
If people is aware of the pros and cons of RC building and starting to use widely. I am pretty certain the cost will go down.
@@JthaEngineer using concrete block is a step. 8 inch concrete blocks are relatively cheap easy and fast to work with. Then using rebar and 100%cell fill which would take around 2 trucks of concrete for the average home and it seems like you would have a pretty good home. That being said your design is quite the improvement over the relatively lousy construction standards of today. I would suggest coupling your design with a 24 guage standing seam metal roof and using zip system sheathing instead of regular plywood for increased waterproofing since all the hard work you did would be for nought if water penetrates and causes rot. I think matt risinger has some great insights in this area however his strategies are usually far from cost effective for the average person.
I had a house built last year in Tacloban City, Philippines, where I am now retired. The Philippines is in the "Ring of Fire" so we have earthquakes and typhoons multiple times per year. The worst typhoon in the history of the world, Yolanda, touched down in Tacloban in 2013 with a 20ft surge of water from Leyte Gulf, killing 20,000 people and completely destroying nearly all the buildings in the city. So, our house is of course concrete as are all new homes. Nearly all concrete buildings use hollow blocks, not poured concrete. Ours also has rebar going through the blocks vertically and horizontally and those spaces are filled. Ours is on a 400sqm lot (1/10 acre) and the house is 2-story with a finished flat concrete roof and a medium-sized room on the roof to protect the stairs and give entrance to the roof. It can be used as a 3rd living room since we have one on each floor. And we have a 2nd floor tiled patio and a 2-car tiled carport. The total floor space is over 5000 sqft. They no longer build wooden homes here, unless you're extremely poor and then you build them out of any junk you can find. These shanties always lose their roofs in a typhoon and most are completely wiped out. Besides, good lumber is difficult to find because there isn't much of a lumber industry. Coconut lumber is the most common dimensional lumber, but is only used for shanties and scaffolding because it is the lowest quality wood. Hardwood is rare, protected, and expensive and not processed properly. Homes are built with deeply set reinforced concrete pillars with a wide cage of concrete at their base. Our home has 25 pillars. I think the depth of the pillars is 2-3 meters. Each is then connected to each other in trenches. No one builds basements here because of the high water table. The property was filled with rocks and mountain soil so it is about 1+ meters above the road. All the floors are concrete with rebar and steel decking sheets and finally tiled on top of that. We have an 8+ft high perimeter block wall on the property edge and a 3-story concrete firewall on the side of our neighbor. Our house will probably withstand any structural damage from a typhoon or an earthquake, but the windows are vulnerable.
Hello Sr, this may be a bit late, but could you tell me how good it is to live in the Philippines? What are the pros and cons? And Would you recommend it for a middle age couple ? Tnx for your time 😊
I agree, we need more education on proper concrete and brick building material use here in US. I grew up in Eastern Europe and all they have there is concrete.
The only problem I saw with that is the many cracks in walls of practically all building there, a lot more maintenance is required for concrete and bricks/cinder blocks.
I suppose a hybrid type of house would be better, some concrete, some steel, some wood.
Maybe also changing from a square shape to a more aerodynamic and better load bearing shape would be good too.
We need to experiment and make it cheap so we can use storm proof designs as the de-facto building type.
Maybe we can protect homes from storms, fires, floods, and earthquakes all in one go for similar price if we build correctly from the start !
That is one of the issues building with concrete, it always cracks as it settles. Not it may crack, it most definitely will crack, whic is why its constructed with fault lines, to control whrer the cracking takes place.
There was a great video on why US is choosing to build wooden houses. The TLDR is that they are cheaper to build AND INSURE.
I didn’t mention anything about the design of the shear walls so I’ll say something here.
The 3/4 plywood is the element I used to check if the shear walls were adequate. They would need hold downs. It is logical to say the steel plate also contributes to the lateral stiffness of the building but I’ve never heard of anyone doing this in a wood building so I ignored that.
That steel plate was armor. Pure and simple. The plywood is the shear element.
As a carpenter /builder. . I have always gone hardcore in building . Just for instance .. Granted its not an exterior element .. When I set doors . I developed a way to set them so perfectly. By using a PLS laser . Checking for floor deviation ,then primary projection deviation in the plumb of the four points of frame .Then setting the door with extreme accuracy by tracing an anchored hinge . The using glue on the shims ,dovetail nailing at slight opposing angles and 3" tempered steel screws through the hinges and all locations . When done . . I slam the door violently . Hopeing to break the trim free and knocking the stop off .. The house will move before the door does .. I pity remodelers in the future that try to remodel one of my homes .. Pertaining to framing ..I have many rules .. " Gather strength whenever you can " It can be in nailing patterns . The application of glues , The lacing together opportunities of framing members . Analysing the wood for weakness . When the video started .. Even before the word was uttered .. " Concrete !!! " ... In frame . Low slope roofs act like wings and create high and low pressure uplift . 90 degree corners create vortices and unequally distributed wind loads . The uplift and load pathways need the be continuously bonded to the base . Nature seems to be the greatest engineer .. I guess the best structure would be one that is cylindrical that creates no eddy . And better a bubble that can take forces in all directions .. But bubble houses don't seem to be what people want Lol . I build mansions and the customers want detail . Many have safe rooms in the event of a tornado or The Apocalypse . I have thought before " Well it might take a few days to unearth you with all that rubble atop " .. I guess the goal is . To make it more durable in an F5 . Instead of watching the house sucked off the foundation and clinging to the pipes in a central bathroom
If you want a tornado proof home
Pumicecrete is by far the best building material on the planet Pumicecrete is a mixture of pumice cement and water mixed and poured into a set of reusable forms walls are poured from 12"to to 25" thick pumicecrete is fireproof termite proof rust rot and mold proof non toxic and has a high R value and good sound attenuation solid poured walls means no critters can live in your walls Pumicecrete can be built for a fraction of the cost and time and pumice is one of the few building materials that can go directly from the mine to the job site ready to use without any additional possessing and zero waste
Take care Ray
Wow! That sounds perfect!
I have thought long about this. I grew up in Kansas.
My idea for a home is simple. A single ridge home down the middle. about 20 feet wide, and XX amount of feet long. Whatever you need, want, or can afford.
The basement is where you and your family live.
The walls of the basement are ICF to keep you warm and cool. The ICF walls support the ground level of the house. The basement has an inner wall of concrete block that is filled with cement and reinforced with rebar of course. There are bolts sticking up out of the concrete. Installation of large steel plate spanning the basement is a simple matter but costly. Bolt the plate down to the concrete walls. This forms the ceiling which nothing can get through. Since it is level with the ground, you are safe.
All valuables are stored in the basement. And all bedrooms are in the basement. Ground floor is where you store things that can be replaced. Like the kitchen stuff, the tv, the cars, the dishes and dining table. The tools in the garage.
Everything important lives in the basement.
Obviously you will need to have evacuation ability in each room. in case of fire. Good air circulation, and double sump pumps to ensure no flooding with easy access to repair them.
Bathrooms in the basement with showers. And a kitchenette.
People don't like the idea, because you don't get alot of sunlight in the basement.
I vote for safety while sleeping. A tornado at 3 am during a new moon and pitch black storm clouds is not my idea of a fun game of guess where the twister is at.
Double sump pumps are great, the only problem is electricity is the first to go. Do you have an underground generator with tall snorkels to get air and let the exhaust out? Do you have enough battery to keep the pumps going and the air circulating? I’ve gone through many hurricane's laced with tornados. My house is fairly hurricane resistant going 25 years with little damage, watching neighbors houses have major damage. Florence came along, a cat. 1 with lots of little tornados. One of those tornados tore of a section of roof and let the water in. I had major damage from the water and then from mold since the rain didn’t end for weeks. It isn’t just the wind, it’s everything else working together in completely unpredictable ways that get you.
If you have a shovel you can make your home tornado proof. Earth berm it and you can stay above grade. No tornados ever have been digging holes in the ground. Second, build a monolithic concrete dome. If you use basalt rebar, that concrete will never explode from rust- it will last forever. Just use shotcrete on an airform. It will qualify for a bomb shelter.
OK, but this falls short. It's interesting, but continue the exploration. We build in California earthquake country, & I'm moving to the Florida coast with high humidity and hurricanes. Our projects are Net Zero Energy, Passiv Haus, kind of high-performance stuff. With what you propose, what's the energy profile here? Many of these structural systems kill energy performance. Look deeper. Solve this as a "system", not just a lowly turf war. Don't kill one in favor of another. A house is a system. Water condenses on steel surfaces. Make sure these ideas don't kill any of the 3 barriers (water, air, thermal). Otherwise, it's just jaw-boning.
After-all, if it doesn't last, it doesn't matter.
This is awesome information! I am someone crazy paranoid, just on a windy day. (Been in 3 tornadoes and 3 micro bursts in the past 10 years). Given how unexpected and unpredictable, we have decided to construct our own home. We are no more than in the planning stages. But one part of the plan thus far, is the foundation. I am old school and prefer pier and beam. Current plan is concrete piers going 6-8 foot deep into the ground (central texas), the beam will be steel I beams anchored to the piers. (Oh and where the footings of the walls cross over the I beam, they will be anchored all the way though the steel beam.
I have been planning a part of the house to be concrete, but after seeing this, may look into steel sheathing under the OSB. I am personally planning to build this house, but will bring in contractors to help complete the foundation, insulation (spray), etc.
Thanks for the info!
I am a Swiss architect looking into tornado proof housing, because last month, we had our very first (!) tornado with huge damage in Germany. I find your project very interesting, and if I would be living in the US, I probably would do the same as you plan to do now.
However I stumbled over the last part of it: spray insulation, and I would like to share my experience.
In Switzerland we have quite a few regulations on our building material. Spray insulation is on the black list, partly because it can crumble after some years, particularly when exposed to heat, and partly because the gas used for spraying is poisonous to the environment. Also a house insolated with sprayfome is not breathing anymore, together with highly insulated windows that can cause mildew to grow inside your house. Styrofoam has the same problems and is also highly inflammable.
There are other materials for insolation, for the most part here we use glasfibre mats (don‘t forget wearing masks and gloves). There are also new materials like hemp or sheep wool, that could be looked into. They need to be protected from dampness though.
It is always possible that you have a different kind of spray foam, however I would do some research, if you want to build a high quality home. It would be a pity, if one part of it was not up to standard. Insulation is difficult to replace without a lot of work 😉.
I wish you luck and a lot of energy for your project!
The choice between pier, perimeter, and slab also depend on site soil type. Pier in sand is difficult unless you're just going to dig out the whole area because of how hole edges fall in. But it'd work in clay very nicely.
Concrete and rebar
I wanna consider eq hazard also, so unreinforced masonry highly suboptimal.
Nice work, Jay! A cost analysis vs, concrete construction would also be helpful…
Hey Jay, again awesome content, congrats on thinking outside the norm, I'm an ICF builder in Australia 🇦🇺, trying to be better with a passive home using self healing, green concrete, but you have touched an idea I've had for those difficult sites on sloping hills nearby stormy ocean storms but have almost impossible access for heavy equipment, by implementing your design although light weight but easier to carry into a site up a hill with lighter equipment, where we can use screw piles to anchor the footings to the hill then booker rods ( threaded bar) from footings to top plate spaced evenly, then tie down the roof at the booker rods as well there for ancohing the roof through to the screw piles, I'd be interested in a detail that I could adapt to the Australian standards, thanks mate for the inspiration.
😀👍🇦🇺 🇦🇺 🇦🇺
I’m not sure this response is in line with what you’re describing but I’ll give it a quick shot. I think if you lined up the wall studs with the roof framing and used a heavy duty metal fastener to tie the roof directly to the stud, you’d still have a complete load path that would take those forces right down to the foundation.
Useless, you can just build a reinforced concrete (RC) house. and that's all.
Some of what you describe was used 100+ years ago... I live in a 1914 foursquare, the main floor is approx. 30" above ground level. The walls are sheathed in 1"×6" "ship lap", which is also used as subfloor. The walls are and structural lumber is southern yellow pine, which is as hard as iron. On top of that, the siding was wood also which contributed to it's strength...
Compare this to "modern" construction where the walls are sometimes sheathed in 3/4" or 1" foam insulation board and covered in either vinyl or aluminum siding!
U know whats pretty funny theres a company out there called Bamcore that make prefab walls that do a really good job stopping 2x4's shoved into bamboo panel walls @ 60mph, idk if they work at 100MPH+ but it think its prettty dang cool in building more structurally sound homes. Bamboo imo is a severely underrated construction material.
My family's business made blast doors, blast dampers, hurricane louvers, etc. Made a launcher heaved a 10' 2x4 @ 100+ mph for internal testing. Fun times.
The answer is to build houses underground. The cooling and heating expenses are eliminated. Geothermal is the way to go. Shipping containers maybe a great prefabbed material.
I’m very curious how an earth ship would do in severe storms.
@@vermontmike9800 I imagine they'd be great. As long as they are built in an over engineered manner lol.
Radon is a huge problem in tornado alley, especially Iowa!
A lot of people die from floods from the thunderstorm that caused the tornado. Underground is not the way to go.
Lessons learned from 200+mph tornado damage. We were in the house. I'm trying to rebuild a stronger house. Straps over top plate broke. Roofs system all gone and half of top plate gone. 90% of wiring gone . You can build for wind resistance and projectiles such as 2 x 4s. But building for the impact of a mobile home frame, or a 4 x 6 or 6x6 piece 5 or 6 feet long steel fence post. Ceiling fan motors. These things beat the hell out of my house. 40 space seimens 200 amp load center pull through brick wall along with studs it was attached to along with it. Beams 10 to 15 foot long from porches and carports moving fast through the air . Is it even possible to build to resist that type of projectiles. I'm building back as strong as I possibly can. My advise is build as strong as you can but make sure you have storm shelter or super strong safe room to get into to ride it out. Whipping winds at 200 + mph is one but what that wind is blowing with it is a game changer. We were in a fiberglass tub shower combo all fasteners pulled through fiberglass and unit lifted up about 3 inches. If I had steel ball for a house it would have a safe room. I saw things and took pictures of things that put chills down my spine. The stronger the better. The safe room needs to be in the plan. We took a direct hit from core of 2-1/4 mile wide EF 4 on 4 /12/2020 and 2 and a half minutes of violent destruction unimaginable and you're along for the ride weather you like it or not until its over. Homes are expensive and important. But first and foremost of all make sure the people that mean the most to you will survive . You can replace or repair the house. Have a plan to be alive and well to see it happen.
Just my opinion from past experience. I learned some hard lessons that afternoon in South Mississippi. Easter Sunday will never be the same. Thankful to be able to get out on our own 2 feet battered and bruised and alive
Don’t forget Hurricane strapping - goes over the roof and has strong connects to the foundation. Required in Florida I believe. If you build to at least places that have the worst hurricanes and the worst tornados - you have a better chance. Now - some of the numbers I have seen and heard - it is more money up front but not that much. It’s my understanding you are talking $5-15,000 more depending on how over these top you go. Right now 2022 anything is ridiculously expensive. I would imagine if you live where much is standard code because of the billions of dollars of damage overall per event - it would be less than building somewhere that never sees a hurricane or rarely tornado. They just don’t build to that level so it’s just beyond understanding and see going to cost you big-time.
Look at the building codes of those seriously impacted multiple times over the last 10 years like Texas, Florida, Nebraska, etc. etc. They may help somewhat in what you want. For example in Florida’s high impact of by the ocean type facilities ie hurricane resistant windows and doors. They are heavy and feel like commercial but they must have proper framing. Doesn’t do any good to have this triple panel high impact glass with a 2x4 or 2x6 wood stud. The framework has to standup.
The other thing with tornado proof homes - they need to get the pressure issue right. The home might stand up to the winds but it’s the pressure of tornado that blows it apart.
The attached garage is a huge culprit in tornado damaged homes. The failure of the weakest point is the garage door, once it goes the wind has the ability to lift up on the roof and once the roof goes the structure is too far compromised and it collapses!
Just make them out of masonry and concrete like every other tornado prone country in Asia.
Basements save lives. Period.
Not always... in a strong tornado if the house is blown off the foundation, unless you are under something reinforced you are still exposed to flying & falling debris.
In the Parkersburg Iowa EF-5, one person was killed in their basement when a pickup truck was dropped on them!
@@timnewman1172 I watched that storm from Prairie Du Chien. That unfortunate death proves that tornados kill. We know that. But they rarely kill multiple people where there are basements, compared to those areas where there aren't. Similar strength tornados almost always take more lives where the houses are slab on grade.
Lots of places in the south can't have basements though
@@gabbie39 true. If I lived there I'd build a storm shelter of some sort.
A family died this year in their basement
Thank you for your information, I've been working with RC structures for the past 40 years in many countries in Asia and Africa, Tornado resistance homes are really needed in the RED zone. I think upper-middle-income family homes will be a good choice while affordable housing is not. The challenging issue is how to convert an existing house into Tornado cat 5 resistance. It's something I am working on for the past 10 months and the results are promising. Reinforced Concrete is the most feasible and economical solution.
Very interesting concept. I live in South Dakota where we have had near-miss tornados experiences.
Near-miss wouldn’t that be a hit?
Living in the red zone I gotta say thanks to you!!!
Appreciate it!
I think we have to start thinking out of the box.
There are also ICFs, insulated concrete forms. I built one bedroom on our house to withstand a tornado. Used standard 8" concrete block. Foundation goes into the ground 4', every fifth vertical core is grouted with rebar and there are five horizontal bond beams. There is a standard 2x4 wall with hardi-board siding on the exterior so the walls are one foot thick. the roof is 3/4" plywood with steel gussets along the seams. Windows are glass block. It's just one room, not very big but super strong. The rest of the house is stronger than average, I hand nailed all of it with good size nails and plenty of them. Used some screws but they are hardened and can snap. A lot of builders skimp on fasteners. Used lots of steel strapping also.
Another thing I did was not use J bolts to fasten sills. I embedded heavy angle iron into the block foundation and bolted them through the rim joists. It's a much stronger connection.
Instead of building the whole house like a safe room, couldn't you just build a safe room as a usable space and build the rest so that it doesn't blow away, but you just patch holes? You'll be replacing windows anyway. So build it for the wind forces, not debris per se.
That red area has to deal with a lot of water and hail that comes with the thunderstorms that create the tornadoes, but at the same time it's hot and dry in the summer, so maybe v2 can be fire resistant too? Use metal roofs, fiber cement siding and Rockwool insulation.
Because temperatures can be extreme, maybe also make it energy efficient so you can survive a few days without power. Oh, and make it affordable 😂
Ive seen brick and concrete buildings completely leveled out right down to the foundation. It’s not just about impact resistance. It’s about Wind Shear as well.
After a tornado destroyed part of our hometown back in the late 90's we built a home using icf construction back in 2000. Not only is the home wind/tornado resistant, but the R value of the walls make the home more comfortable and much easier/cheaper to heat and cool. Living in western TN having good R value is key as we truly have 4 season weather here with 100+degree summers while during the winters lows can dip into the low teens or even single digits. My utility bills average about the same as a modern stick-built home that is less than 1/2 the size of our icf home.
Jay,
The reason Concrete is not used in residential construction, is because it is considered a water retainer (Like Brick).
There is already a Tornado and Hurricane proof building method in existence today, which can replace current stick framing. That method is Structurally Insulated Panels (SiPs). Test have proven time and again, SiPs can withstand the 100mph stud test.
Further, there is a newer plastic, which if used as the sheeting on SiPs or stick frame, can withstand extreme tornado damage. Its the base material used to calibrate the stud cannons, engineers use to test wall structures.
SiPs are the answer to replacing stick framing for home construction, they tick off all the necessary boxes for strength as well as high energy performance. Look into that method of construction.
My question would be, why have we not replaced glass windows with Lexan, its far stronger and its impact resistant.
Government does not care about Individual Residential construction. Its focus is upon housing masses of people in one space (I calk them ant farms). This allows the government to Control ... However massing people into small, joined spaces, is the worst idea, as it sets people on edge continually, because their privacy erodes.
Humans need private space
....
Your thinking correct.... just consider SiPs
Lexan is soft and scratches just from washing it. Layered up with glass and acrylic is now bullet proof glass that will work great but very expensive. Also needs to be replaced after an impact.
This is hilarious saying that Concrete is going to hold water when OSB in your sips is worse than a sponge. Icf is the answer and if done properly is not holding any water whatsoever.
that's interesting! but you didnt make it very clear where the metal goes. if you can specify 12-14ga steel as exterior cladding/roofing, then it could theoretically work, though be quite expensive, possibly more expensive than rolling the dice with the low probability of tornado hitting you. steel siding and roofing is usually 26-31ga steel.
you could probably find a cheaper alternative with different geometry (at a minimum, corrugated metal and foam may have crush/piercing resistances that are much higher than flat materials).
i would actually probably want to see a kevlar-like housewrap in this situation. it's very likely that two layers of standard steel stucco netting would to the job as well.
I tried to install cable TV in a house that would have been tornado proof. After drilling for most of an hour I got to the end of my 18” masonry bit and still wasn’t through. The house was a small square with only one window and a door like a safe. It was built in the 50’s to be atom bomb proof. The builder built a couple of them and stopped because nobody wanted to buy them. It was a very ugly house, more like a pillbox than living quarter’s. It was in a part of NY that does’t get tornados. I don’t know if they ever got their cable installed, I just turned the job back in and got hollered at. It had no basement and sat flat on the ground. You could drive past the place and never know it was there. When you are designing just realize that people have to want to buy it and be able to live in it.
You are brilliant. Building with reinforced concrete block should not be that much more expensive. YOU could offer the expertise to any gc to do it right. The GC just needs to hire 4 min wage workers with green cards, as I assume like in my area, the chance of finding anyone born in the USA willing to work concrete for even 2x min wage is non existant. I can't even find them to carry sacks for cash. Any rate. you need rebar sticking out of footings a few feet up through CMU cells, thats an upgrade to foundation but any foundation gc can handle the extra rebar work no problem or you shouldn't trust any work to them. After that, you teach the min wage workers how to tie rebars together and instruct them to put in 2x as many ties as needed and photograph each one. There's the way you ensure quality. It's a secret, shhhhh. Then teach them to shovel concrete into cells and rodding it. The mason should know how to install horizontal reinforcement so all you need do is tell him to put it in EVERY course and provide him 2 of those min wage workers to carry the extra horizontal reinforcing, align it with all the rebar sticking up and slide it down over it. Heh, that does take time, time is money. Another worker will be needed to lift the CMU up over the tops of the rebars and hold it while the mason does the mortar work. The fourth min wage worker is running the mixer mixing concrete all day. The solid steel sheet is something I didn't know. I have to look up sometime if multiple layers of expanded mesh might work too, also doing two 2x4 walls with offest studs to cut energy transfer. Like Siding, air barrier, expanded lath, plywood, expanded lath, 2x4, rock wool, expanded lath, air barrier, plywood, expanded lath, fiberglass insulation, wiring, conduit, ducts, etc., and the drywall. It's a lot more layers, thus a lot more labor, but it's pretty much unskillied labor, light materials. I'd have to consider screwing through 12 ga steel sheet to be a specialty skill and require specialty fasteners. The siding metal interface might also create a good deal of moisture buildup one way in summer, the other in winter, requiring a really air tight wall assembly to keep moisture vapor out of wall cavity, and with electrical boxes etc set into wall, it's just not going to every be air tight. Hope maybe just one person finds this and it helps them. I live outside of tornado country.
Given that we haven't had a tornado in decades, where I'm from, I never knew about what kind of research had been done in this field. Interesting stuff.
I'd suggest that shutters for the windows would be a good idea, though. Sorta like what you'd see on really old houses, but strong enough to withstand those impacts. Much faster to close than to temporarily screw sheet metal to your window frames.
well...seems a "tornado-resistant" ROOM would be, you know...AFFORDABLE. And, better-suited to Designs that most-folks would actually PAY-for to Own. Say...Jay, do YOU live in such a structure, hmmmmmmm??? :-)))
I was thinking just pay to get a steel-frame house, with steel roof & cladding. And then finish the inside of it in a kinda unique way. Outer layer is the steel cladding, then lay 4x4x8 concrete brick (easy to make yourself in molds) inside... leaving an 8" gap to the outer steel cladding. Build up the brick a little over 2 feet, fill the gap with styro-crete (cement with styrene pellets for aggregate). Then repeat until you're all the way up. Styro-crete can only be poured about 2 feet vertically at a time. The outer cladding and inner brick form the pour void, and styrocrete is not heavy. It's an often overlooked building material because it uses cement, but is too weak to be used structurally. But it is _extremely_ robust compared to typical insulation materials, weatherproof, termite-proof, very mold resistant, and very fire resistant (if the mix is right).
Steel cladding is a little boring for aesthetics, but you could add stucco or brick veneer or cedar, etc. in areas of the outside, season to taste. Similarly inside, you could paint the brick, cover it with paneling, whatever tickles your fancy for style.
Final wall thickness is 1ft. (22 gauge steel, then 8" of styrocrete, then 4" of concrete brick wall). Looking at an insulative R-value of about 30, slightly less where the steel framing supports are. This is admittedly pretty thick, but it offers a lot of benefits for the square footage cost. The steel siding has a high "reflectivity" which affects heating & cooling, but is not calculated in R-values. And the brick inner wall has a high "thermal mass" which is also not calculated in R-value testing, but can dramatically affect heating/cooling (especially if it's _inside_ an insulation layer). Also, the styrocrete is a 'void-filler, so it will seal things up very thoroughly. With thermal mass & reflectivity, I would expect it to perform like it has something more like R50 insulation, though strictly speaking it would be around 30.
Also, styrocrete, while not especially good for tensile strength, is very rigid, about on par with wood for compressive (not tensile though). It'd give a lot of reinforcement to the steel outer cladding, and anything which pokes through the steel would have a very difficult time pressing through the styrocrete. I would expect (not tested) that it would probably stop 7.62, let alone a mere 2x4 going 100mph. The siding won't want to be peeled away by wind, as it's fastened to the steel frame, and then laminated against the styrocrete.
You'd want a relatively low-slope for the roof, as that is more aerodynamic, and makes the angle of impact more favorable vs flying debris. I was thinking to have a double-roof on the south slope, with a substantial overhang, and rising a bit past the main roof peak to shade the north slope. That would be for making heating/cooling still more easy, but it wouldn't be very aerodynamic. So I would think that you'd just let a tornado pull that upper roof away if you get hit, leaving the protruding steel framework for it. And then just re-roof that floating upper roof if you get hit. You'd still have a weatherproof roof under it, it's more of a whole-house awning to help make the house passive or near-passive in terms of energy needs.
At 1 & 1/2 stories, steel framing would laugh at earthquakes. The structure should be fireproof, inside & out (depending on how you finish interior walls), termites have nothing to eat, it's not made out of mold fertilizer, and it should withstand a direct hit from a tornado with only a need for new windows and floating awning-roof. Also, with a list of other considerations in design, it'd be passive or near-passive for heating/cooling. You could probably drive a truck into it a wall with minimal harm.
Not necessarily cost-effective. But I'd seek to recoup a lot from substantial DIY in the building, and long term energy needs.
* Building to survive an the center of an EF5 is way, way harder than building to survive the center of an EF1 or the outer periphery of an EF5; The odds of ever seeing 200mph wind force are so minimal you may as well be talking about comet-proofing your home.
* The actual building standards for the center of the country appear to have zero concern for Tornado Alley due to the rarity of even an EF1 hitting a building. Instead, hurricanes are the focus.
* Those windows being there invalidate the entire approach in practice.
* The FORTIFIED Home standards provide a guideline already for dramatically improving wind rating of a wood structure itself, very inexpensively. It mostly comes down to mandating fully sheathed walls, some gable end reinforcement (and eliminating seams in cathedral ceilings), and a tight nailing pattern everywhere. The only expensive part is windows, and we could deal with that in the case of hurricanes using storm shutters.
I think ICF construction is the best and most effective way to go. The double 3/4 plywood and steel will easily put your costs into the price range of ICF.
" has been determined that using ICF wall construction generally adds about 3 to 5 percent to the total purchase price of a typical wood- frame home and land …"
"When comparing the cost of building a stick frame home to an ICF home, an additional $2 to $4 is added per square foot to the ICF home, according to the U.S. …"
Thank you for the video and the analysis and explanation.
I was under the impression that STORM cellars existed for many years in the midwest for just this reason. The fact that they do not seem as "popular" today as in times past always seemed baffling to me. I do like your VERY robust design. My personal desire was always to have a home that was underground or at the VERY least substantially earth berm construction. I would never build in a flood plain so that was never, ever an issue to my mind. I still do not comprehend why folks insist on living below flood grade. New Orleans may have a rich history but it seems extremely foolish to count on "government planning and maintenance" for you existence day-to-day insofar as you can simply choose ***not*** to live in that risk prone an area.
Peaceful Skies.
3:41 - Tornado's don't really 'suck' up buildings, it's rather the pressure difference between inside and outside the house that makes the roof BLOW off, just by the sheer air pressure inside the house. It's vital to have rooftiles that contain air pressure equalizers to keep the difference as low as possible.
I imagine that windows - and garage doors in particular, lots of single car garage homes get absolutely blown up by tornados - are the weak points when it comes to that pressure differential causing the explosive removal of roofs. As you said, some sort of air pressure equalizer for the roof/attic space would be absolutely necessary.
My home is a 1920s brick/block home with deeply inset windows. I wonder if some sort of system of shutters which are capable of withstanding that pressure (some sort of seal perhaps?) would also help isolate the interior of a home from that huge pressure differential while also surviving 130-200mph wind and debris.
Man if you look at that Andover Kansas video from 2022 it sure looks like the houses are getting “sucked up.” Ultimately suction is just pressure differential where low pressure of the tornado is “pulling” on the lower atmosphere/ objects on the ground.
If you understand how they form you'd go with stuff being sucked up. As the funnel forms it doesn't touch down until a port opens behind the funnel. Just like any vacuum it won't suck unless it's ported, when this hole opens up it becomes ported and voila you have suction. It's nature's vacuum
Wouldn’t a 8x4 sheet of 12 gauge steel be very heavy and somewhat dangerous to install? I do heavy gauge framing for commercial buildings. 6” flat stock can cut you pretty easy and even at lower gauges bends a lot when handling it. Seems like it would be difficult to handle a full 4x8 sheet of it.
I've seen thick log homes in TN and MS go through some bad tornadoes. The log homes survived wonderfully. The insides looked like a standard home with sheetrock inside. Their standard truss roofs did not survive. So, either they improve that with straps and tie downs, use logs for flat roofing, or use precast concrete beams with rebar. I reckon it would then survive.
my double wide mobile home withstood hurricane Michael a category 5 hurricane and we had a heavy duty metal roof installed which with stood an EF 2 tornado that cam over it. It has 2 x 2 trusses on 16 inch centers and 5 1/2 studs. An impact knocked out two studs in the main bathroom. All the old siding had holes everywhere. the manufacturer did not use house wrap...that should be illegal. windows were single pain which should have been illegal. There are some corners that just should not be skipped over to save money.
Doesn’t a 4x8 12g sheet weigh like 100lbs and cost a quite a bit of money?
I wonder what impact resistant plastics could be used. Might be lighter/cheaper. Likely much thicker for same resistance and need protection from UV (would want siding over it as well).
The forces involved in building destruction are.
Blow in
Blow out
Blow off.
Blow in, the pressure against a wall causing to collapse inwards.
Blow out, like the sudden depressurisation of a plane a vast difference between the internal pressure and external pressure results in windows and walls being pushed out.
Blow off, air rushing over the roof can create lift pull it up to be caught by the wind and ripped off.
All these can be compensated for by fairly minor and often unseen design changes.
Fold down eaves that can be anchored in the down position by cables to the ground would prevent blow off.
Walls with buttress sections that increase side load capacity would prevent blow in.
Special panels that act as valves opening inwards or outwards to vent pressure would mitigate blow out.
All these minor changes would increase construction costs by about thirty percent at most and would reduce the risk of a building collapse in both storm and seismic events. With the exception of cows flying through the walls or the earth opening up these changes would save most homes.
Ok so homes in Florida r made of concrete we had a hurricane with winds of 130 mph and the wall did not fall. So I don't know if a tornado would be any different I don't know that one, I've never been thru a tornado.
I would bet that if you use a tie strap on every stud and Miami code to design your roof fastening and roof structure that it would hold those wall and roof panels in place. Two other considerations you should make. First, the garage. It should not be attached, or at least it should be able to tear away w/o wrecking the house's storm performance. Second, windows and doors There are windows and doors designed to withstand hurricane blown debris. Most of the windows are 3 or 4 pane windows with a polycarbonate layer in the middle that can stop things like your 100mph 2x4. The doors are usually steel or fiberglass with small armored windows. They need a doorjamb and hinges that are stronger than normal too. It will not do much good if you get a door or window blown in and the pressure pushes the walls out. You really have to make the entire envelope strong and air tight.
Is it possible to do a follow up video regarding ICF construction? I'm considering it for a future home build
We can build houses that stand up to a tornado. Nobody wants to pay the extra cost. Just like we could still build castles but nobody wants to spend the currencies too. Fyi you just build it in ground. You could also build a timber frame like many old masonry houses have. It isn't about if but people willing to pay.
Ok, I like the idea, but putting any kind of siding over that sheet metal would be a job. I think a good middle ground would be to make part of the home tornado proof and build the rest normally. Covering a whole house in sheet metal at probably over $100 a sheet would be very costly.
Cost. It ALWAYS comes to that.
Look at the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
Some official wanted to save money.
I would just focus on keeping the structure from collapsing. Ok, maybe use thicker sheathing or something for the outside walls, but I would guess that puncture damage isn’t a huge issue in real life. If an object punctures your wall but the building is held together with hurricane ties and other strapping plus framing to withstand uplift or wall collapse, I think you would be fine. If a piece of 2x4 puncture a wall, just fix the puncture area after the storm. Replacing some siding and one punctured piece of exterior sheathing plus a section of drywall inside isn’t a big deal. It costs way less than cladding a home in steel under the siding. That would be very costly.
@6:10 I would love to help build a model for you to test this.
Modeling will require "Non Dimensionalization" and without removing the unscalable dimensions you would only be playing with model toys.
Really I could use the practice.
Keep it small,the large flat surfaces start flexing in high winds then progressively weaken with each cycle.
I was surprised how the smaller houses built in the sixties had damage but the larger ones were destroyed in the high winds in Port Arthur from hurricane Rita.
I was out with some friends in Houston and we drove by a new housing area, the Philipinos I was with were shocked we built with wood,, they build (smaller) with concrete blocks due to all of the storms they get. they lift the better furniture up off the ground and go 'take cover',, when they return after the storm the power wash the floor (also made of concrete) put the furniture down and go about their lives. I have been thru a lot of hurricanes and tornados. in hurricane zones they use hurricane straps on every exterior board to the seal plate and rafter. tornado zones should do the same. if you notice 'hurricane proof homes' are curved outside the home.. a lot like your car,, the wind rolls past and many of those homes are made of a styrofoam!! now of course we would want something more than styrofoam to protect us from flying boards, but you can curve plywood.. or build igloo style.
When I built I was advised not to over build . A reinforced house will rack in high winds . Insurance will replace a lost roof but a racked house although basically ruined gets little to no settlement. Put in a safe room.
Hello, this sounds I guess sort of simplistic or unrealistic, but why can't the house have a roof that extends down to the ground in case of high winds or have the home partially descend into the ground in case a tornado is coming? Is this totally impractical? I wonder
My chicken bunker is stronger than any residential US home 😂
I love smart people. I would spend the money and want it to withstand whatever nature has. I would do concrete walls and a concrete flat roof. Hurricane windows with built in shutter as both decoration and additional storm protection. Hurricane,tornado and flood proof.
Well done!
I Make Round. The ancestors did it for a reason.
Build underground, or steel rebar re-enforced concrete dome. The main problem is wind pushing against a flat wall.
Yeah the Texas Tech literature is great. I feel like money would be better spent on an in-house tornado shelter given the rarity that any particular house will experience tornado-level winds.
Insulated Rammed Earth walls... better than concrete or brick.
Meanwhile outhere where I live builders be sheating roofs with 3/8 aspen.
Really?! That sounds problematic…
@@JthaEngineer yes and we never instal blocking between truss and we only toe nail the trusses to the top plate. Never see anyone use any type of structural screws or metal connectors apart from joist hangers. Educating myself online is making me realize how low the quality of our houses are here.
How about if plywood layer with hard plastic material???
NOTHING is tornado-proof. I've seen where a tornado pulled up the asphalt road. You can be tornado resistant up to some point, then the tornado wins. You just hope you never get hit by an F5.
F5 will pick up your neighbor's house and use it as a 150 mph battering ram to take your house down. It can drive a straw though a telephone pole.
I am pretty sure he said tornado resistant throughout the video.
Add skylights that would suck out or open when the pressure changes
In norway we build houses with alot of reinforcwd concrete
Where did you get the tiny toy masonry blocks?
I need a building just to hold legacy cables, cords and connectors.
how does this video not have a million views
What about just having a room in the house that is tornado resistant instead of the whole house
I'm remodeling...rebuilding a broken down house in Mississippi using your wall/roof design!
What about failure of windows and doors ?
Just use ICF, guys. Lumber isn’t solution for tornado. Here, in Europe, we have home made from bricks and concrete. No problems for hundreds of years. Yes, lumber is more sustenable, but we build to last a looooong no time. Quality comes with a cost, that’s reality.
You missed the boat by not including concrete/Styrofoam hybrid blocks such as Miracle blocks, EZ blocks, etc. The ones built north of Houston have easily handled hurricanes, tornados, flooding, while being highly energy efficient and lower cost to build than wood framing.
Thanks very helpful. I planning a custom house in tornado country. And I'll likely use Insulated Concrete Forms for the walls. But I've been at a loss as to what to use for the roof and it look like a typical gable or hip roof. The testing showing 130 to 133 mph penetration gives me one option for a wood framed roof. And based on what I know from playing tank games. Angled armor is stronger from penetration than flat. So it should survive everything but a direct hit from an F5 tornado.
This is how they build houses in Mexico
Missiles are not ballistic the boards are
Regarding the cost of reinforce concrete... Explore alternative materials... Basalt has been making inroads within the construction industry.... monolithic dome with laminated structural members...
Roof shd be at ground level
My house has a wood foundation. I am finishing the basement with a second framed wall of 2 by 6 bolted to the existing concrete pad. With further looking on line I may need to double the 2by6 and add heavy duty hurricane ties on top and metal brackets for the bottom. Realistically what else can I do to improve the strength of this inner safe room?
Rebecca
There are multiple videos online showing Hurricane testing that has been done by the insurance industry, including one done by Matt Risinger. It was actually recommended to me as the next video to watch after yours.
I would encourage you to look at other TH-cam videos for tornado and hurricane testing of this sort and see who else has already gone down this road.
We need someone to invent concrete paint!!
Thank You for sharing this valuable information , and the work you put into this well done video production. it is still helping the public stay safer two years now. I am building in Florida and plan to use these methods . You are a credit to your country and your parents who raised you.
How about a concrete core structure that would withstand tornadoes and would contain bedrooms and kitchen, bathroom, laundry, all the must haves. Then construct the less necessary spaces around it with traditional wood. It the structure is hit, it's possible the storage and accessory spaces may be damaged but you could comfortably live in the concrete structure until the other structures are replaced. Of course, you could beef the stick framed areas up to try to withstand higher winds etc. but this would allow for continuous use of the property in a tornado event.
I live in Tornado country.
I'm building an IFC house with a full basement, in floor heat and an overbuilt roof with rafter brackets set into the concrete.
Let’s get into under ground bunker
Very interesting video with lots of research data to back it up. Just wish authorities and communities would get involved more actively in finding such solutions to tornadoes and hurricane problems that have been here for ages, rather than only focusing on reconstruction and more funding, all the time!
Love this concept! I hope it's been tested since. I'd rather have a small home with this kind of structure any day over a larger standard one.
Used to think about building a dome home, but wasn’t sure how to maintain it and keep it from leaking. Maybe time to reconsider.
Great video! Thank you for sharing. Spray foam for attic insulation is like glue.
He forgot duck tape 😂
So what were the 3 materials?
#PayOnceAndCryAboutThePriceOnlyOnce
homes in south florida are all masonry homes and they still get destroyed by tornados. i think the reason why safe rooms work so well instead of whole house it is because they're small and compact and could bind a lot stronger. A whole home you have to worry about windows , door, garage, roof, and walls. if you dont have all of that put together the whole house can come down with increased pressure due to the heavy concrete. which in turn makes the house blow out like a bomb.
edit: they work well for straight strong winds like hurricanes but tornados are twirling winds coming from all sides like a blender
Masonry has been tested and they do fail requirements for tornado resistance unless they are fully grouted & reinforced. That could be a factor.
Good point about the size & scale of a shelter as opposed to a house though. Geometry is a huge factor to determine how the wind pressure acts on a building.
Impressive and important thank you very much.
windows....