Prestige Home Center Of Tampa
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CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS
SURVIVED THE HURRICANES
Building Codes Results Increase
Consumer Confidence in Manufactured Homes
Tallahassee, FL— The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles released a report after the state's four hurricanes that showed that factory-built homes built to the new tougher codes did not suffer any major damage from the storms. The Florida Bureau of Manufactured Home and RV Construction surveyed 11,800 homes in 77 communities in seven counties in the path of Hurricane Charley. All homes installed to the new 1999 tie-down regulations stood firm on their foundations. A vast majority of the pre-1994 homes that sustained damage were as a results of more vulnerable post-factory attachments.
Orders for new manufactured homes have increased by 30% over this same time last year, according to Frank Williams, executive director of the Florida Manufactured Housing Association, Inc. Approximately 20,000 factory-built homes were sold throughout the state this year.
The recent hurricanes have contributed to the sales increase, and the homes track record in the recent storms has created new prospects. Factory-built homes built to the federal building codes in place since 1994 held up well against Florida's recent hurricanes, according to Mike Wnek, the state associations public relations chairman.
Many Americans have been victimized by an outdated conception of manufactured homes—one which has been perpetuated in the news media, and reinforced by the reporting of disasters such as Florida's six-week-long siege of hurricanes in 2004. During this period, a number of erroneous "facts" were spread either by rumor or reporting. In many cases, the news media, rather than searching out the truth, simply passed on the same kind of rumors one hears waiting in line at supermarkets.
For instance, CNN meteorologist Chad Meyers, reporting during the aftermath of Hurricane Charley, told a nationwide audience that "National Guard guys this morning said there are stacks of bodies in that mobile home park in Punta Gorda." Such rumors were rife in the aftermath of Charley. One Punta Gorda resident was quoted by the media as saying "Six hundred people are missing from trailer parks and the bodies are being stored in freezer trucks!"
But passing along rumors is not responsible reporting. IN FACT, according to state officials, in all of Florida, 16 people died as a result of this deadly storm. Only two of these fatalities were related to manufactured homes, and those deaths occurred when the residents of a decades-old mobile home ignored an evacuation order.
It was not just the news media which attacked the manufactured home industry in the wake of Charley. Commentators such as fiction writer Carl Hiassen also put forward much misinformation. Writing in the Miami Herald on August 22, 2004, Hiassen said "There is no such thing as a safe [manufactured] home."
IN FACT, manufactured homes held up well, even when compared to site-built homes. That this was be the case should not really surprise anyone: since 1999, manufactured homes have been built and installed to standards tougher than any but the most recent codes for site-built structures. As required by the federal code, all manufactured homes sold in Florida's coastal counties since 1994 are engineered to withstand sustained winds of 110 mph and 3-second gusts of 130 to 150 mph.
IN FACT, the State Bureau of Mobile Home and RV Construction surveyed 11,800 manufactured homes among 77 parks in seven counties, including hard-hit Charlotte and DeSoto. Of the manufactured homes installed according to Rule 15-C—the most stringent tie-down regulation in the country—the Bureau could not find a single home that had been moved from its foundation. And RADCO, an independent engineering firm, revealed that manufactured homes produced and installed in accordance with the current Federal Standards successfully withstood the effects of Hurricane Charley.
And in the end, responsible reporting did win out: after touring the area, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was quoted by the media as saying, "the new construction standards for manufactured homes are working." Such news organizations as Fox News, CNN, and the Associated Press were finally forced to admit that homes built to the new codes didn't budge an inch in the 145 mph winds recorded at Punta Gorda.
Despite the public misperception and media misinformation, the FACT is that modern manufactured homes, intelligently engineered and well-built, are fully the equal of other building types when it comes to safety and security.
10910 N. Nebraska Ave Tampa, Fl 33612
Conveniently Located Between Fowler Ave and Busch Blvd.
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