Hurricane Frances

[Mike Cobine]

Re: Hurricane Frances

Hi Don,

Some friends of friends live in Port Charlotte and had about $40,000 damage to their home. The insurance is starting with a $12,000 check and dealing out money is small chunks as they use it up. They are afraid the insurance will declare bankrupcy before it is fixed.

I hope you are faring better.

My 16 ft garage door is an old aluminum one that isn't in the best of shape, so I did shore it up. What I did was this:

1. Bought a 6 inch gate hinge, two 6 inch L brackets, and several reinforcing plates for tying two boards together from Lowe's.

2. Put two 2x4s together since you can't find 4x4s anywhere unless treated.

3. Bolted the L brackets to the reinforced header the garage door opener rail attaches to.

4. Stood the 2x4s up against the door and screwed in the L brackets.

5. Pushed the bottom of the 2x4s up so it was firm against the door.

6. Set the hinge against the bottom, drilled several holes in the concrete, and inserted the Teflon concrete screws 2-3/4 inch long.

7. Screwed the other end of the hinge to the 2x4s.

This provided a solid brace behind the door. With it bolted at top, and hinged on bottom, I could undo it in less than a minute by unbolting the top and letting it down between the cars. I didn't want anything that would trap the cars in if I had to get them out in a hurry.

Now with all the pretty floors shown around, many will hate the idea of drilling holes in, but when it comes to a few 5/32 holes in the floor or a garage door wrapped around the car, I prefer the holes.

I'd send a picture but since I have just down increased from 35 kbps modem connection to 50.6 kbps today, I'll have to wait until DSL is back up.

Ivan is on the 5 day prediction for the West Coast so good luck and hold tight. This is the last thing any of us need.

-- Mike

[Michael H.]

Re: Glad you made it ok

Mike,

Sounds like you have your hands full there. Glad you made it through without loosing any roofs or buildings.
Same thing here in the Tampa area. Most structures are still standing but the water damage is incredible. I've been helping neighbors ever since the first hurricane and there seems to be no end to the clean up process. Water levels are STILL rising in many areas and one by one, houses are flooded. It must be really difficult to stand outside your home and watch the water slowly come up closer and closer, eventually flooding and destroying everything inside, three days after the hurricane. We only have three or four days to get everything cleaned up and looking decent for Ivan's arrival. Good luck on this one. It looks even more intense than the last two.

Michael

[Mike Cobine]

You know whose side they are on.

When Andrew hit, many insurance companies really put the screws to South Florida. The best thing going was Tom Gallagher who was the Florida Insurance Commisioner. Those not paying up where tossed out of the state everywhere and not allowed to come back. State Farm was one of the worse. Their "Good Hands" is like the hands of a prostate exam.

The worse thing that ever happened to this country was allowing insurance companies to rule it.

In '77, insurance on my '68 would have cost $1000 every 6 months. I paid $3100 for the car. In 1-1/2 years, I would pay $3000 on a car that cost $3100. So in two years, I was in the hole, even if they would pay the full purchase price.

I elected to NOT buy the insurance and in 2 years, I was $4000 ahead since the car was intact and would have been ahead $1000 if I totaled it.

After a few years, insurance companies figured out what some of us were doing, and made it mandatory to have insurance.

And the rates went up even higher.

[Michael H.]

Microscopic print on insurance policy...

Dick,

My neighbor a few houses down the street is in the middle of the insurance debate now and was totally unaware of the large number of items that were not covered. It's all in the microscopic print somewhere on page 15 of his policy. Everyone that thought they had excellent coverage is now learning that they do not. He said he would have been much better off if the entire house was destroyed instead of just water damage. An expensive lesson. The insurance companies are too close to their friends in government and are able to get away with this.

[Mike Cobine]

Re: Glad you made it ok

Marion County landfill was giving out free sandbags on Friday. I went to get some and sat in a line that moved about an 1/8 mile in an hour. The line was back a couple of miles.

At the rate I was burning gas waiting, I decided those "free" sandbags were costing more than buying trashbags and filling them ourselves so we left.

We filled about 40 bags and bagged the front porch and the garage door. I also trended the yard back about 15 feet from the garage to run it off and that worked.

We dropped the pool about 2 ft and after all was done, I measured it 12 inches higher. But that isn't the whole story, because without power, there is no well water, so we were using the pool for water to flush toilets and such. There was probably a lot more than 12 inches.

[Mike Cobine]

Re: Would it be rude to ask...

The list is so long, I don't have time to give you all of it.

- When I lived in England, the winter got down to 32 F, just cold enough to make ice on the roads and not cold enough to freeze all the humidity out of the air. Damp freezing air goes through you like a knife.

- When I lived in Westport CT and Lordship (near Bridgeport), they told me that Long Island Sound moderates the winters. What that means is winter hovers near 32 F, enough to freeze on the ground and not take the humidity out of the air.

- When I lived in Akron, one January I shoveled so much snow I wore the steel blade off the aluminum snow shovel.

- I went Fourth of July to Dearborn MI to the Henry Ford Museum and stayed at the henry Ford hotel whatever it is called. The pool was a "warm" 60 degrees which requires a wet suit here if you surf in water that cold. they were havign a "heat wave" and everyone was dying. It was like 75 during the day.

- In Boca Raton, you are far enough south to moderate both summer and winter. When it is 105 in Atlanta, it is a heatwave at 95 in Boca, since normally summer is 90. When winter comes, from a jetstream blast from Chicago, it last a week. In Chicago, I had a week where the HIGH was -20 degrees. I have no idea of the low. Winter in Boca is 60. Once it got so cold, the furnance kicked on. I had it set at 55.

I have lived in places here that didn't even have a furnance. In Chicago, even the garages have a furnance.

- When I lived outside St. Louis, we have the Blizzard of '77 and the Blizzard of '80 where everything shut down for over a week. In '80, my Suburban was one of the few vehicles out, as it was high enough to clear most of the snow.

- Yes, we have tornadoes in Florida. But other than a few sections like the central part around Orlando, most are very small. I had one through my back yard in 2001. They were twins. One in my yard did damage about 50 ft wide, the one in the neighbor's yard did about the same. They ran about 150 ft apart.

I saw three dust devils on Old 66 west of Amboy, CA that were bigger than most tornados in Florida.

In the midwest, a tornado is a block wide. Ask anyone about Xenia OH in April 1973. A block would have been nice.

Then try a Texas or Oklahoma tornado. A mile?

Most states have them. Even Utah has had some right in the middle of town. They strike with very little notice, usually enough for you to seek a basement of inner room. You have no idea where they are until they hit. A hurricane we track for days, have time to secure the house and Corvettes, and get the heck out of Dodge if we decide it is really coming at us.

Chicago seasons: June - spring, July - summer, August - fall, Sept through May - winter.

Florida seasons: Feb 15 to Nov 15 - summer, Nov 15 to Dec 20 - fall, Dec 20-Jan 20 winter with a week of cold, jan 20 - Feb 15 - spring.

Snow - Chicago, measured in height of the house.
- Florida, a truckload someone hauled in from up north so kids could see it.

Now there is California. Land of opportunity or something. Nice weather, no problem there. From LA you can run up and snow ski in the morning, then down the the beach to swim in the afternoon.

But the ground opens up and shakes Corvettes off lifts, not to mention houses. The air is such you use a photo grey scale to check what the day is like, you have people putting black boxes in your cars to be sure you are good, massive brownouts cover the state, taxes are insane, house prices past insanity 15 years ago, wild fires that burn 10s of thousands of acres and the homes in them, and 135 candidates for governor.

[Mike Cobine]

I forgot to add ...

There is no state income tax.

Disney is a easy treat, not a once in a lifetime affair.

We have the Winter Regional.

Daytona, Sebring, and the Gator Nationals.

And in the 19 years I have lived here, more hurricanes hit North Carolina, South Carolina, and the Gulf states than hit here.

[Donald M.]

Yes, Dennis, it would be..... *NM*

[Donald M.]

Re: Hurricane Frances

Mike, thank you for your suggestions on reinforcing my garage door. It's refreshing to get some solid advice given the cavalier attitude that some posters on this subject have exhibited toward these terrible disasters. I look forward to seeing your photos when you can get them out.
Don

[Mike Cobine]

Re: Hurricane Frances

Don,
At the rate of recovery, and with such widespread impact the two hurricanes have had, I am sure I won't have pictures before you need them. Basically, I made the 2x4 into an "F" with the brackets, so the two metal brackets reached the wall. Then I put the hinge on the ground at the bottom to anchor it.

Let's all pray Ivan doesn't come our way, but if it does, get the board up for the garage door. Or at least park a truck sideways in front of it.

--Mike