Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

Starting this thread for educational purposes. No agenda, just trying to be informative. Not looking for sympathy.

“Is this your main house or a 2nd place? Either way, sorry you had the trouble. I’m moving to hurricane zone next year.”

Not my daily home, it’s a weekend place. Worked super hard to buy it, I didn’t grow up with inherited money. Took a chance on not spending 10k a year on flood insurance. Nearly made it pay off. Owned the house for 20 years. When I bought it, flood was 5k per year. When it hit 7, I quit buying it.

Fallguy, before you build or buy on the water- consider advice from locals and others on the gulf. I’m liking the building advice that Rick Berry is posting. Build solid and have a solid plan to get the hell out if the shit hits the fan.

Every hurricane is different, I’ve been through a bunch. Hurricane Charley wiped out Port Charlotte which is 120 miles south of us but we literally got zero wind . Helene wrecked the entire west coast of Florida as well as huge swaths of Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Helen hit us in South Carolina coast with winds and rain that created the worst damage since Matthew. Upstate is trashed. Can’t teach folks up there.

Worst storm I went though was Celia in 1970 in Corpus Christi , I was 11 , it is listed as a class 4 with wind speed of 140 at the internal airport , only problem is the wind gage blew out at 140 , micro burst took off the roof,s . i was doing hurricane repair after Ivan on a condo on Perdido Key Fl side and villas at Interarity Point , most owners of the villas were retired military , one a former Navy pilot said Ivan was not near as bad as a storm that hit Corpus Christi in 1970 . The pilots were seeing white specks on the ground while flying over the town and finely figured out they were the tops of ice boxes , I told him one belonged to my family . People tend to pull together after a hurricane and get though in the long run , and it is easier today than it was back then . I have built along the Gulf coast most of my life , new codes help protect from winds , but codes are not everything . On Ft Morgan rd there are many houses that are well over 100 years old , they were not built to code . The closest house to the water on the Alabama coast was first built by my grandfather around 1962 , the piles were put down with post hole diggers , it survived Camel which took our pier , Fredrick took the house and left the piles , there is another house built on the piles that has survived many more storms and were not put down by code . The house off to the side and behind that one is built on the piles put in with post hole diggers and floor that my grand father built in 1956 , storm surge in Fredric took most of the house . I am saying all this to say living on the beach is luck of the draw , depending on when and what hurricane hits you , because one will hit you sooner or later . Flooding and storm surge are 2 different things , you can build for flooding , but having enough money to have concrete piles and concrete house is out of the price range for most people , those are about the only structures that can take a wave pushing up on the substructure and walls . Contractors today build by code , your 2x12,s are screwed into your wood piles by 3 screws instead of the old way of 2 1/2 to 5/8 gal. bolt,s . There is a contractor that built his own house and poured concrete under the house for parking with no diamond,s or expansion joint material around the piles . The concrete was all cracked , i explained to him why you need exp joint or a diamond with exp joint around the piles . The last brand new house he built is to code , it sold for 680k , the concrete under the new house is cracked and no exp joint on the piles . The concrete from pile to pile acts as a strut , so in a high wind event the house will sway and the piles can develop cracks top or bottom of the concrete , the house was built to code and the contractor saved 30 bucks . I will not have insurance on my house Richard , it is too high and has a 10% deduct , I have put years of thought into the design concept and at 65 I feel good on a 20 year gamble . fallguy should be ok on Mustang Island , unless the dunes have degraded since I was there last , but it is a gamble , he should take lessons learned from others , never ride one out , even a depression , board it up , and when you walk out the door take what you would if it were the last time . And don't rely on insurance , flood will tell you it was wind that took it and wind will tell you it was flood . To me the life near the gulf is worth the risk , and it is home , so a natural thing we deal with , I have drove many a nail out of plywood from a roof and nailed it back up again and might do it again .

Hello all,

Was texting with my buddy yesterday who is a civil engineer and CEO of Durastress in Lessburg. He was asking about a friends house here in Steinhatchee which he did the engineering on. It stands just east of the public boat ramp and was ground zero for the 15-20 ft surge which hit us. It sits on prestressed concrete pilings with prestressed concrete beams on top. It survived where everything around it was totally wiped out.
The house lost some of its roof over a porch which faces South towards the River. It is right on the river and about 20 ft off the ground.

I am sure this was an expensive way to build but his friend probably got a great deal on the prestressed items and the engineering.

Durastress builds a lot of parts for highway bridges, overpasses, parking garages, pilings, double T's, etc.

What was weird about this Helene storm was the combination of huge storm surge and very high winds. The flooding went so far inland that homes that had never seen any water got flooded. It took homes that had never seen surge and moved them while flooding them. Worst damage that anyone has seen.

Regards
Tom in Steinhatchee

Interesting getting other guy’s perspectives and ideas.
A lot of them line up with my own.
So I actually have some insurance on the house, just not flood. I have wind, fire and liability with a $7,500 hurricane deductible. I had no damage from wind. I could have borrowed my daughter’s Tesla, let the home burn down and it would have been covered. Of course I wouldn’t do that, I actually flipped the main when I locked it down.
The economics of the situation is 7k annually for fire/wind, 10k for flood and 6k for property tax. That is for a very modest 1600sf home. A rational person is going to make a decision to put the house on the market-(which it was). Obviously it can’t be marketed now unless I fix it, replace it with a stilt house or tear it down and sell the lot.

I doubt there is much I can tell you that you don't already know . If there is any of the structure left I would dry it in the best that I could , try and beat everyone to a dumpster and get it cleaned up . I know that is easy to say , but it is your next step either today , next week or next month . Any sheet rock that has been wet with insulation behind it needs to come out , any sheet rock with no insulation I would let stay . After that I would back off and access my situation and decide on my direction . Whatever you get done before someone makes you get a permit you will be money ahead .

Yes sir, drying the house out as best we can. Basically all of the contents are in a giant pile by the curb. Just need to remove the remaining cabinets and 4’ of drywall. Hell of a mess but it’s getting better. Going to try to do some food delivery on Thursday. There are bunches of folks homeless and living their cars.

This storm has done some massive damage where damage was done . When your waiting for a storm to come in you always hope it goes somewhere else or you at least get the weak side , then you feel that little bit of guilt when you see where somewhere else is and the damage it has caused . One of my nephews was sent to Tampa for the storm , he,s been sent to NC now , we at least have a hurricane mindset living on the coast .

This photo is taken of the side of my canal front home near the peak of the flood.

Terrible AA!! Jeff

We bought a house halfmile offshore in Corpus a few months ago.

Our insurance is about $1000 a month. Texas Wind is like 5k, flood is like 5k, insirance is like 2k.

I support your rejection of $7k fully. People bitch about inflation and groceries, but the best way to stop the madness is not pay $7.28 for a 14 ounce bag of Doritos. Get in the house and gut it. Throw it all outside in a pile near the main road. These places all end up creating massive dumps.

If the house was made with bilt rite; you gotta take off the siding maybe up to the water level.

Take some hard workers there and bang it out faster the better.

Send me a way to blast you some money Richard and I’ll ask you to give it away or feed someone. Just $100, but beats a kick in the shorts.

Dan, we are drying the house out the best we can. Just got power turned back on at 3:30pm today. Main is still flipped, ac was above water on a flood bracket. Ripped out 27 wall outlets. Fire is a problem with flooded houses with saltwater. Went over to Sea Ranch today to the County Emergency Management Mobile Office. Took me two and a half hours to drive 3 miles. Had to sign a fire waiver. Road got blocked due to a stilt house catching fire. Stilts are exempt from the waivers.

Dan, I’ll send you a donate link to a local food bank. Thank you. Sandi rescued a 4 week old squirrel the day after the hurricane. He’s living large now lol.

I bet that little fella has no idea how lucky he has landed.

It,s good to see your on top of things . For those that don't know a cup of clorox and a gallon of water is cheaper than microban for mold if you are dealing with your own remediation . If someone comes into your house and takes a mold reading and does not take one outside you are getting scammed . Mold dies after it drys out and clorox kills it , too much clorox can cause mold to encapsulate so it need to be mixed correctly . You don't always have to rip out all your sheet rock if there is no insulation to hold moisture . A contractor will come in and scare people into gutting their whole house , if you have black mold you will probably know it , and it all needs to go . AA if you decide to keep the house I would go back with a closed cell foam insulation and green rock . If there is ever a future event you can drill a few drain holes in the bottom of the walls , throw in a dehue , patch and paint the walls after they dry out .

Richard... sorry to see the fish coming to you in that way.

I haven't visited the forums in awhile.

Tom W, as far as I know, has been still living in the mountains in western North Carolina, with *No Excuse*. Maybe still traveling to Ohio (?) now and then. Has anyone heard from him since Helene's rains dumped in the mountains?

Karl S (CV16 - Measure of Faith)

... and hello to everyone!

Tom posted he's okay on top of the mountain. I bought No Excuse from him in October of '22. His wife Deb passed earlier this year.

Was thinking of you earlier today....too weird. How's the boat? Using it?

Only just seen this thread. Total heartfelt sympathy to everyone affected.

I almost burnt our house down five years ago. Took me three years to fix everything (we sacked the contractors for poor work and did it all ourselves). Almost drove myself insane doing it - building the boat was "therapy" to get my head straight after all that.

The very best of luck and best wishes to everyone in getting things sorted out.

Mick

Thank you for the update cape man. Glad Tom is ok. Sorry to hear about Deb.

The CV 16 -- having issues getting a print of the title, still, from Florida, to get an NC title again. When I first tried years ago, when I first moved back to NC, the paperwork said one can only get a print of the title if a current Florida resident. ??? I had already moved out . So time to try again. It's been sitting in the backyard in NC since 2017, patient. Needs some refinishing of the transom, but I hear it beginning to pine to be back in the water. Been busy on the house and in the yard, for years. Real busy. Busier than I want to be with it, but it all needed attention.

How are you doing? I imagine you finished the sailboat work and got her relaunched? How is *No Excuse* doing? Still brewing beer?

Richard, glad your power is back on, and the AC was mounted above flood water level. I hope there will be no other surprises getting things cleaned up, dried out, and rebuilt, and some nice new outlets and wire. Do you think you will need to replace any fixtures in the ceiling?

Karl S.
(CV-16 -- Measure of Faith)

Guys Asheville as a tourist town has been totally destroyed. It is going to take not months but years to rebuild it. I wish I could show you the pictures from the local TV station of the downed trees and houses floating off their foundations and general flooding still going on. It unfortunately has two rivers flowing through it the French Broad which crested 10' above its previous high and the Swannanoa which crested 8' above its previous high.

Tom

Is FEMA on site Tom W ? I know there are Federal teams on the ground because I have a nephew there . If FEMA has not showed up in force in the total path of destruction it is troubling , especially with them saying they are about of money .

Glad to hear you are alright Tom.

Karl S.

rick berrey wrote: ↑Thu Oct 03, 2024 9:34 pm Is FEMA on site Tom W ? I know there are Federal teams on the ground because I have a nephew there . If FEMA has not showed up in force in the total path of destruction it is troubling , especially with them saying they are about of money .

Yes FEMA is on the ground providing food and water at this time. Every county is different but generally they are well covering all the counties here. The main road through the Great Smokies Mountains National Park has reopened so traffic between TN and NC can resume. I40 is block at the border.

Tom

Thank you for that update Tom.

Karl S.

Glad FEMA is on the ground , there will always be complaint,s , some will turn out to be justified some will not be .

I’m guessing the slow FEMA response in western North Carolina was mostly due to focusing the bulk of the resources along the path of landfall. I knew when DeSantis diverted personnel early on that something serious was happening. I heard that one of the teams from Florida saved an 11 day old baby so that’s awesome.
Quick question for Rick Berry…I have removed the wet drywall and I’m seeing a little bit of green mold on the studs. The 1 cup bleach per gallon water and sprayed on is the proper procedure for mold remediation on wood studs?

A little upgrade there are nearly 300 landslides closing roads and shifting river courses. As I said yesterday Interstate 40 at the TN/NC line is closed with no opening date disclosed at this time. They have brought a huge crane into Asheville to remove trees from areas where they need to be removed from. The worst thing is how high the water came up and washed things away and damaged the insides of buildings. Also, the wind at 60mph and gusts to 100 in the high mountains, which has caused damaged to the Great Smokies National Park, Biltmore Forest Estate and other areas. They are predicting months for the cleanup and years for the rebuild.

Tom

Richard it should be a 10% bleach solution to kill mold, so a cup seems a little light to me. Yep, just checked a cup is only .0625 pf a gallon. Use 1/10 of a gallon of bleach to one gallon of water less the bleach amount. This is what I used to use to sanitize my pots for starting cuttings in the Nursery and recommended by the experts to kill molds and other nasties. I would use !Gal of bleach to 9Gal of water. in a large bin to dip the trays. Tom








t

A cup and a half probably wont be too much , but a cup should do it . Green mold is better than black mold . When it drys out it will kill it anyway , just spray , let it dry and scrape it off . Make sure you board up for the next one on the 9th .

Hello all,

Why board up as it does little to stop the damage. Maybe save a window from flying debris but to see what 140 mph winds will do I am of the opinion it is a waste of time. Does not do much for Storm Surge.

Yeah its looks like Florida is going to get it again.

Regards
Tom in Steinhatchee

AA you might be about to get another one.

Boarding up might not help storm surge but if it keeps a window from blowing out it saves a lot . AA should get the weak side of the storm if the storm goes in the direction it is showing today , so surge should not be a problem . You always do all you can do .

Richard and Craig good luck with this new one coming your way. We have now had over 330 landslides in NC now taking out roads, houses, collapsing into streams and rivers and just making a nuisance of themselves. Tom

fishgitr wrote: ↑Sat Oct 05, 2024 9:34 pm AA you might be about to get another one.

At my Dade City house, we installed hurricane impact windows a couple of years ago. Also put on a new roof with peel and stick waterproofing commercial quality metal roof. No risk of flood, the elevation is 247’. I’m cautiously confident we should be ok. We shall see. Tornados are what trashed us during hurricane Irma.

Sounds like you folks in that area just can not get a brake. Last thing south-east need at this point is more wind and rain.

Fuzz wrote: ↑Mon Oct 07, 2024 2:12 pm Sounds like you folks in that area just can not get a brake. Last thing south-east need at this point is more wind and rain.

It’s blowing sustained 175 right now. I’m confident it will lay down some before it hits.

I miss West Bradenton and bike rides in Robinson Preserve, and fishing and boating around Palma Sola and Anna Maria Island, motoring out to Rod and Reel from Palma Sola in my CV16. Saw my first friendly dolphin ahead of the CV16 in Palma Sola bay. But my prayers for the area and old neighbors and friends are very different now, and for the months ahead. Hoping for a significant weakening of Milton, and that wisdom and amazing helpful neighborliness prevails.

Karl S.

When you guys down in Florida can, let us know how you are doing. It sounds like many are without power. Tom

We were out of power and running water for four days with Helene, it's going to be a long while for some folks.

Talked with Reid 8:45aET Oct 11. Everyone is well. Shop avoided catastrophy. There will be general clean up for a while, but they hope to be able to support everyone very soon.

The eye passed over us a little after 10pm Wednesday. Very noisy under a tin roof!! At 6am I was able to walk up to the house and all was good.

The river crested here around 2am this morning, well below the floors of the house and barn, and has dropped a good 10 inches as of now. Will be Monday or Tuesday before we can drive into the house, and get a down line repaired to get power. They said they will have power to the road (and our barn where we are staying) later today.
All in all, we have survived a major hurricane and river flooding without major damage! New metal roofs and windows helped.

Irma's crest in 2017 was 22.79'. This was a BIG one!

Very glad to hear it, Craig! I've seen that barn, not the worst spot to weather a storm!!!

Jeff

Jaysen wrote: ↑Fri Oct 11, 2024 9:14 am Talked with Reid 8:45aET Oct 11. Everyone is well. Shop avoided catastrophy. There will be general clean up for a while, but they hope to be able to support everyone very soon.

Good to hear. Logged back in to check on them.

There was a September 7, 1933 flood that if the crest is accurate the water would get in the house, but we just withstood a record level for me after 31 years of living here. It was built well and high. The flooding in Florida is historic with lots of folks underwater. It has dropped about 4 feet since the crest at 2am yesterday.

Craig glad to hear your all okay and have communications. How did the boats fare? Tom

Both Dories are safe in a neighbor's field.

That was an unforgettable blow at 257’ elevation. Milton tore up a bunch of our stuff that can be replaced. Very happy none of us who rode it out on the hill got hurt. Lost one cow that got pinned down by a falling tree. Still no power but we have a generator and a water well. 6 neighbors are running hoses to our 8” well. Fortunately, the weather has turned cooler so ac is not a necessity. Probably have 150 big trees down on 40 acres. Only 6 of them landed on a structure of some sort.

Richard that is a lot of trees to clean up, feel for you. Take care when you do so and take your time. Tom

I finally got power back 15 minutes ago. Milton was a drag.

I still don’t have power. Not the end of the world but it’s unnecessary.
Three power companies have power lines that go by my property in Dade City.
Duke/Florida Power is in my front yard. Literally in my front yard. Pole are 80’ tall. No tree limb can get anywhere near them. Steel poles, every so often they put up a 100 ton concrete pole.
Withlacoochee Co-Op is 1 mile away. Same thing, huge poles above the tree line. Concrete and steel poles.
I’ve got TECO, don’t have a choice.Their poles are on the opposite side of my street. They put up 30’ fence posts with a 4x4 for the insulators. They blow down every time a storm goes through or somebody cuts a fart.
Not hacking on their lineman, they are solid.
Their engineers could use some quality training on how to build something that will stand up to a stiff breeze.

They were ready to energize our community yesterday afternoon but discovered 3 bad fuses along our lines and didn't have them on the trucks from Arkansas. They said they'll be here first thing today...
It's a mess here.

I don't think Cracker Larry would have said, "Ain't nothing but a thing", but if he heard someone else say it, he might have given a single subtle head nod.

ks8 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2024 1:14 pm I don't think Cracker Larry would have said, "Ain't nothing but a thing", but if he heard someone else say it, he might have given a single subtle head nod.

I knew him pretty well. He would have said this sucks.

Rod and reel is history…
Hopefully, it will be able to be rebuilt.

Losing those kind of places that just can not be replaced really sucks! I feel for all those who have had their lives ripped apart by the storms. Even worse for those who lived in places where this was not expected to happen.

The water crested at the bottom of the rafters below the house. 2nd highest crest, with a 1933 flood 3 feet higher (which I'm checking on because I don't believe it). We dodged the worst of it. Our biggest damage was the outdoor kitchen/bar which floated up and flipped over. The electric line kept it from going further. I'm going to be in shape after this one!!

Hope the bar was empty Cape Man , I hate it for all of ya'll . On the bright side I'm sure there will be new regulations soon to help . There is a guy and his wife here that are in their late 80.s , there house flooded in Hurricane Sally . He started to fix it but was stopped by the wildlife people who said he needed a permit from them , the county then got involved and said he had to bring it up to code . You can live in an rv for one year while you build , he has been there well over a year and the county is telling him the rv and his conex,s have to go . I don't think he has the money to bring it up to code , I think they have been living there for about 40 years , it is a shame what our country has come to , they might as well throw them in a ditch and kick dirt on them .

Neighbor and great friend in Hudson is basically homeless. AC company applied for a permit to replace his AC unit and our county said they are not issuing permits for ground level homes in zone A until a full assessment of rebuilding costs are completed. This red tape prolongs homelessness. Another neighbor across my canal is living in a tent while he is DIY’ing his rebuild.

Regulations are there to keep insurance cost down and in some cases to enrich a few occupations . Many of us cant afford insurance on the beach anymore anyway , and I'm not concerned with lowering my neighbors , or a condo owners insurance rate at my expense . We need to do away with the regulations and disband planning boards and protect home owners rights .

Update from the mountains. Now over 160 dead and 90 still missing after 3 weeks. Over 400 landslides blocking roads and places that people can't be reached, dropping food and water by helicopter. Some schools have still not started up and others have had to alter routes or set up pick up points. Many are homeless. Rivers have changed their course. Some still without power and we have been down in the low 30's and even 20's at night for those without power or homes.

Tom

That picture of Rod and Reel was after Helene and before Milton, when the restaurant itself was still on the pilings. Milton dismantled it and redistributed on, in, and under water. With its almost landmark significance, I hope there is some sort of funding or grant that makes a rebuild possible -- but it won't be cheap. I've been doubtful if building the Freedom Tower at ground zero was the right thing to do, because it was building on top of a type of a mass grave, caused by violent terrorists, purposely aiming to kill innocent people. But this is different. I would like to see R&R back on the landscape, built stronger than ever -- when other more important structures, like homes and infrastructure, -- and lives -- are rebuilt or restored first, stronger than ever.

You are right, Richard, reminding us of Cracker Larry.

"This sucks."