Architect Shares Four Tips For Rebuilding Homes After Hurricane Damage

Correction: Ted Caplow, principal at Caplow Manzano, was incorrectly identified as an architect in the initial version of this article. While the company he leads is a fully-licensed architectural firm, Caplow himself is an engineer.

Homeowners impacted by Hurricane Helene are still digging out from that deadly storm that hammered states across the Southeast, while millions in Florida are preparing for the onslaught of a potentially larger and more ferocious Hurricane Milton late tomorrow. When the waves recede and the winds finally die down, the painful process of cleaning up and rebuilding will commence. Here is advice that can be helpful in both processes.

Cleaning Up

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers offers a set of cautions on its website for safely operating your appliances after a storm, including when not to turn them on. Pinellas County, Florida offers recovery suggestions on its site, including how to document damage, file flood claims and avoid scams.

Storm Surge Danger

What we’ve seen in recent storms, especially Hurricane Ian two years ago, is that storm surge is becoming an increasing danger to survivability. I reached out to the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety to see whether its Fortified programs offer protection against this growing menace. “Because elevation of an existing home to avoid flood damage is a cost-prohibitive expense for many homeowners, this program only addresses wind and wind-driven rain aspects of risk,” explains IBHS communications director Mary Anne Byrd.

Rebuilding

At some point hopefully soon, you will be in a position to rebuild your storm-damaged home. This presents an opportunity to strengthen it against future risks, using new materials and concepts. “Homeowners whose properties were inundated by Hurricane Helene and similar storms should think about making some changes when they set about rebuilding their houses,” advises Ted Caplow, Miami-based principal at architecture firm Caplow Manzano. He outlines four steps to improving a home’s survivability in future storms.

1. “Elevate: The most obvious step is also the most important one. The force of ocean waves, even small ones, on a structure is far beyond the force of wind or rain. It’s critical to lift the walls of the house above the water, so that the only thing underwater in a storm are columns.”

Caplow notes that flood plain maps are inexact and it’s better to exceed current recommendations. ‘In many areas, this will mean elevating your house as much as 20 feet above sea level. Keep in mind that the more elevated your house is, the cheaper it will be to insure, the longer it will last, and the better it will keep its value.”

2. “Eliminate fragile materials: When a home floods from a storm surge, sometimes the structure itself is not badly damaged, but the materials and finishes inside the home are soaked with sea water and begin to decay rapidly.” Post-storm power shortages accelerate mold growth and hamper efforts to dry out a home’s interiors, he notes. Selecting more resilient materials can reduce or event prevent water damage in some cases. “Using polished concrete floors is a great example – these floors are not damaged by water. Tile is also pretty good, although the grout can deteriorate,” he adds.

Two major risk points are walls and cabinets. He suggests, “Try to find substitutes for drywall, particularly in the lower part of a home. There are wallboards with much better water resistance, such as cement board or magnesium oxide board. Masonry walls will hold up better than walls made of wood or metal studs and drywall. Fiberglass insulation turns into a soggy mess when it gets wet; mineral wool is more resistant to mold growth and so is Styrofoam.”

“When cabinets are built in bathrooms, kitchens, and closets, try to choose materials that can stand up to a good soaking. Metal cabinetry is one option, although it’s often impractical. Laminated phenolic products like Richlite and some solid surface product like Corian offer excellent resistance to water, but aren’t affordable in every cabinet. Most of the time, cabinetry will be built of wood, but try to avoid particle board or oriented strand board. Standard MDF (fiberboard) is slightly better, and solid plywood is better still,” Caplow recommends.

3. “Monitor air quality: Indoor air is very important for our health, because we breathe it for more than half our lives (and some of us breathe it almost continuously around the clock, especially in very hot and very cold climates where people don’t spend enough time outdoors).” It’s relatively easy today to track indoor air quality in your house, so that if a flood happens, you can quickly observe any changes, he points out.

“Air quality has many components, but the ones that are most important are the basic parameters of temperature and relative humidity, together with total particulates (PM2.5 is the best one to watch) and volatile organic compounds (formaldehyde is often used as a proxy for this large class of potential toxins),” the architect recommends. It’s particularly important to pay attention after a flood. “Keep an eye on humidity. If it becomes elevated even after restoring air conditioning, it’s a sign that there may be a reservoir of moisture somewhere inside the walls, floor, or ceiling. Changes in air quality might also signal damage to exhaust vents (dryers and bathrooms) or even undetected leaks in the roof.” Tracking air quality is easy, he comments, pointing to widespread availability of monitors sold online today.

4. “Provide access to mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems: The way we build houses is a little strange. We create a box, and we equip the box with a bunch of wires and hoses and tubes and ducts in order to make humans comfortable inside,” Caplow notes. “That’s all fine and good, but then we cover all of these systems with layers of drywall, tape, plaster, and paint, so we can’t see them and can’t reach them.” When something goes wrong, heralded by a strange smell or ceiling stain, we have to tear apart walls to access the system, making a huge, unhealthy mess to diagnose and fix the problem. “Drywall dust is a substantial hazard (particularly to people with asthma or allergies), and families sometimes have to move out of a house just to make these types of repairs,” he warns.

“We suggest providing access to as many of the plumbing lines and air conditioning ducts as possible (electrical wiring lasts a bit longer). In the case of plumbing, it’s possible to design a house so that the major connections are grouped together, for example by vertically stacking bathrooms in a two story home. It’s also possible to add access panels to valve connections that cause frequent issues (such as in-wall toilet tanks and the areas behind sinks) or to provide access underneath first-floor bathrooms (this is particularly easy to do in an elevated home).”

He adds, “When it comes to air conditioning, long duct runs are a health hazard, both before and after a storm event. Dust, allergens, pests, and mold all accumulate in air conditioning ducts. Short ducts are more easily accessed, cleaned, and replaced, and no ducts is the best solution of all. Modern ductless “mini-split” air conditiong systems provide excellent energy efficiency, room-by-room control, and a lot of peace-of-mind.”

Conclusions

Storms are inevitable. Total destruction doesn’t have to be. There are organizations and architects addressing resilience. One is the International WELL Building Institute, creator of the WELL for residential building standards, rolled out at the beginning of 2024. Caplow’s firm, Caplow Manzano, is one of its proponents, and was involved in its pilot program with its CM1 residence in Miami. “The WELL standard gives points for choosing healthier materials, including the more durable alternatives described above,” Caplow comments.

Rebuilding with a WELL-certified architect and considering IBHS’ Fortified programs can keep your new home safer, dryer, healthier and more insurable.

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Author’s Note: Interviews for this article were conducted by email within the last nine days.