Hurricane-resistant Home Improvement in the OECS

Minimum Building Standards and Environmental Guidelines: Contents

This document has been compiled to provide guidelines to local builders and agencies in St. Lucia involved in safer housing/retrofitting work, so as to ensure that such work is carried out in the most effective manner. This document highlights the basic minimum standards for retrofitting and quality control tips for both new and existing wooden houses and recommends environmentally sound practices in locating and preparing the house site, drainage and disposal of wastes. Its purpose is to inform homeowners of the proper design and construction of safe housing and to serve as a reference for builders, artisans and inspectors. Inspectors play an important role, as frequent and informed inspections are necessary to ensure that structures are being built correctly and safely.

This document is not intended to be a detailed construction manual, but presents a summary of the recommendations of the writers' experience, observations and research over the years. It is intended to be used as a reference/guide for artisans, builders and homeowners in St. Lucia. Specific solutions are not offered, but the document details a number of options that the homeowner can use in preparing a site and building a home.

This document is available in Adobe PDF format as one complete (and large) file [Minimum Building Standards and Environmental Guidelines: full document (3mb)] or in individual sections [Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6].

Part 1

Minimum Building Standards

  • Introduction
  • Preface
  • Hurricanes
    • How are they formed?
    • How do they affect/destroy buildings?
  • Basic Minimum Standards and Quality Control Tips for Builders, Artisans and Homeowners
    • Building Shape
    • Foundations
    • Concrete
    • Floors

Part 2

  • Exterior Wall Framing and Cladding
  • Roofs
  • Nails
  • Porches
  • Shutters, Doors and Windows

Part 3

  • Good and Poor Building Practices in the HRHIP

Part 4

    • Building Design and Construction
    • Building Maintenance
    • New Construction Methods for Low-Income Housing
  • Users Guide for Hurricane Straps and Other Framing Anchors
    • Hurricane Straps
    • Securing the Load Path
  • Health and Safety
  • Relationship between the Minimum Standards Guide and the Building Guidelines
    • Building Code
    • Building Guidelines
  • References—Minimum Building Standards

Part 5

Environmental Guidelines

  • 1.0 Background
  • 2.0 Introduction
  • 3.0 The Location and Placement of Houses
  • 4.0 Site Preparation
  • 5.0 Drainage
  • 6.0 Waste Disposal
  • 7.0 Concluding Remarks
  • References—Environmental Siting Guidelines

Part 6

Minimum Standards Checklist for use by Builders
Easy Guide Checklist

This document is also available in MS Word format (4.8mb zip archive or 6.5mb MSWord file).

 Last Updated 10 September 2003