Housing Construction Testing for Hurricanes

According to Fox News, a new hurricane lab in South Carolina has begun testing housing construction in order for companies to be better able to build homes that will withstand hurricane season.

The test video that was released today shows two houses that look exactly alike attempting to withstand winds just under 100 miles per hour. One house starts to fall apart and is then blown completely off of its foundation. It crashes against the back wall of the simulator and falls into a heap. The other shows some ruffling of a few shingles on the roof, but is largely unharmed.

This could be a huge step for coastline house construction for many reasons. With hurricane damage pushing insurance claims into the billions in the last few years, insurance companies would likely breathe a huge sigh of relief when insuring these newly constructed homes. Families would likely feel safer when moving into hurricane zones if they knew their house was built to hurricane specifications as well.

Not everyone is convinced yet. As comedian Ron White says, “It isn't that the wind is blowin', it's what the wind is blowin'.” While less house pieces flying through the air would be good, the hurricane lab has yet to attempt to find out what would happen to that same house if the wind were to blow a large tree or even a car through the front window.

The lab plans to continue testing buildings and building materials in an effort to find ways to build hurricane-proof buildings. Here are some snapshots, courtesy of Fox News, of the testing.