September 2008
by Ted Cushman
Hurricane Katrina taught a valuable lesson: the only houses likely to survive the ravages of a major hurricane are made of concrete. Dave Pfanmiller, a custom-home builder in Gulfport, Miss., uses Wall Ties aluminum concrete forms to build these homes on the Gulf Coast. Pfanmiller and his friend Curt Fields of Raleigh, N.C., developed a method that draws on the techniques of residential builders as well as those in commercial concrete construction to build multilevel custom homes. Ted Cushman explains how it's done.
First 100 Words:
Concrete Houses for the Coast Thanks to their durability, reinforced concrete homes have found a niche in the custom coastal market Ted Cushman Tougher coastal building codes have led stick builders to beef up structures using engineered lumber, structural wood panels, enhanced fastening schedules, and heavy-duty hold-down and connector hardware. But there's a limit to what you can accomplish using wood. If you want to resist the roughest stuff a hurricane can throw at you, it's hard to beat reinforced concrete. Hurricane Katrina gave dramatic proof of that: 350 feet inland from the shore in Pass Christian, Miss., a partially
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