In mid-September, the nation’s eyes were fixed on the North Carolina coast as the most powerful Atlantic hurricane in five years was predicted to hit the state. With storm warnings ranging from Category 2 to Category 5, residents braced for Isabel. CNN covered the event from North Topsail Island, a stretch of the state’s coastline routinely hammered by such storms and coincidentally the site of six town homes built using cast-in-place removable form concrete construction method. Isabel hit land as a Category 2 storm with sustained winds just below 100 mph. But for Dave Pfanmiller, builder of the new cluster of town homes toured by many CFA members during the 2003 summer meeting, this storm was no big deal. Dave was thankful the hurricane wasn’t worse but knew the homes would stand up to a greater test.

These upscale homes built by Security Building Group (SBG) of Raleigh, NC, withstood the high winds and heavy rains doled out by Isabel. “While the homes weren’t put to the real test, a Category 5 storm, the y fared very well,” stated Dave Pfanmiller of SBG. There was no damage to the town homes or to the most buildings on the island. There was damage to unanchored mobile homes and poorly constructed vinyl-sided and older homes. “The upshot of the hurricane, for these homes and our current homeowners, is that we gained another two feet of dune,” says Dave.

Hurricanes are a way of life for coastal communities. More than ever, developers and homeowners are looking to concrete as their home material of choice to protect their investment from even the fiercest of storms.

For more information about above-grade, cast-in-place concrete construction projects in North Caroline contact Dave Pfanmiller at 919-427-0251.