As Hurricane Earl nears, local couple feel safe in round home
LISA CAPITELLI
n Staff Writer
Circular houses, like this one on South Point Road, are durable, hurricane-wind resistant and energy efficient.
(Sept. 3, 2010) As Hurricane Earl makes its way up the East Coast, Susan and Tony Bruno feel safe in their Deltec round house on South Point Road in Berlin.
“Round houses are resistant to hurricane force winds due to the shape. The wind does not have enough surface area to hit and flows around the home,” said Kim LeFevers, sales systems administrator for Deltec Homes, Inc. “A circular home has outstanding aerodynamics, allowing the wind to flow around the home rather than build up pressure on any one side.”
With much lower wind pressure pushing on the house, it is able to withstand storms more effectively than conventional homes, she said.
When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005, none of the Deltec homes in its path suffered any structural damage from the category 5 hurricane force winds. Deltec Homes, based in Asheville, N.C, has been building green hurricane resistant circular homes for more than 40 years.
The Brunos have lived in their Berlin home for 10 years.
“Tony and I just like different, but our main concern was high winds being near the coast,” Susan Bruno said. “Once we saw Deltec, we were really impressed with the quality and we liked the design.”
The Bruno’s home is 3,000 square feet. It has two floors and a tower they call the “crow’s nest.” The couple consulted with Deltec on frame construction and along with local builders, did much of the construction themselves.
“Tony and I were here with every aspect of the building process,” Bruno said. “We’re very happy with [the house].”
There are three other round houses on the street, Bruno said, but they are not Deltec Homes. She would recommend the round style, which besides being durable and wind resistant, are energy efficient.
The circular shape allows for less surface area per square foot than a standard box home so there is less to heat and cool. Round homes also leave less of a footprint on the surrounding land than traditional homes.
