Wood framed appartment, would it withstand???

[Derek Ortt]

do you have hurricane straps? if you do not, it may not survive a 1. Remember, gusts from an upper cat 1 can exceed 120 m.p.h.

[Noah]

Well, I dont know how well built my structure is. I am on the upper level of a 2 story appartment surounded by other appartments. I have a wood staircase and wood deck leading to my front door. I think these appt's where built in lat 80"s early 90's. I can tell you that i can here people walking on the decks and there voices pretty clear like there is just a wood wall and dry wall. I have some friends homes i can go to with hurricane shutters or screens if need be. I was concerned by a little 40 mile hour wind last year.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Well, I dont know how well built my structure is. I am on the upper level of a 2 story appartment surounded by other appartments. I have a wood staircase and wood deck leading to my front door. I think these appt's where built in lat 80"s early 90's. I can tell you that i can here people walking on the decks and there voices pretty clear like there is just a wood wall and dry wall. I have some friends homes i can go to with hurricane shutters or screens if need be. I was concerned by a little 40 mile hour wind last year.

Sounds like you're not too sure of the quality of the work done there. I don't know. Like I said, my old homestead was built nearly a century earlier and is still standing; but then again, they seem to have been very well built. If your apartments were built with a quick-fix assembly-line type of workmaship, then perhaps it is dubious at best. Personally, unless I felt my walls vibrating when folks walked by, I'd still feel fairly secure in a TS, if I were well inland, and (as you cite) surrounded by other structures. While about 140 miles away, I'd be willing to bet your apartment received at least TS winds from Frances, Charley, and possibly Jeanne, of 2004, (almost certainly the former 2) and appears to have stood fairly well. The bottom line is just how close you are to that water, and the size/intensity of the approaching storm as well as its potential for intensification before landfall. Sarasota does run along that shoreline, and I don't know enough about the SLOSH models for the area (might want to check these, or perhaps Derek or one of the other mets could elaborate as I'm unfamiliar with the offshore topography) Certainly the straps question would be well worth looking into; but when all is said and done, you need to make these decisions, and if you'd feel safer in that friend's home, by all means, put your mind at ease and go there if one approaches, and should it be a high 2, (or God forbid, worse) heading for a direct hit--I'd suggest a move further inland to a more secure structure would be well advised.

A2K

[OuterBanker]

I would guess that 99% of the homes on the Outer Banks are stick built. Which includes the multi million 12 bedroom behemoths. Straps are required here and most survive hurricanes. What takes most stick builts is water on the ground floor and that is what did the most damage in Isabel. The most ironic thing is the damage would have been considerably less if the ground floor wasn't finished. If they did it the old fashoned way of starting at the 8 ft level and on stilts instead of enclosing the ground floor the ocean would have washed through it. But we now live in an area which the property values is so inflated that most have to add the square footage just to break even in rentals.