It seems there are more and more natural disasters in the news, or is it simply more news.
As we struggle to rebuild homes after disasters there are many bad guesses being implimented.
The authors of the rebuilding guidelines are often relying on incomplete, dated or just plain incorrect information.
Here in the hot/humid (the South) the climate and buildings preform differently than the ones up north in heating climates.
The biggest disconnect is with the building enclosure, the walls, roof and floors. And the issue is the flow of energy through the exterior, th3 walls roof and floors.
In the northern heating climates the flow tends to be from inside to out, while here in the hot/humid it is from out to in.
You can learn more about this at LSUs Louisiana House.
On a recent visit to a home damaged during the Katrina levee failures I had an oportunity to see how homes were built 90 years ago in New Orleans and how they were planned to withstand the local weather conditions.