Defying The Disaster: Exploring Resilient Housing

[Guest guest]

Defying The Disaster: Exploring Resilient Housing

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090219101704.htm

Science Daily (press release) - USA

ScienceDaily (Feb. 19, 2009) — Researchers at North Carolina State

University are determining ways to speed the return of residents to

their homes in the wake of natural disasters.

The first step is providing better, more accessible information about

available tools and technologies to homeowners, builders, architects

and others says Dr. Dave Tilotta, associate professor of wood

products at NC State.

In the first part of a multi-phase study examining the resilience of

homes in the southeastern United States, Tilotta and his

collaborators spent more than a year surveying and interviewing

homeowners, home industry professionals, inspectors and other

stakeholders to determine the greatest needs in constructing a

natural disaster resilient home.

" We then compared those needs to resources and technologies that

already exist to determine the research and education gaps, " Tilotta

says.

The study showed four key research or education areas where homeowner

needs are currently unmet:

Assessing, responding to and mitigating mold-related problems;

Providing new materials and retrofitting homes to make them

resilient;

Providing homeowners and builders incentives – tax breaks, insurance

premium discounts, etc. – to build or retrofit homes or build

resilient homes;

Providing education and outreach for new and existing resilient

technologies.

" One example of an education and outreach gap we found is that many

people want more information on the prevention of housing damage from

natural disasters, " Tilotta says. " The Federal Emergency Management

Agency and American Red Cross, for example, have tons of prevention

materials. So, where is the disconnect? Is it the way the materials

are packaged?

The next stage of our study is to figure out what avenues we can use

to reach more homeowners – especially young homeowners – so that they

know what they can do to prepare their homes for natural disasters. "

NC State researchers are currently working on a public-access, Web-

based portal that contains various resources for making a home

natural disaster resilient.

" People will be able to search for information, like they do in a

bibliographic database, and find all sorts of resources, e.g., wall

boards and flooring treatments that resist and prevent mold, mold-

resistant insulation and housing construction materials that prevent

mold or rot, " Tilotta says. " Having all these resources in one

location will be a major timesaver to homebuilders and homeowners. "

A group of extension faculty at NC State is also fabricating how-to

videos that will walk people through how to retrofit their homes to

make them resistant to natural disasters. Viewers will be able to

access the videos via YouTube, Facebook and other social networking

sites.

Tilotta is part of the Resilient Home Program, which launched out of

the Southeast Region Research Initiative. The program is composed of

members from NC State, the Department of Homeland Security, Savannah

River National Laboratory, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and

Clemson University.

" In another part of our program, we're doing lab studies for the

development of a 'self-healing' home – one that can monitor and

potentially heal itself, " Tilotta says. " We already have this sort of

active technology for cars – anti-lock brakes, for example. It took

time for that technology to get into automobiles, but now that it's

there, people don't even think about it. We think the technology is

there to do something similar in houses, so we're exploring how to do

that and make it a standard for construction projects. "