Anna Maria Island

The Best Roofs for Avoiding Hurricane Damage

It’s been a windy November, and this is just a reminder of how much windier it can be in years that we are more affected by tropical storms and hurricanes. It brings up the question of how hurricane-proof our houses are here. Anyone in the market for a house on Anna Maria Island should certainly pay close attention to the quality of the construction, starting with the roof.

Anna Maria Island has been very lucky this 2009 hurricane season, as has the entire Atlantic region of the United States. Unlike some recent years, in which life on the island was interrupted frequently by approaching hurricanes, this year, it has been possible to almost forget these great storms are part of life here. By the middle of November, the only storm that came nearby was Hurricane Ida, which passed by with less interest than we’ve paid to any of the previous storms, such as Hurricane Bill in the Atlantic, earlier in the year.

Any roof with the four-sided hip design is at a great advantage over two-sided gabled roofs. Strong winds are much more likely to lift a gabled roof off a building than a hip roof. Having sloping sides all around poses less resistance at any given point, and the wind therefore moves past such shapes, rather than pushing against them.

The angle of the roof makes a difference, too. Shallow slopes are not as wind tolerant as steeper pitches. This has to do with aerodynamics and lift. The easiest way to grasp this idea, without an in-depth scientific analysis, is to recognize the fact that many shallow-sloped roofs look almost like the foil shape that causes airplane wings to lift and boat sails to pull their respective vessels up or forward. What we don’t want is for the wind rushing over the tops of our island houses to create a pressure differential that tends to lift the roof.

Of course, no matter what shape the roof, the fundamental construction that connects the roof to the house is extremely important. Trusses must be nailed properly. Truss plates and hurricane straps are now required by building code in southern Florida. Bracing a roof and securing decking properly is not expensive and a very good precaution to take in hurricane country such as Anna Maria Island.

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Marble Window Sills: An Architectural Detail Often Overlooked

Even the smallest and oldest of the houses on Anna Maria Island feature certain design and architectural elements that are not only functional, but beautiful. It’s easy to take them for granted (and some people might even take them for granite), but the gray and white marble sills that form the bottom of so many island windows are just such a solid, visually pleasing detail.

It makes a lot of sense to put marble at the base of an island window … especially those of the traditional jalousie design, which are often left open even when showers come through. The angled panes of the opened jalousie window catch and deflect most of the rain away from the sill. But if some of the rain gets through, a marble sill is preferable to wood. The water won’t penetrate, and can be easily wiped away. Damp wood leads to many problems in the Florida climate, including rot, mildew and even termites.

As I’ve visited more and more friends at their homes in Florida, I’ve continued to be surprised by how many of these houses feature marble window trim. I’m not sure which surprise me the most … the humble old houses, or those of brand new construction, that feature marble sills. It seems even the modern luxury building industry has recognized the benefits of the marble that was used in simpler times.

In researching of what kind of marble the window sills of Anna Maria Island are made, I often came across the word “Carrara”, which is a well-known, fine white marble from Tuscany, Italy. Many of the world’s most famous sculptures have been carved from Carrara. The Romans started mining this marble in the second century, B.C. In addition to being pure white it can have veins of blue gray.

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