LSU Ag Center displays hurricane safe house

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By Charles Nunmaker

Residents of the Gulf Coast know the sting of the hurricane season all too well. Year after year, a hurricane comes and hits parts of the Gulf Coast region, leaving behind damage and destruction in its wake. Even tropical storms can prove to be dangerous and destructive to the Gulf Coast.

Wind, storm surge, flooding and other dangerous factors always make homeowners uneasy when they have to deal with tropical storms or hurricanes. It has long been the method that the only way you can protect your house is by boarding up the windows and moving objects away from windows and off of the floor.

But what if science and technology could merge together to find a new way to protect homes not only across Louisiana, but across the entire Gulf Coast?

The LSU Ag Center has done just that. Recently the Ag Center opened their hurricane safe house to the public so people could see the new advantages homeowners can have over storms.

This hurricane safe home was planned with all of the factors of hurricanes and tropical storms in mind. Outside of the home, the walls are covered in a black mesh material that stops the debris from actually hitting the house. This material also serves as a protector against wind damages as well. Once the material is wet, it can slow wind speeds of up to 150 m.p.h. to only three m.p.h., making the wind hitting your house no stronger than a breeze on a summer day.

The home also holds another impressive feature: a safe room. The closet in the master bedroom serves as a wind proof get away during the storms, and it is resistant of winds up to 150 m.p.h due to a steel reinforced door.

The house does have one flaw. This hurricane proof home, as it stands with the mesh, the safe room and other features, has a price tag of $600,000-$700,000. The LSU Ag Center also said that anyone with a 2000 square foot house could add the same features for a price of around $300,000.

Dr. Kelley Pace, who holds the LREC Endowed Chair of Real Estate at LSU, says that the market for hurricane proofing your house is growing.

"There are plenty of people already spending some money on hurricane proofing their homes," said Dr. Pace. "I know people who have already done a variety of things to their homes to make it more hurricane resistant. If you look around you, you can see things like natural gas generators being put in homes in areas with more damage, and people are paying more money to have the shutters put on their windows that will resist hurricanes."

"Most areas that have risk now have building codes that make the houses somewhat hurricane resistant," Dr. Pace continued. "We are already moving towards quite a bit more hurricane resistance than we had five years ago."

With hurricane season still just starting up, now is the perfect time to prepare your home and property with steps like these that will give your home the advantage in a storm.

Originally Published: Issue 806 - July 1, 2009

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