HURRICANE PROOFING
HOMES OF THE TREASURE COAST
BUILT
TO
LAST
STORY AND PHOTOS BY GREG GARDNER
Homeowners opt
for houses that can
withstand hurricanestrength
39
winds
No builder will tell you he can build a hurricane
proof house, but many are willing
to go beyond building codes, hoping the
home will survive a sustained super storm.
“A home can be a bunker and still be a palace,”
builder Jim Harkins says. The co-owner of H3
Homes has built more than 30 monolithic, poured
concrete houses in Brevard, Broward, Indian River,
Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Palm Beach and St.
Lucie counties since 2007. The homes range from a
1,000-square-foot guest house to a 10,000-square-foot
house in Broward County.
Always using insulated concrete for his homes,
Harkins prefers installing progressive glass technology
(PGT) impact windows. All new residential
construction in Florida must have either impact
windows and doors — or shutters.
A 2,000-square-foot H3 home in Windmill Village
has tie-beam construction, poured concrete first and
second floors and roof — possibly the only structure >>