In this case, I expect it's going to be blowing those ratchet straps after they become unanchored, turning them into whips that'll cleave the roof in half.
Look man I'm not a sciencologist but if a big ol tree smacks into that strap maybe the strap doesn't break but the metal tie downs? Idk man doesn't seem like it would work out well for the house or straps
A 2" wide straps is supposed to fail at about 10,000 pounds/4500kg of static load. The nylon strap will fail long before the metal hardware does, and the roof is going to fail before either of those do. If a large enough object fell on the strap, the most probable scenario is that the strap would end up acting like a wire cutter to the roof.
Hurricanes rip poorly built roofs off all the time. Builders get lazy and install the hurricane anchor things wrong. At least the local home inspector on Reddit used to say
That particular redditor had a long history of weekly posts with the shitty home builder work they inspected, but I hear the argument, I have no evidence other than hearsay and didn't research it myself.
Gotta be careful though, twist in the strap can ruin the strength limit of the strap if it's under load
Edit: others have pointed out it's for cargo straps specifically. I guess I was thinking of more knotting than twists. Either way, just follow the instructions.
If this homeowner is as good at tying down his house as the yokels around here are at tying down their cargo, then the odds are this house is somehow going to end up hitting my windshield.
It's congratulating Don Quixote for trying to preserve chivalric code, no matter how misguided it may be, with the result being better than what you'd think at first glance.
Cervantes actually didn't like the concept of chivalry and was considering a "companion" novel where he depicts chivalry as it really was. It's pretty unfortunate that he never wrote it because I'm sure it would have been a classic.
Unless there's a footing these straps are being anchored to that I'm not seeing, I doubt it'll do very much besides potentially acting as very dangerous whips.
I’ve seen these deck strap things that you push way down into the ground and as you pull them up a little the flatten out and turn sideways. Really easy to install and harder than hell to pull out. I think it’s called an earth anchor maybe. I bet that’s what he used here.
yeah these look like footings to me, i see what looks to be a small concrete protuberance right out of the ground. Also these would likely just pull out of the ground if they weren't anchored, and they wouldn't be whips, just very odd debris.
YouTube recommended a video of this to me yesterday. The straps are anchored with cement. Seems like it buys him X additional mph of wind speed compared to his neighbors. We'll see if the winds are in that "more than a regular roof can handle but less than the straps can hold" range.
I’ve heard all the theoretical arguments. I now want to witness the experiment live. Or on camera.
you can do a pretty simple small scale test, with something like popsicle stick houses, and instead of wind loading, static loading against the wall. It won't scale perfectly, but it should demonstrate the concept.
Seems like a plausible strategy. If the roof is lashed down it can't catch the wind and therefore is less likely to weaken over time and go flying. Certainly better than doing nothing.
Holy shit all this time I thought The Picard Maneuver was an entire sub and thanks to that meme earlier I see you're an actual person. Finally clued in..
Good stuff too!
Also this seems like an idea worth trying. Cheap, maybe might work? Idk. I'm not inside hurricanes ever.
If it's anchored into concert blocks, it's not much different than internal hurricane straps that hold a roof on. They won't move, or damage the roof, you don't know that your talking about.
The surface area on those straps isn't really going to grab the wind particularly bad. If the metal connection to the anchors actually holds up, it might actually do a little good.
But if there's enough lift to pull that roof up without the straps, it's almost certainly enough to snap the anchor connection, assuming the anchors themselves are deep enough to stay put.
More likely though is that these just snap and become hurricane whips with barbed ends.
Edit - or catch debris that snaps them before the wind even has a chance to rip the roof off.
The tonnage rating on those straps is insane. With relatively even force between them, they provide way more holding power than the roofs fasteners do. They would also help prevent that initial peel back that just creates a sail inevitably taking the whole roof.
Yeah, under ideal conditions. But shrapnel creating cuts, lateral forces from debris, cars rolling over them, etc. I see them loosening quickly at best.
But yeah, besides the whole risk of making barbed hurricane whips, it doesn't seem quite as stupid as it looks. If they're really lucky and only fight the wind itself, perpendicular to the roof, they might actually help.
Some friends of ours strapped down their roof for Hurricane Georges. They lived in a wood frame house on a hill and knew better than to just trust that everything would be ok.
Anyway, they still had a roof after the hurricane, but the winds were still strong enough to lift the roof up, damaging the joints between the rafters and the main posts holding the roof up. This damage I saw with my own eyes.
Wind shear can be remarkably strong at 140 mph, blowing across a roof like that. It would be a shame to lose the house because you didn't take two hours to put some straps over it.
ok so. This isn't going to stop a tree, or a large rock from flying through the side of you wall, but if you home isn't mounted to the foundation (common in old homes) or very well mounted, or just not very wind load capable, this could actually be beneficial.
You could still experience "wall buckling" but since the roof is relatively secured, you're acting from a separate point of leverage. Which is essentially going to be in the middle of the wall, rather than at the top of the wall.
This is all assuming that these anchor points are as strong or stronger than the straps and mounting hardware. And the fact that your home doesn't disintegrate between the staps.
I'd rather replace a damaged roof instead of the whole structure and the resulting internal damage. Those straps are extremely strong. They can take a beating, but no doubt there's debris that can destroy them. If something is big enough to do that, then the wind is the least of the roofs concerns, because the rest of the house is fucked. The possible pros definitely outweigh the cons of using them, even if the don't end up working out.
No one is considering that the owner may have reinforced the roof from the inside either. Wouldnt be hard to determine where the straps are crossing the peak and add reinforcement to ensure the straps dont deform the roof, further adding to the structural integrity.
I find it so weird how people will spin a narrative based on assumptions and just disregard all the other possibilities.
If they buried concrete blocks, I bet you they had the presence of mind to reinforce the roof.
On the surface, it looks as if they bored decent size holes in the ground and set the anchors in concrete. With a Bobcat, they could easily get 3 meter x 40cm holes; that's 904kg of concrete at each anchor point, and a lot of friction.
This isn't the stupidest idea I've ever seen; given that they can't move their house, and set unlikely to move all their possessions for just a few days, Heck, it's not a bad idea at all, and looks well-executed.
I guarantee it's not deep enough. Hurricanes of this magnitude topple and uproot trees with massive root structures extending several meters underground. These type of DIY solutions are almost always create more hazard than they solve.
they make houses rated to hurricane winds, i don't think the trees really care one way or the other. Engineering is often better at withstanding hurricanes than trees.
By "does work" you mean you don't need to care about the anchors flying around and falling over you; you only have to care about the lines cutting you in half or that wood house breaking down when pressed against them?
ive always wondered why nobody does that with their mobile homes. seems like enough strapping would help minimize tornado damage if they were anchored deep enough
You've gotta remember that most mobile home communities are folks who own their units renting the land for use. This guy has custom concrete anchors, which a mobile home community property owner probably wouldn't want.
mobile homes are built like complete shit (mostly due to weight) so even if you strapped them they would probably still vanish at the sight of 80mph winds lol.
The problem is almost never that the wind it blowing, its what the wind is blowing.
In this case, I expect it's going to be blowing those ratchet straps after they become unanchored, turning them into whips that'll cleave the roof in half.
The description for the picture says they are connected to big burried concrete blocks, so likely the house is gone before these straps get loose.
Yeah but if a tree slams into the strap and breaks it
Those straps aren’t going to break.
Look man I'm not a sciencologist but if a big ol tree smacks into that strap maybe the strap doesn't break but the metal tie downs? Idk man doesn't seem like it would work out well for the house or straps
A 2" wide straps is supposed to fail at about 10,000 pounds/4500kg of static load. The nylon strap will fail long before the metal hardware does, and the roof is going to fail before either of those do. If a large enough object fell on the strap, the most probable scenario is that the strap would end up acting like a wire cutter to the roof.
I believe you
I need an after picture of this house stat
It'll trampoline off into the neighbor's house.
It might break the roof. Those straps are nearly as wide as that truck's brake lights, i don't see them snapping so easily.
homie these straps are probably rated for a tree falling on it lol
Ok but what about 20 trees and a lot of debris?
ur house is probably part of the debris by then lmao
schrodingers whip. How is it both unanchored and a whip at the same time.
Two anchor points per strap.
if one of them goes, the other is pretty likely to go as well. Unless you just didn't secure it properly, in which case skill issue.
Hurricanes rip poorly built roofs off all the time. Builders get lazy and install the hurricane anchor things wrong. At least the local home inspector on Reddit used to say
I trust reddit posts too.
i would trust that redditor seeing how homes are often built lmao
That particular redditor had a long history of weekly posts with the shitty home builder work they inspected, but I hear the argument, I have no evidence other than hearsay and didn't research it myself.
Ron White, is that you!?
They call me.. Tater-Salad.
If your ass gets hit by a Volvo...
I wonder what the vibration frequency of those straps is, once the wind is blowing through them.
Will they vibrate the roof into mush before they pull out of the ground and become metal ended whips?
As someone who straps, I felt this in my soul. God I hate that noise(I use tarp clamps for dampeners).
I've used a twist in the strap and that seems to help a lot.
Gotta be careful though, twist in the strap can ruin the strength limit of the strap if it's under load
Edit: others have pointed out it's for cargo straps specifically. I guess I was thinking of more knotting than twists. Either way, just follow the instructions.
Someone tested this and found it to be basically not true. https://youtu.be/ifyJjQXOttE
Interesting. I was under the impression that the vibrations could be a problem if not twisted --- apparently it's a hotly debated topic, who knew! https://dccargo.com/blogs/strap-chat/to-twist-or-not-to-twist-cargo-straps
This is how I was trained, yeah. No twists!!
Apparently this is a bit of a myth https://youtu.be/ifyJjQXOttE
That ain't going anywhere.
Concrete blocks 8ft into the ground
pats the front door with my hands
At least until Milton casually tosses a tree at it.
I appreciate your optimism by using the singular…
I saw the documentary once. The order is Tree, Cow, Tractor, and finally another House.
You forgot fuel truck
Dang it. I always forget one.
Ha! I thought that sounded like a “Twister” movie reference.
Isn't that the tornado safety video everyone got in high school?
As long as someone is shredding death metal guitar on the roof throughout the storm, I approve.
slaps tightened straps "That's not going anywhere"
Those are the magical words that make it happen. The straps are just for show.
If this homeowner is as good at tying down his house as the yokels around here are at tying down their cargo, then the odds are this house is somehow going to end up hitting my windshield.
Just tie some rope around it, that'll hold!
omg it's real
Uploaded 3 hours ago!
I seriously want to know how it goes with his house. I give him props for trying.
This is like congratulating Don Quixote for killing all the dragons.
It's congratulating Don Quixote for trying to preserve chivalric code, no matter how misguided it may be, with the result being better than what you'd think at first glance.
Cervantes actually didn't like the concept of chivalry and was considering a "companion" novel where he depicts chivalry as it really was. It's pretty unfortunate that he never wrote it because I'm sure it would have been a classic.
Apparently, he's not the first, and it might actually have a chance of working.
Meanwhile the row of houses a street over that got raked with his modern-day chain shot are ravaged
Yeah 6 ratchet straps are really gonna make a differencein damage in a fucking hurricane....smh.
Worth a try. If it does not work, it did not cost a fortune, if it does, good for the owner.
Unless there's a footing these straps are being anchored to that I'm not seeing, I doubt it'll do very much besides potentially acting as very dangerous whips.
You'd be surprized how strong an industrial screwed-in ground anchor holds. And it has to be anchored at the correct angle towards the load.
So, most likely, they will not just rip out, and they have a good chance to add a significant force holding down that roof.
If done properly, of course.
If the roof doesn't crack from the added pressure points.
There seems to be an extra bar/pole at the top to distribute the load, though.
There is a news video about it, it's anchored to concrete and rebar 8 feet deep or something like that
I’ve seen these deck strap things that you push way down into the ground and as you pull them up a little the flatten out and turn sideways. Really easy to install and harder than hell to pull out. I think it’s called an earth anchor maybe. I bet that’s what he used here.
yeah these look like footings to me, i see what looks to be a small concrete protuberance right out of the ground. Also these would likely just pull out of the ground if they weren't anchored, and they wouldn't be whips, just very odd debris.
Yeah I watched a short news clip with him in it and he said they are attached to concrete that goes 8 feet down.
Someone remind us of this works after Milton goes through this house.
For a 2k investment I'm willing to try it to save my home.
pats roof
That ain't going nowhere
This baby'll hold a family of three
With all these experts in the comments, I now want the original sauce and to follow up to see what actually will happen.
YouTube recommended a video of this to me yesterday. The straps are anchored with cement. Seems like it buys him X additional mph of wind speed compared to his neighbors. We'll see if the winds are in that "more than a regular roof can handle but less than the straps can hold" range.
Yyy, I've heard all the theoretical arguments. I now want to witness the experiment live. Or on camera.
you can do a pretty simple small scale test, with something like popsicle stick houses, and instead of wind loading, static loading against the wall. It won't scale perfectly, but it should demonstrate the concept.
Seems like a plausible strategy. If the roof is lashed down it can't catch the wind and therefore is less likely to weaken over time and go flying. Certainly better than doing nothing.
If it keeps the roof on maybe it's not so dumb.
That’s exactly what the owner said it’s for in the video interview I saw
No, it's dumb.
It's not helping, but somehow I like the look of it.
Holy shit all this time I thought The Picard Maneuver was an entire sub and thanks to that meme earlier I see you're an actual person. Finally clued in..
Good stuff too!
Also this seems like an idea worth trying. Cheap, maybe might work? Idk. I'm not inside hurricanes ever.
Haha, yep - I'm just a guy.
a legend more like
I'm not sure if you're aware, but yes that's what that's been called for a very long time now.
I thought the same thing for awhile!
you and me both
That's amazing
Optimistic
Hold the house down into the storm surge until it learns its lesson
Waterboard that bitch til it talks
I hate that my first thought is insurance will use this as a way to avoid paying out
They should have anchored it to that Toyota truck.
Those vehicles and other debris will be flying into those straps.
for one, it's a joke, second, if the truck is flying, the entire house and foundation are already gone lmao.
This is extremely stupid. I was happy to see that most people here seem to immediately understand this.
it depends. It would only really be stupid if this wasn't permitted/inspected. If the law says it's good then fuck it, it's good.
You can bet your ass if it hasn't been inspected yet, it's about to be.
Cope rope
I think this one's a joke, sure some would say it's no time for humor but I think it's funny.
I don’t know if this stupid or genius. Now I’m curious.
They missed the 25-foot waterproof wall, for the actual damage, the storm surge...
Just put down some moisture absorbers, it'll be fine.
Just stick it in some rice. Good as new.
This house is in Orlando though, way inland.
This is actually not a bad idea
Lol it's a terrible idea. The wind would get a hold of those and they would essentially grind the roof away.
Better a damaged roof still attached to the house than a roof strewn a mile and a half downwind.
If it's anchored into concert blocks, it's not much different than internal hurricane straps that hold a roof on. They won't move, or damage the roof, you don't know that your talking about.
The surface area on those straps isn't really going to grab the wind particularly bad. If the metal connection to the anchors actually holds up, it might actually do a little good.
But if there's enough lift to pull that roof up without the straps, it's almost certainly enough to snap the anchor connection, assuming the anchors themselves are deep enough to stay put.
More likely though is that these just snap and become hurricane whips with barbed ends.
Edit - or catch debris that snaps them before the wind even has a chance to rip the roof off.
The tonnage rating on those straps is insane. With relatively even force between them, they provide way more holding power than the roofs fasteners do. They would also help prevent that initial peel back that just creates a sail inevitably taking the whole roof.
Yeah, under ideal conditions. But shrapnel creating cuts, lateral forces from debris, cars rolling over them, etc. I see them loosening quickly at best.
But yeah, besides the whole risk of making barbed hurricane whips, it doesn't seem quite as stupid as it looks. If they're really lucky and only fight the wind itself, perpendicular to the roof, they might actually help.
Some friends of ours strapped down their roof for Hurricane Georges. They lived in a wood frame house on a hill and knew better than to just trust that everything would be ok.
Anyway, they still had a roof after the hurricane, but the winds were still strong enough to lift the roof up, damaging the joints between the rafters and the main posts holding the roof up. This damage I saw with my own eyes.
Wind shear can be remarkably strong at 140 mph, blowing across a roof like that. It would be a shame to lose the house because you didn't take two hours to put some straps over it.
ok so. This isn't going to stop a tree, or a large rock from flying through the side of you wall, but if you home isn't mounted to the foundation (common in old homes) or very well mounted, or just not very wind load capable, this could actually be beneficial.
You could still experience "wall buckling" but since the roof is relatively secured, you're acting from a separate point of leverage. Which is essentially going to be in the middle of the wall, rather than at the top of the wall.
This is all assuming that these anchor points are as strong or stronger than the straps and mounting hardware. And the fact that your home doesn't disintegrate between the staps.
Checkmate, nature.
Anyone claiming this is going to work has no idea how houses are constructed or how hurricanes cause damage.
It would prevent flat winds from removing the roof, for at least a little bit.
Anywhere there's wind strong enough to lift the ceiling off, is going to be debris flying around and smashing the roof into pieces.
Any pieces of the house which would stay grounded thanks to the straps would need to be replaced anyway.
The straps are probably tight enough that the roof needs to be refurbished after, even if the hurricane didn't cause any damage.
That's not even considering the likelihood of severe flooding.
House is fukked fam.
I'd rather replace a damaged roof instead of the whole structure and the resulting internal damage. Those straps are extremely strong. They can take a beating, but no doubt there's debris that can destroy them. If something is big enough to do that, then the wind is the least of the roofs concerns, because the rest of the house is fucked. The possible pros definitely outweigh the cons of using them, even if the don't end up working out.
No one is considering that the owner may have reinforced the roof from the inside either. Wouldnt be hard to determine where the straps are crossing the peak and add reinforcement to ensure the straps dont deform the roof, further adding to the structural integrity.
I find it so weird how people will spin a narrative based on assumptions and just disregard all the other possibilities.
If they buried concrete blocks, I bet you they had the presence of mind to reinforce the roof.
Tornados took the roofs off of many houses today across Florida.
I like to imagine them all getting shifted one house to the left.
I wonder how deep those stakes are driven lol
On the surface, it looks as if they bored decent size holes in the ground and set the anchors in concrete. With a Bobcat, they could easily get 3 meter x 40cm holes; that's 904kg of concrete at each anchor point, and a lot of friction.
This isn't the stupidest idea I've ever seen; given that they can't move their house, and set unlikely to move all their possessions for just a few days, Heck, it's not a bad idea at all, and looks well-executed.
According to the local news interview, 8' concrete piles.
I guarantee it's not deep enough. Hurricanes of this magnitude topple and uproot trees with massive root structures extending several meters underground. These type of DIY solutions are almost always create more hazard than they solve.
Those trees are also giant sails which transfers that much more force from the wind
they make houses rated to hurricane winds, i don't think the trees really care one way or the other. Engineering is often better at withstanding hurricanes than trees.
Maybe build with ICF ( insulated concrete forms).
+10 for holding the roof on the house
+5 for holding the house on the foundation
-7 for creating a large strong web effectively doubling the surface area where flying things can destroy your house.
A bit like the building at the top of Mount Washington
I love this.
Someone misunderstood building code for hurricane ties.
I have that people post those and I don't doubt they are real anymore.
Now I'm just curious about what shape those anchors have, due to morbid curiosity.
They’re 8 foot deep concrete anchors according to the interview
They're just round and deep. Also, it really does work.
By "does work" you mean you don't need to care about the anchors flying around and falling over you; you only have to care about the lines cutting you in half or that wood house breaking down when pressed against them?
If so, yeah, round and deep concrete tubes work.
Maybe they're getting ready to move the earth to another place in space and didn't want their house shifting around.
ive always wondered why nobody does that with their mobile homes. seems like enough strapping would help minimize tornado damage if they were anchored deep enough
You've gotta remember that most mobile home communities are folks who own their units renting the land for use. This guy has custom concrete anchors, which a mobile home community property owner probably wouldn't want.
then that mhcomm owner is a dumbfuck for not wanting his renters property protected
Why would he care? He gets paid either way, so he's not going to give a fuck. Now, change the law so that he has liability...
mobile homes are built like complete shit (mostly due to weight) so even if you strapped them they would probably still vanish at the sight of 80mph winds lol.
moving house
Any after pics? I’ve seen this everywhere but no after pics.
Yep! It made it.
Good for them!
The murican level blowing the scale
did he die