re: Beach home in Mexico Beach, FL survives Hurricane Michael "nearly untouched"

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The concrete truck brought all of that concrete to use on the home.

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Pilings are delivered already formed with plenty of rebar, and driven into the ground. I've got 16 of them under my house, some as deep as 40 feet. If his walls really are concrete that adds a lot to the weight and requires more pilings to support it. Building a truly storm proof concrete house is expensive, a friend looked into it. Most people do use Hardie Board (cement/fiber) for the siding and metal hip roofs with extra strapping and this is supposed to get a house to 130 MPH or better.

I’ll be surprised if that happens here. They call it the forgotten coast for a reason and every HOA I encountered before buying a lot on the cape aimed to keep it that way.

I am one of the few insurance agents in Alabama that is certified in fortified homes.

The IBHS (Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety) came out with criteria a couple years back that was proven to mitigate from severe, catastrophic losses. Only six states (AL, TX, OK, MS, GA, & SC) have adopted the standards.

There are three levels:

Bronze- metal roof, sheathing and insulation, double wraps/straps tying the roof to the home

Silver- Bronze + impact resistant glass/doors/openings

Gold- Bronze+Silver + continuous load path from roof to foundation

Orange Beach is the only municipality in the country to give homebuilders back their permit fees if they build to the Gold Fortified Standards. We are begging others to follow.

There is an inspection process that is cumbersome, but we are insuring homes along the coast in Gulf Shores & Orange Beach for less than $2,000 if they meet the standards.

For more, visit:

IBHS Website

60 minutes did a neat segment on this awhile back.

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Those rules will disappear with the stroke of a pen, the potential for long term exponential growth in city government revenue from property taxes, building permits, and sales tax growth is not something local lawmakers will ignore. You can also be bet on building codes being changed to assure that there will be no one building or rebuilding a home on the beach without spending a million dollars plus. This type of transition has occurred at ever beach community that has experienced a similar disaster.

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sad but true. I remember part of the gulfcoast that were all beach houses and now it is all highrises.

The road is jacked by the stump hole but you can get around it by truck or SUV. You can also pass on the beach to get around but just watch the tide. People are parking and walking but you can hitch a ride with those who have gotten thru.

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The outer walls are concrete. I’d imagine that the interior walls are Sheetrock

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most are. but there would need to be enough shear walls so i bet there are some that are concrete inside.

Concrete pilings ran me $35k including driving them in. Wooden would probably have been $25k - $30K. Nobody is using wood here anymore.

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Dr. Lebron Lackey told ABC News of the vacation home he built last year with his uncle.

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Dr. Lebron doing work

This is similar to the way the old plantation homes were built near the coast and along the Mississippi. They used brick instead of cement, of course. Ground floor was meant to be flooded. Old dudes knew what they were doing.