Researchers Developing Storm-Resistant Housing Material

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Hurricane Dean bears down upon Mexico, residents are taking precautions to preserve homes in the storm’s path. Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) are designing, developing and manufacturing a housing material that will better withstand damage from higher winds, debris and storm waters than traditional building materials. Against a tornado, traditionally built dwellings tumble like “a house of cards,” Uddin says. “Maybe the time has come to move beyond traditional construction materials,” he says, “and begin looking at smarter materials.”

The new material, fiber reinforced polymer composites, would make houses safer amid hurricanes, flooding and tornadoes. Additional advantages of this material over traditional construction materials of insulation and gypsum wallboard are resistance to mold and termites and quicker construction. The less than 6-inch-thick composite structural insulated panels are made of insulating foam sandwiched between two composite sheets.

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