m a r i n e advice 



ts' Motto: Bo Prepared 



If you're going to look a hurricane 

 in the eye, it's best to be prepared. 

 That's what Sea Grant extension spe- 

 cialist Spencer Rogers has been telling 

 coastal homeowners, building code 

 councils from North Carolina to Texas, 

 and federal insurance and emergency 

 management officials. 



For more than a decade, Rogers 

 has preached the payoffs of hurricane- 

 resistant construction. He's urged 

 homeowners to build their beach houses 

 high atop pilings 

 sunk deep in the 

 sand and fastened 

 securely with cor- 

 rosion-resistant 

 hurricane clips and 

 connectors. He's 

 educated the con- 

 struction industry 

 and helped make 

 the N.C. Building 

 Code a model for 

 other Southeastern 

 states wanting to 

 shore up their 

 coastal construction standards against 

 these monster storms. 



And his sermons have paid off. A 

 comparison of post-storm damage and 

 costs resulting from Hurricane Diana in 

 North Carolina and Hurricane Alicia in 

 Texas — storms of similar size — 

 showed that Tar Heel coastal homeown- 

 ers saved $80 million in repairs. The 

 difference? North Carolina had tougher 

 standards for coastal construction. 



Rogers' construction lessons have 

 other payoffs too. They can help 

 homeowners save on their annual fed- 

 eral flood insurance premiums. Each 

 year, homeowners who live in flood 

 zones along the coast pay an average of 

 $367 to the National Flood Insurance 

 Program to insure their homes against 

 high waters from hurricanes and other 

 coastal storms. 



But those homeowners who have 

 heeded Rogers' advice and built piling- 

 supported houses can get a 60 percent 



savings on their premium payments. For 

 the average owner of a beach house, that 

 can mean a savings of $220 a year. 



New beach homes can be designed 

 and built to ensure that savings are guar- 

 anteed, Rogers says. Over the 70-year 

 lifetime of a house, a homeowner can 

 save more than $15,000. 



To spread the word about this pos- 

 sible windfall, Rogers has been talking 

 to homeowners, builders and insurers. 

 He's written fact sheets and talked to the 



Spencer Rogers 



Hurricane-resistant construction 



media. Homeowners from Corolla to 

 Brownsville, Texas, have gotten the 

 message and pocketed the savings. 



In another effort to save homeown- 

 ers time and repair costs, Rogers worked 

 with the LaQue Corrosion Center in 

 Wrightsville Beach to study the corro- 

 sion rates of metal tie-down straps in the 

 beachfront environment. He found that 

 typical hurricane straps used in ocean- 

 front and first-row homes corroded 

 within five years and were ineffective in 

 securing the connections between roofs, 

 walls and foundations. To withstand 

 corrosive forces, clips needed to be 

 heavily galvanized with a zinc coating 

 or made of stainless steel. 



Based on Rogers' findings, the 

 N.C. Building Code Council adopted 

 regulations requiring builders to install 

 corrosion-resistant connectors in new 

 oceanfront construction. Again, the 

 news of Rogers' work spread to other 

 Southeastern states, particularly Texas, 



and homeowners began asking building 

 suppliers for galvanized and stainless 

 steel connectors. 



In response to the growing demand, 

 two national companies added stainless 

 steel clips to their product lines. Other 

 companies began offering clips with a 

 heavier galvanized coating. Now, the 

 market for corrosion-resistant clips is 

 estimated at $250,000 annually. And 

 homeowners who use them save untold 

 millions in roof and foundation repairs 

 in the aftermath of 

 hurricanes. 



Because of 

 Rogers' efforts to 

 extend information 

 to the public about 

 erosion and coastal 

 construction, he 

 was recently 

 awarded a 1994 

 Outstanding Exten- 

 sion Service 

 Award by N.C. 

 State University. 

 The awards are 

 given to faculty and staff for superior 

 performance in extending new 

 information, practices or public 

 service programs and in encouraging 

 their adoption. 



To receive some of Rogers' sage 

 advice, send for one or all of the follow- 

 ing publications. 



• Wooden Wind Anchors for 

 Hurricane-Resistant Construction 

 Near the Ocean, UNC-SG-BP-84-3. 

 2 pages. Free. 



• Corrosion in Salt Air, 

 UNC-SG-BP-85-3. 4 pages. Free. 



• Saving Money in the Wake 

 of Changing Flood Maps, 

 UNC-SG-BP-92-02. 2 pages. Free. 



• Saving Money on Flood 

 Insurance for Coastal Property Owners, 

 UNC-SG-89-05. 12 pages. $1.' 



Send orders to N.C. Sea Grant, Box 

 8605, N.C. State University, Raleigh, 

 NC 27695-8605. 



COASTWATCH 23 



