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I'm building a house in a part of Asia where typhoons are common. The houses (including mine) are all built from reinforced concrete. When a typhoon comes, people typically hang nets in front of any large exposed windows, to protect them. The nets are hung from hooks that are built into the concrete. My architect wants to add eaves all over the place so that there's some place for the hooks. I don't like the look of the eaves, and it seems ridiculous to have them if their only purpose is to support the hooks/nets.

So, I'm looking for alternatives. Maybe a different way to hang the nets, or (ideally), some approach that won't even require the nets. Y'all may not have any experience with typhoons, but hurricanes are similar -- just strong winds and heavy rain. Any ideas?

bubba
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  • Have you considered [impact resistant glass](http://www.bobvila.com/articles/342-hurricane-proof-your-house-with-impact-resistant-windows/)? My parents have a second home in a hurricane zone, and they opted to go with impact resistant glass rather than use shutters or other physical barrier that has to be manually closed since they may not be there in time to close the shutters, and they don't want to keep them closed all the time since it signals that the home is unoccupied. – Johnny Mar 13 '16 at 06:58
  • I had, but was unsure about the strength of this glass. Withstanding a 2x4 traveling at 50fps is pretty impressive. Thanks. – bubba Mar 13 '16 at 12:17

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I've seen the nets & in your case without eaves, which I agree with. You'd have to have deployable locking arms to swing out in order to catch whatever, but nets have very large gaps & therefore I wouldn't be sure of any success claim's credibility.

But, are you sure it's a Real Architect? It doesn't sound like one to me. See if they've heard of Shutters. There are Shutters of every kind for everything & yes they're hurricane or typhoon resistant & even proof. You just shut & lock them, this also works for when you evacuate, I mean go away on vacation.

There are hinged door swing type Shutters, that even come in bi-fold & tri-fold sizes for 6-foot & more openings. There are slide Shutters for just smaller window sized openings. There are roll-down style shutters that are the same as what you see when a store closes for the night for all sizes of openings.

Shutters are better because they don't have gaps nor flex like a net & don't have to be stored anywhere or installed in a panic. They can even be motorized & bulletproofed & painted.

Iggy
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  • Yes, he's a real architect. The deployable arms idea is similar to what I had in mind. I was even thinking that the arms (or some sort of framework) could be detachable, somehow. The windows are about 6 meters tall, so shutters would be huge. – bubba Mar 13 '16 at 01:12
  • Sorry. I just find the net idea, especially for a glass wall, a bit inadequate. Is the glass single tall columns or is there a grid frame. Can you provide a picture of this & other areas that you'd like input on? But yeah, I think mounting holes in the wall & ground or paving in front of the windows could work quite well for a trampoline type of frame to be built as needed, if you don't want any multipurpose structure permanently erected. But, roll-down shutters could work well. A little unsightly, but maybe there's an awning idea in the future. – Iggy Mar 13 '16 at 01:25
  • Frame isn't really designed, yet. Having more frame might solve the problem, conceivably, or at least reduce it. If not, I'll go with some sort of removable frame, or impact-resistant glass, or both. Thanks. – bubba Mar 13 '16 at 12:21
  • Yeah, the frame will need to be quite heavy & I'm not sure it's something you want to store or wrestle frequently. One thought I had, depending on aesthetics, is to do flanking 1-meter walls. Just the netting itself could be easily mounted to these permanent structures & would be mostly unnoticed from inside or not obstruct any view. But YIKES, laminated glass wasn't already specified by the "architect"? I'd double-check & even get a 2nd opinion on everything this guy's done & doing. Sorry but, an "architect" has everything available to them & even commercial products should be instituted. – Iggy Mar 13 '16 at 13:00
  • Thanks again. The glass specs haven't been written down yet, so maybe laminated glass is what the architect had in mind all along (in addition to the nets). I'm confident in the abilities of my architect -- his firm is large and well-known, and the things he says make sense to me, in general. – bubba Mar 14 '16 at 01:14
  • Great then. Just make sure he's taking care of it now. This way if an Insurance Policy has to replace anything in the future you won't be stuck with the cost difference. But yeah, run yours & mine ideas past him & see what he can make work or just clearly air your concerns of having to set this all up yourself as the need arises. You might be left holding the bag when you discover the netting wasn't taken care of or was installed incorrectly. This is a worst case scenario, so picture yourself in the same. – Iggy Mar 14 '16 at 01:20
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Ever seen an American house with shutters? The whole point of shutters are closing over the windows during wind storms. However, many houses have shutters which are only decorative, and don't actually work, because it is considered that the shutters themselves are aesthetically appealing (and also send a signal: "our home is open, friend, come on by.")

Harper - Reinstate Monica
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  • No, I'm not familiar with shutters. But they sound even more obtrusive than the hooks or the nets. – bubba Mar 13 '16 at 01:08