While most people were hunkering down, finding a windowless room in which to hopefully safely stow their families when Hurricane ‘Iniki visited a decade ago, Wailua Homesteads resident Paul McCleary donned a hard hat, went outside and started taking pictures.
While most people were hunkering down, finding a windowless room in which to hopefully safely stow their families when Hurricane ‘Iniki visited a decade ago, Wailua Homesteads resident Paul McCleary donned a hard hat, went outside and started taking pictures.
No, he’s not insane, nor a news photographer looking for that award-winning shot of a roof parting company with the rest of a house.
He was just doing some research for a little invention he has had on his mind for the last, say, 10 to 15 years.
When McCleary, 65, retired owner and operator of Ironwood Plumbing, saw that his neighbors’ roofs were spared, he feels simply by them throwing ropes over the tops of their homes and staking the ropes into the ground, it hit him.
No, not the debris; the idea.
Why not use two-inch-wide straps normally employed to secure loads of lumber to construction trucks, equip them with ratchet systems to tighten them down, attach them to hooks on the ground that are secured underground, and allow homeowners and business owners to literally tie down their roofs?
Naturally, he answered his own question, and Hawaii Hurricane Protection was born.
Besides securing roofs to homes, he thinks his system will keep homes in low-lying areas and near the ocean from floating away during times of hurricanes or high surf.
While anyone who has been through a hurricane knows nothing is certain except that the winds will cause some damage, he remains fairly confident that this system will save some roofs, and hence homes, when the next hurricane comes calling.
“This should work. These roofs don’t have to come off,” said McCleary.
He has found tremendous peace of mind knowing he’s ready to at least take one more step toward protecting his property after the first system was installed on his Wailua Homesteads house he built himself.
McCleary is also confident the system will secure boats, trailers, tool and equipment sheds, and other items to the ground when the next big blow comes. “Anything that you want to hold onto the earth” can be secured using his patent-pending system, he said.
The systems could become standard equipment especially on newly built homes, just as hurricane straps securing walls to roofs became must-have attachments to homes, apartments, businesses and condominiums during rebuilding after ‘Iniki.
He searched the Web, and did other forms of investigations, and came up with no knowledge of similar types of products, not even in the Philippines, Japan or other areas of the world where typhoons or hurricanes are regular occurrences.
The retired building, plumbing and fire-sprinkler contractor figures he installed around half of all existing plumbing and fire-sprinkler systems in existence on Kaua’i, and through a contractor’s eyes absorbed a lot of information about what wind did to homes during Hurricane ‘Iwa in 1982 and ‘Iniki in 1992, he said.
When he noticed roofs moving even a little during those high winds, he said he knew that nails were being worked loose by the power of the winds. After the original construction was compromised by the gusts that loosened the nails in their holes, it didn’t take much for another gust of wind to get under a roof line and peel the entire roof away, much like the top of a can of sardines is opened.
After that, the home is exposed, and the combination of wind and rain destroy the home and contents.
By contrast, even simple ropes like his neighbors installed before ‘Iniki visited are credited in his eyes with saving the roofs and homes. “It hardly takes anything” to strap a roof into place.
At his house, hurricane-force winds took his shake roof a few pieces at a time, exposing the home so that when the rains came they destroyed the home’s contents.
He experimented with iron straps, hemp ropes and other items before settling on the plastic straps, which he is only now beginning to market, mainly through a Web site, www.hhprotect.com.
Not worried about an initial slow public response, he figures his system will gain demand as the hurricane season draws near, just like the demand for generators went through the roof especially after 1992’s ‘Iniki.
And, with prices around $1,000 (plus $400 for installation), peace of mind becomes affordable. A system can be installed in four to five hours, and the only necessary tool is a post-hole digger, for the anchors.
“It’s under the ground until you need it,” and when the hurricane warning is sounded, the straps custom-designed to fit just about any home, business or other application can be ready to protect in around 30 minutes.
The straps are tossed over the roof, attached to the hooks that sit below ground level until they’re needed, and with a few ratchet turns are tight.
When he tightens up the straps at his home, the whole house creaks.
He and his grandsons will accomplish installations for those who are not do-it-yourselfers, but he figures anyone short of an invalid should be able to install the system themselves.
McCleary has been on Kaua’i for almost 24 years, and can be reached through the Web site, at 822-5447, or via e-mail at alohadee@hawaiian.net.
Business Editor Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
