Prefabworld Bali's cyclone resistance of its prefabricated wooden houses
HOW WELL RESISTANT ARE OUR TROPICAL WOODEN PREFAB HOUSES
ABSTRACT Wind loads during a Hurricane or Typhoon are enormously powerful and can be deadly and destructive in particular for wooden houses. Prefabricated wooden houses are extremely sensitive for unbalance. It is therefore a prerequisite that wooden prefab houses be designed in accordance with the proper codes if such house is to be built in a cyclone belt. Based on our 40 years of experience we guarantee your Prefab Bali House will be designed accordingly by applying the IBC 2018. For the USA the applicable amendments which are in force for the County where the unit will be built will be applied. Many other countries acknowledge the IBC 2018 Where necessary our designs will be upgraded to cyclone rating against a variation order for the extra costs to reinforce the standard structure. |
FULL SCALE OCCURRENCES WITHOUT MAJOR DAMAGE TO OUR UNITS
♦ | In September 2004 one of our buildings withstood hurricane Ivan that struck the Cayman islands |
♦ | In November 2009 a 2-storey unit designed and prefabricated by us lost only some roof tiles when the island of Sta. Lucia in the Caribbean was hit by hurricane Thomas |
♦ | Early November 2013 the Phillipines were hard hit by typhoon Haiyan. Our A-2 model sustained the 315 km/h (196 Mph) storm |
♦ | Early September 2017 most houses on the island of St. Maarten (Caribbean) were destroyed by the category 5+ hurricane "Irma". Structures and houses designed by our company survived this hurricane. If you haven't already read the Irma article on our home page you may read it < here > |
♦ | Mid September 2017, hurricane Maria strikes the island of Guadeloupe. The unit that was supplied by us early 2017 fully survived the ordeal without any damages. If you haven't already read the Irma article on our home page you may read it < here > |
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT CYCLONES |
All of our wooden houses with destination "cylcone or hurricane belt" will be analyzed on cyclone wind forces in accordance with the United States governing codes and regulations, subject to local amendments and provided such analysis is mandatory for the location to build.
Wooden frame houses can survive hurricanes and typhoons just fine as long as the wind does not enter the house You may consider to invest in hurricane rated doors and windows (which we can build for you), which are consistent with the overall hurricane rated structure. There are custom made hurricane shutters available on the market as well.
Wind loads during a cyclone, named a Hurricane in the Caribbean and a Typhoon in the Pacific, are enormously powerfull and can be deadly and destructive. Refer to Hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans very hard and Typhoon Haiynan which played havoc in the Phillipines. A mature hurricane or typhoon consists of bands of rotating thunderclouds and heavy rainstorms. Hurricanes (only occurring at the Northern hemisphere) spiral in counter clockwise direction around the center (eye) of the storm. Typhoons (only occurring at the Southern hemisphere) rotate in clockwise direction. The wind speeds are highest in the eye. The whole storm system can consist of hundreds of thunderstorms and measure up to 1,000 kms (over 150 miles) in diameter. To qualify as a hurricane or typhoon a storm must produce winds of over 33 meter per second (193 Mph, or 119 Km/h). Cyclones can be devastating, in particular when a structure has low stability.
The wind loads in the Hurricane or Typhoon belt depend on the Saffir-Simpson scale in which category such storm is assigned. A category 5 storm may well reach a devastating wind speed of 155 Mph (252 km/h). In accordance with the IBC 2009, the highest basic wind speed may occur at the Southern Hemisphere (Typhoon) measuring 170 Mph (276 Km/h). The Hurricanes in the Caribbean storm belt are mostly assigned to a maximum of a category 4 storm with a maximum speed of 145 Mph (235 Km/h). The Hawaiian islands are assigned to category 2 with a maximum wind speed of 105 Mph. Recent scientific studies, however, reveal that the Hurricane and Typhoon wind forces will increase considerably during the next decennium due to global warming. In consequence and as per the scientific prediction we have arbitrarily increased the standard IBC wind loads with 10% for extra safety. The standard construction for our houses is based on a normal general highest wind load, however, the construction will be modified based on the the results of our structural analyses for the hurricane or cyclone area where the house is to be built
We will use hurricane anchors in the structure when the design needs to withstand hurricane wind forces.
One of our cyclone rated truss structure |
Units that we designed and supplied for cylcone areas which all survived.
Sta. Lucia, unit survived hurricane Thomas | Guadeloupe, Caribbean, unit survived hurricane Maria | St. Maarten, Caribbean, unit survived hurricane Irma |
Phlippines, unit survived hurricane Hainan | St. Maarten, Caribbean, unit survived hurricane Irma |
HOW TO MAKE YOUR HOUSE CYCLONE TO THE MAXIMUM POSSIBLE
♦ | Protect your doors. Either install hurricane doors or protect the doors with dead bolts, strong locking mechanisms, secure side-by-side doors, reinforce the glass areas with protection board |
♦ | Protect your windows. Do not waste your timr taping your windows. Tape offers pratically no protection. Install storm shutters, reinforce the glass areas with protection board |
♦ | Protect your roof Have us designed the roof trusses and wall framing to cyclone rating. |
♦ | Protect yourself Add a safe room to your house. |