Hurricane Proof Home Plans Designs and Information

Right on the heels of Tropical Storm Hanna, comes Tropical Storm Isidore which was downgraded from a hurricane before it hit land right here on the Gulf Coast. 9/26/02


Once again I closed the hurricane shutters and brought all the yard furniture up on the porch to drip off before I brought it inside.

This storm was predicted to have winds about like Hanna, the week before, but actually, they were much stronger. Looking West, our neighbor's pier and boathouse were under water and the water came up much higher in the yard.

Just for comparison sake, here is a photo of Little Lagoon taken several days after the storm. This is how it usually looks most days.

The water was way over the seawall and even tho it is only 3 or 4 ft deep, the waves were big. It is hard to take photos in such wind and rain.
		After the storm had passed, the water remained up in our yards over the top of the seawalls. Since the wind was primarily from the South/East and the house itself blocked the wind on the West side, I did not remove the hanging porch lanterns. Big Mistake on my part. After the center of the storm was all the way up over Hattiesburg, the wind shifted, and came from the West and quickly ripped one of our porch lanterns, bracket and all from the wall. I saw that the other one was 1/2 out and braved the 10 ft. ladder to take it down and in the house before the second lantern fell too.
		The some of the streets of Gulf Shores were still flooded the next day. This is the popular restaurant The Original Oyster House with the employees waving at the camera from the upstairs porch.
I began to unbolt the shutters after the storm had truely passed. Our only problem was one the porch lanterns falling, but it was not damaged. Not bent, it just needs a bit of touch up paint and to be re-mounted. From now on, I will take the lantens down and bring them inside during any tropical storm or worse. Our DAC-ART house did just fine. We do believe it will be as close to a hurricane proof home as is possible. Because our lot was filled may years ago, we only had to elevate the house aprox. 4 ft. but DAC-ART homes can be built on pilings and columns, as most beachfront homes on low lying lots are here in this coastal waterfront area. DAC-ART has arches in several 'flattened radius' curves that can be used at the top of columns to give a wonderful classic look and avoid the 'grand-daddy long-leg look' so commonly seen in wood frame home construction. Under-house shaded parking and storage is an added plus of an elevated waterfront coastal home.
See our French door aluminum folding hurricane shutters here. Resources ---Hurricane Resistant & Quality Windows & Doors Resources---Hurricane Shutter and Storm Shutter Suppliers

Same tropical storms, neighboring homes, damage (2002)

We are not looking forward to a full blown hurricane hitting our area, but statistically, we get hit or brushed every 4.22 years so statistically we are due to be hit by the end of the 2003 season. We do think our DAC-ART house is by far the strongest house in the area and the least likely to suffer hurricane damage. If you are thinking of building in Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, or Alabama--DAC-ART is easily within reach for you to use.Coastal areas in these states bordering on the Gulf of Mexico can expect hurricanes. Does it make any sense at all to build with Dryvit, styrofoam,wooden sticks or flimsy siding when you can have a concrete structure that will remain strong and solid no matter what tropical storms come our way? DAC-ART precast concrete blocks are dry stacked and back-filled with concrete and rebar and include an optional styrofoam insulation double walled core. Plus DAC-ART takes old world classic architecture from the realm of 'pretend' and crosses the threashold of reality without spending more money.

Skip ahead to see our finished hurricane proof home. 2005 Hurricane Katrina Photos See How well we did ..again 2004 Hurricane Ivan Photos See how well we survived.
2002--3 storms in 3 weeks-- Tropical Storm Hanna & Tropical Storm Isidore hit Gulf Shores Alabama head-on and DAC-ART hurricane proof construction just took it in stride. These photos of Tropical Storm Hanna & Tropical Storm Isidore were taken at shallow Little Lagoon across from West Beach in Gulf Shores.
	We recently had a direct hit from Tropical Storm Hanna-(Sept 14 2002) and our house, of course, had no damage. Wind gusts were in the 55-60 mph range. Some stick built waterfront homes on pilings twisted and turned enough that doors blew open. One brand new, almost completed home on our street in Martinique subdivision had windows and doors that leaked so much that the sheetrock was badly damaged and the house will have to be completely renovated.. No such problems with our Weathershield windows and doors. No twisitng of our DAC-ART walls !! And our hurricane shutters protected us from flying debris. Photo taken about 9 a.m.

We closed all the shutters on the south side. Had it been a full blown hurricane, we'd have closed all shutters on all sides and inserted our temporary plywood French door protector sheets with metal clips mounted on them. (French door shutters were not installed yet when this happened) We also closed and latched the shutters on the one east facing window on the back of the house.The windows on the south are closely spaced so the shutters had to be bi-folds to not block the next window. The idea is not to stop the rain, but keep flying debris from breaking the glass. We live across the water from many traditionally built homes of studs, siding, insulation, plywood, pilings,etc and all that comes'a flying at us during a hurricane. We are having aluminum folding shutters made for the French doors that should be ready next week. The shutters would have been too thick to make multiple folds & take up to much room on the porches. The aluminum will be painted green to match and will fold much flatter since we need 6 folding panels on the porch.
	The next day was georgous. The debris shows the waterline during the storm. The water in front of our house is normally only 2 to 3 ft deep. Little Lagoon is quite large but shallow since hurricanes in the past few years have moved sand across West Beach road and into our lagoon. The water was still high over the seawall when I took this photo the same day as the storm had hit earlier in the day.

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