🚀 go-pugleaf

d000442c@dc.seflin.org wrote:


> Check out this intriguing Web site - They claim to provide
> a concrete fortified home construction method proven to
> resist terrifying natural disasters such as hurricanes
> and tornadoes:
 
> http://www.concretebuilthomes.com
 
> They offer to design for you custom built, hurricane
> proof, tornado proof homes that will look just like the
> dream home you were already planning to build - for
> essentially the same cost.

Interestingly, no cost figures are on the web site, just
an email link. I'm no civil engineer, but I'll wager that
these homes, stout as they are, wouldn't stand up to a 
top-end F5 tornado like the May 3 Oklahoma City twister.
It's hard to imagine anything that could hold up under 260
mph winds...
 
The crawler at their web site says "competitively priced"
which could mean anything up to 30% higher, or more. Windows
will still leave a weak point through which flying debris
could enter and cause damage or injury inside.

Also, as a part-time cynic, I'll point out that there's a
hole in the 'environmentally friendly' claim: Concrete is
made from cement and limestone rock, both of which are 
dug from quarries (i.e. strip mines). Is it any more 
'friendly' to leave gaping holes in the ground than to cut
down a tree that can grow back in 40 years?

> Has anyone out there purchased this type of home? And
> if so, my question is - are they earthquake proof?

I'd imagine not -- concrete has a bad tendency to crack
in earthquakes. That being said, they'll probably *resist*
earthquakes better than conventional wood frame structures.

-- 
Mark Johnson			LSI Logic Storage Systems, Inc.
M/S 18				(formerly Symbios, Inc.)
mark.johnson@lsil.com		3718 N Rock Road
(316)636-8189			Wichita, KS  67226-1397

In article <378447f0@newsbox.grin.net>,
  "Steven M. Scharf" <scharf@nospam.grin.net> wrote:
>
> d000442c@dc.seflin.org wrote in message
<7m040m$jdp$1@nnrp1.deja.com>...
>
> >Has anyone out there purchased this type of home? And
> >if so, my question is - are they earthquake proof?
>
> These were on one of the TV news magazines. They do what they say for
> tornados and hurricanes, but I don't know about earthquakes. I doubt
that
> they'd be good for earthquakes, you want a house that moves, wood or
> steel.
>We built more then 1000 homes in Mexico over the past 25 years and
they have several earthquakes every year. None have had any problems.
they float on land like a battleship on water
>


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