It’s 9:15 in the morning. The wind is roaring at 110 miles per hour (177 kph); the sound is deafening. Dust swirls through the air. We are watching a single-wide manufactured home rock back and forth, as it is pounded by turbulent wind.
Then, in an instant, the screws shear off and the entire unit tumbles backward, rolling two full revolutions before it stops.
In any other situation, this would be terrifying. But here, we are conducting a first-of-its-kind experiment at Florida International University’s Wall of Wind, a test facility that can reproduce wind speeds the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane.
The US did build houses out of stone, where it made sense. Many places don’t have easy access to stone for building, however 1/3 of the country is forested. Would is available, economical and suitable for building single family homes in much of the country.
And the US has Fairbanks Housewhich is older than the country itself.