My wife and I will be building a home in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I would be interested in hearing what everyone has to say about a few items of concern to me:
1. Exterior sheathing.
What is better, OSB or plywood. I am aware of the problems with swelling with OSB. What will hold up better over the long term?
2. Flashing.
What is the best way to flash windows and doors? Is it a fact of life that no matter what you do you will get some water infiltration with high winds and driven water?
3. Hurricane shutters.
What is the best way to go? I would like something more decorative than a metal panal which covers the window. Roll-up shutter systems are also not too attractive to us. We are building a home styled after old Cape Cod cottages.
I would appreciate any other input as to how to make sure that the structure of this home will hold up over time.
Thank you.
Replies
Kevin.....Im a builder located near the outer banks, these are popular questions.
Plywood.....no osb. To keep it simple, the stuff is junk.
We always caulk the nailing flanges on the windows before installation. Then use
flashing tape over the flanges after they are installed. Finally we make metal
(aluminum or copper) head flashing for the top.....be sure the part going up the
wall is under the paper. No leaky window call backs in almost 20 yrs.
Hurricand shutters- The removable panels are becoming popular here. They are
very rigid, easy to install and remove, and the tracks around the windows are
hardly noticable.....................
Hope this helps...............................Sandy
I would make sure you have good drainage a grade slope away from the house. ask the neighbors about flooding, windows unbreakable glazing. siding should be steel, concrete, make sure the roof is tied to the foundation, very best wind resistance shingle.
The house should not be built in square or rectangle, build in bump outs on all the walls. to break up the straight line of the wall gives less area to push on.
Actually, wind force is proportional to the area exposed. Whether it is square or rectangular in shape doesn't really matter - it's the exposed area. Maybe what you are really thinking is that 'bumps' may shed the wind, but regardless, the lateral force exerted by wind is proportional to the area. (Actually, depending on where the 'bumps' are located, you may actually be increasing the wind force if it is perpendicular to the wind direction.) What you really want to do is to minimize the frontal area on the windward side as much as you can. Wind force also increases with height, so one-story houses are obviously better too. As the wind goes over the roof, it causes suction too. I believe one person wrote about the need for hurricane clips, but I would imagine in that part of the country that is standard construction practice now.
Long ago I came across a book in a local library that covered many points: "Coastal Design". Sorry I don't have an author or ISBN. I Xeroxed a mess of pages with information I wanted to keep but I can't find them. If I run across them I will post back with details.
You might want to Google "SFBC" South Florida Building Code and "Broward County building codes" or "Miami-Dade building codes" as the entire area is pretty much considered coastal when a hurricane comes ashore.
A long read but a very good survey of what fails why and what you can prevent it from failing. http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/wp/wp94/wp94.html#climate
The actual codes part of this might not be up yet . This will be official when it does. http://www.buildingcodeonline.com/
A draft of the proposed code. http://www.sbcci.org/floridacodes.htm
If you dig you can find a lot of information on this site. http://www.blueprintforsafety.org/index.html
In the midwest these specs are called massively overbuilt. Down here it is barely adequate at a reasonable cost.