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