ENERTIA HOMES
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TORNADO SAFE HOMES
It is well within the realm of modern construction methods and engineering to be able to build a home that will not be destroyed by a hurricane or tornado. You will lose nailed-on decorative items, and window glass, but a properly designed structure isn’t going anywhere.
Insurance will probably cover the rebuilding of your flattened stick-framed house, but everyone we have talked to in weather-beaten North Carolina says the real pain and stress is in the inconvenience, time lost, and interruption of your life for nearly a year - all to get back to where you were, with the same-old, same-old house that is just as vulnerable the next time.
A tornado safe structure is possible, but only with a home that has what all traditional homes once had- a basement. A basement provides the anchorage from weight and friction that prevents wind from overturning the structure above.
We can engineer and tie down slab-on-grade structures with concrete grade-beams and helical screw tie-downs, but by then you will have spent enough to have built a basement which gives you extra useable space, and a safe place below grade during a disastrous storm.
We can engineer and tie down slab-on-grade structures with concrete grade-beams and helical screw tie-downs, but by then you will have spent enough to have built a basement which gives you extra useable space, and a safe place below grade during a disastrous storm.
We can design and provide you with a package, and blueprint for a structure that will survive a specified tornado of EF-1, to EF-5. If your EF designed and built structure is destroyed by a storm of equal or lesser strength (as indicated by NOAA after-the -fact evaluation) we will supply you with a free replacement kit.
Image from http://www.tornadoproject.com
Image from http://www.tornadoproject.com
Some of the specifications and features of an EF-Rated building are: Steel tie rods from footings to roof, Gluelam double-wall system with steel tube linking-struts on at least two sides of the building, Gluelam girders, rafters, and buttresses, SIPS roof panels with internal reinforcing at up-lift points, and sufficient weight (mass) to resist over-turning.
Conventional builders focus on holding the building up. We also focus on wind-shear, impact-resistance and holding the building down.
Conventional builders focus on holding the building up. We also focus on wind-shear, impact-resistance and holding the building down.
It’s your decision on how far you want to go. Simply building with Enertia Gluelam walls instead of sticks, provides an enormous increase in protection. Some of the features that add strength (like the double walls) also add energy efficiency. Leaving off plastic house-wraps and fiberglas and/or replacing them with natural materials like wood, may also provide health and environmental benefits. Landfill space will not be needed, and your house will not contribute to your neighborhood “debris-field.”
TORNADO REPLACEMENT GUARANTEE
If your Tornado Safe home, built from an Enertia supplied EF-Rated kit and completed to the specifications of the Enertia drawn blueprint, is destroyed, or racked by more then 5 degrees, by a storm equal to, or lesser than, the EF Number of your original kit, as certified by a NOAA storm evaluator, we will supply a replacement kit. We reserve the right-to-inspect to confirm the structure followed the blueprint, and we reserve the right to incorporate undamaged components from the original structure. All new fasteners will be supplied.
If your Tornado Safe home, built from an Enertia supplied EF-Rated kit and completed to the specifications of the Enertia drawn blueprint, is destroyed, or racked by more then 5 degrees, by a storm equal to, or lesser than, the EF Number of your original kit, as certified by a NOAA storm evaluator, we will supply a replacement kit. We reserve the right-to-inspect to confirm the structure followed the blueprint, and we reserve the right to incorporate undamaged components from the original structure. All new fasteners will be supplied.