Maybe if American Homes are built with concrete instead of flimsy plywood

[UndertheOcean]

They can hold up to hurricanes much better .

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Insulating Concrete Forms

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulating_concrete_forms

Great stuff.

[csziggy]

5. We finished an ICF house last spring

It was about the same cost per square foot as the estimates we got from conventional builders for 2x4 framing. We barely noticed the winds from TD Fay when it came over and it took four days with no power and 90+ degree days for the house to get warm. The temps were still not that bad inside but with 90-100% humidity, it was too uncomfortable to sleep. Once the power was back and the humidity dropped, the house was comfortable again in less than a half hour.

We did not put in the wind resistant windows & doors that cost so much because we are 30 miles from the coast and are in a 120 mph zone (I think that is the estimate of what our winds would reach if a Cat 4 or 5 hit the coast). We've got Hardie plank cement siding and a metal roof that is screwed down every six inches. We think this house will be safe in a hurricane and since we're on top of a 200' ridge (respectable for Florida) we aren't worried about flooding - unless all the glaciers and the polar ice caps melt.

[ddeclue]

2. Depends...

Concrete can crack and spall and weaken under salt exposure.

Concrete is also a much more expensive building material than plywood.

It is also much more energy intensive.

Doug D.

[spin]

3. How about dome homes?

PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. - First light revealed that the "Dome Home" made it through the night and did exactly what it was designed to do -- survive even the worst hurricane.

I’ve been hunkered down with an NBC News team in a “Dome Home” right on Pensacola Beach, directly in the path of Hurricane Ivan.

The shape of the home is what you might suspect from its name. It was designed by Mark Sigler to withstand winds up to 300 miles per hour and a direct hit from a hurricane.

***************snip**************

Unfortunately, not all of the dome’s neighbors fared so well.

Three houses directly to the east are gone. The houses to the west have the windows blown out and are likely trashed inside.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6011773/

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

4. Plywood homes are built for 50 years, not 500

...Which is really, really stupid.

I would say, stone houses all the way, EXCEPT that there is an energy problem with them. Oh well...if we could make houses with good insulation, maybe we can tackle both problems at the same time.

And stone looks much more showy than a boring ranch-style face.

[eshfemme]

7. I've always that way of thinking too.

Hence, why I think if I ever had the money and inclination to buy a house, I wouldn't because the majority of American houses are wood and I would be purchasing a house for my family and descendants-- not something that will rot away.

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

8. I'd go for a pre-modern look

Some style from the Medieval, Renaissance or Classical periods, not anything 19th or 20th or 21st century.

[Skidmore]

9. Plywood house are built to keep the construction industry in business.

[kcass1954]

6. Sorry, but all those homes in Miami that were destroyed by Andrew in 1992 -

the vast majority of them were concrete block construction.