I apologize for starting the other thread about hurricane windows. Please lock or delete it.
Anyway, this is my problem with this myth:
They're only testing the effect of the wind damage to your house if you leave your windows open. Hurricanes are wind AND rain events. If you leave your windows open, your walls and roof might stay up, but the inside of your house will be totally unlivable due to all the flood damage.
I would have to disagree with the assertion made in the show for several reasons.
1. At the end, Jamie mentioned that any building, "built to code", should have no problems. This is correct, if it was built to code. Problems is the code was created because the buildings wouldn't stand up without those procedures. I bet on an older building, they would not get the same results.
2. And this is the bigger reason. They downsized the building significantly dimensionally on the exterior, but they didn't decrease the wall thickness to match the decrease in length. Their building was not truly to scale and in fact, because of this was much stronger than a normal house would be. I would say that with them going with the increased wall thickness, they probably had the equivalent of a home built with 2x6 walls. Obviously stronger.
While this myth was about "windows open/closed" in a hurricane, I can't help but think that the house materials not being scaled to size might make a difference in the way it responded to the winds. Weren't the building materials used pretty standard for a full size house?
Yellow flag! Size not applied! 100 yards, automatic touchdown!
I looked at the pretty pink house that built. They did built it all right to meet the Medusa size tunnel BUT! Not the lumber size - - - - it DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE! The full-sized house with the regular sized lumber has to withstand the pressure force on the square footage of the wall that is facing against the wind....
The pretty pink house has the small square footage wall - - - ding ding ding... it should also have the ratio-sized lumber - not the regular 2x4! DUH!
Somebody need to kick Adam and Jamie for this....
If you want to build it to exact to the scale - it means the shingles, nails, Dorothy, etc., etc., ......
I know it'll be a pain but you guys gave it a way off the base on this myth... I'm sorry to break this horrific news to those two poor guys.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: mod_ivy,
The real problem with this myth is it's about damage and about wind. Wind does not cause most of the damage to homes and modern sturdy structures. To mobile homes & trailers, yes, but for sturdier structures like family homes, storm surge is what does the most damage. Storm Surge is the rise in water from lakes, streams, rivers, bays, and the ocean during hurricanes. The wind drives the water in-land and into the sides of homes and into the home itself which causes the damage. The force of the water hitting the home repeatedly is what causes structural failure. -Amateur Hurricane Enthusiast
Actually they have it wrong. You're 'sposed to open your windows during a tornado and board up your windows during a hurricane.
I've also heard that, but the same basic principal should apply to both hurricanes and tornadoes. will look up some wind speeds on this later to see if there really is legitimate need for a re-test. (unless someone else wants to do it for me.)
Originally posted by sparky10020: Actually they have it wrong. You're 'sposed to open your windows during a tornado and board up your windows during a hurricane.
I lived in the Midwest for 12 years. I know the drill
You are right, and the reason is not to let the air blow through your house, but to prevent it from exploding due to lower air pressure outside. Tornadoes create a vacuum effect at their base and suck items into them and then hurl them out further up. If this vacuum is in close proximity to a house with closed windows, the theory is that the house will explode due to the pressure differential. If the windows are open, the pressure will have a chance to eqaulize.
I believe that this is mixing up two myths. Growing up in hurricane country on the Carolina coast, the reason I was always taught to leave the windows open - slightly - was to alleviate the forces of pressure from the eye of the storm. Remember, in the eye of a hurricane, the pressure is much lower. So when the eye passes directly overhead, you go instantaneously from high to low pressure and then when the eye passes, you go instantaneously from low to high pressure. It is these pressures that can cause the windows to blow out. You can’t stop the wind and rain, and plenty of houses were literally lifted up and moved from the storm. So the effect that you tested does happen. However, the windows open were to stop the pressure change, not the wind.
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