Resilient and Ideal Home for Coastal Flooding Conditions

Did you know that Miami is one of the US States most susceptible to coastal flooding? Coastal flooding is a severe natural disaster that is caused by heavy storms, rain, and high waves in regions near the coasts of oceans. Climate change and global warming have also been one of the main culprits of coastal flooding since greenhouse gases trap more warm air, and since warmer air can hold more water, in addition to melting ice caps resulting in higher sea levels, climate change is also leading to heavier rainfall and extreme floods in coastal areas, in addition to increasing the frequency of flooding. This is a major problem, as flooding claims hundreds of lives, causes millions of damage to infrastructure and homes, and negatively impacts the economy as a whole. For example, just recently, the state of Texas and the country of Brazil have been experiencing severe floods that claimed hundreds of lives and are causing a humanitarian crisis for those unfortunately caught in the flood.

Because of this, me and my partner decided to do research on BFEs (Base Flood Elevation) in architectural home design and material strength to determine the best design for the resilient home we will make. After some time, we came up with the best design that strikes a balance between modern and functional. In this Instructable, me and my partner will showcase a home design that will be extremely resilient to floods, and be able to provide all of the necessary amenities of most modern homes.

Here is what is needed to design and construct this home:

1. Steel Enforced Concrete Posts
2. Concrete
3. Wood Roofing Shingles
4. Stairs
5. Steel Surrounding Grates
6. Solar Panels and Electrical System
7. Rainwater Collection Tank
8. Plumbing System
9. Rainwater Filter System
10. Solar Electrical System
11. Fusion 360
12. Granite

This is the layout and design for the resilient home. This layout will show how the home is structured and how the basic functions of the home will be laid out as a whole. The home currently has a first floor and a second floor. The first floor will consist of a living room, a storage unit, a dining room, and a kitchen. the second floor will consist of a bathroom, a hallway, and two bedrooms. So it is mostly the layout of most two-bedroom homes.

As for the exterior of the home, it will be completely elevated to be able to be resilient against flooding, and the home will sit on wide steel-enforced concrete stilts or supports. Also, the house will be surrounded by steel grates so that any flood water will be drained, lessening the impact of the flooding. To the right of the house, there are two rainwater collection tanks that will collect rainwater for the house's plumbing, and to the left will be the stairs leading to the front doors of the house. On top of the house's roof will be solar panels that will power the house, in case flood waters damage the main electrical grid and cause a power outage. The side of the roof has specialized gutters that collect rainwater, and guide it to the main collection tanks.

This is the layout that completes the whole house design.

The first step in making the house is building the house is making a strong and resilient foundation, or base, of the house. The foundation has to be extremely strong and sturdy for it to support the total weight and load of the house, as well as staying resilient to flooding. I used thick steel-enforced concrete elevation supports to elevate the house above ground. With steel-enforced concrete, the supports will be more resistant to flooding, as the material will not erode or break when strong flood currents act on it. That way, the house will be much less likely to collapse and fall over. From doing my research about flooding, BFEs, and home construction, what I have learned was that a general rule about BFE is that the protrusion into the soil must be deep, so that in case of soil expansion and collapse in water, the house doesn't immediately de-stabilize. So after learning about that, I made my concrete support posts protrude deep into the ground, approximately twice the height of the above-ground portion of the posts. This ensures that the house will not destabilize in such events.

After that, I made the base floor of the house. The majority of the floor will be made of concrete, and it will be hollow inside to fit any plumbing or electrical systems that are essential to the home. The floor is around 1.5 feet thick, more than the standard industrial floor thickness of 6 or 8 inches, which, in addition to the thick supports, helps to make a very secure base for the house.

After that, to the left side of the house, I added a staircase that leads up to the front door. I used a floating staircase design, which adds extra flair to the design of the house. The supports are laid on a concrete bed, which is resistant to erosion caused by rapid flood waters. The house is laid on a concrete bed, which is resistant to erosion, and protests the soil from erosion.

This is the first floor of the house. This is my personal layout of the first floor based on my preferences, but you can layout your floor however you want. The floor can be made of anything you like, but the floor structure has to be made of concrete. While the outer edge walls are thick at a foot wide (to protect from extreme weather like hurricanes and tornadoes, the interior walls are half the width at 6 inches, as the interior walls don't need to be as thick as the outer walls, the walls are hollow to allow for the addition of plumbing and electrical systems, in addition to insulation. The walls are made out of white granite, and are 10 feet high to give the most amount of interior space while remaining compact. The first floor contains a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, and a storage unit as the basic layout, but you can add more rooms if you want. near the front door are stairs leading up to the second floor.

This is the second floor of the house. Similar to the first floor, this floor is how I would personally lay it out, but you can lay it out however you want. The second floor contains a bathroom, a hallway, and two bedroom, as the basics, but you can add more rooms if you want. Much like the first floor, the floor can be made of anything you like, but the floor structure has to be made of concrete. Similar to the first floor, the outer edge walls are thick at a foot wide (to protect from extreme weather like hurricanes and tornadoes, the interior walls are half the width at 6 inches, and the walls are hollow to allow for the addition of plumbing and electrical systems, in addition to insulation, and the walls are made of white granite, and are 10 feet high. the bottom of the second floor has wooden trim around the perimeter to give the home extra flair.

For the roof of the house, the roof of the house is made up of wooden shingles angled downwards. The shingles angle downwards in order to direct any rainwater off the roof, and into the rain gutters, which go into the rainwater collection tanks, which I will explain later. On top of the roof are the solar panels, which will power the main electrical utilities of the house. Solar panels will be the main alternative energy source, as it is most useful in tropical, warm climates where coastal flooding is common, and where sunlight is more common. Solar panels must angled directly at the sun at all times to maximize energy collection. The solar panels will convert sunlight into DC current, and it will be ran through an inverter, which will convert from DC to AC current. The AC current will be used for two things. One: to power the main electrical systems, and Two: to be stored in a large Lithium-Ion battery. The excess energy stored can be old off to a power company for extra profit, or you can store the energy for future use.

This is the plumbing and water system of the house. One of the main sources of water for this home is rainwater. The main rationale behind this is that during heavy rains that cause flooding, the rainwater on the roof falls into these specialized gutters on the sides of the roof. These gutters collect rainwater that slides off the roof and into large PVC collection tanks, connected to an underground water tank. The tanks have filters built into them that remove any impurities from the rainwater, so that the rainwater is able to be used for general needs like washing dishes, showering, drinking, etc. The plumbing system also reuses the water by heavily filtering the dirty used water multiple times, so that the water can be reused again for the general needs of the residents.

In addition, if the tank gets too full, the system drains some of the water into a nearby body of water until there is enough reasonable space inside the water tanks.

To help reduce the effects of flooding on the house, wide grates are placed around the perimeter of the house. These grates drain some of the water in a flood, helping to reduce the impact and force it exerts on the supports of the house. The grates drain the excess water and divert it somewhere else into natural bodies of water.

All in all, that is my and my partner's idea behind what a definitive flood-resilient home should be like. Overall, much research and planning was done to determine the best design for the home in flood conditions. The home makes for a more energy-efficient, safe, and water-efficient design. Due to the solar panels allowing for less reliance on the grid, along with the rainwater plumbing system reducing water waste, this home is also very environmentally friendly, in addition to reducing utility costs on your bills. I believe this design can help people live more safer lives in flood-likely regions, as well as inspire more homes to use more environmentally friendly alternative forms of energy.