Fred Kennedy, left, president of Ken Tel Systems, Inc.,
and John Wilson, distributor with Island Building Systems,
inspect a Force 10 steel-frame home in Nanakuli.
By Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin

Kauai County housing officials are using a steel-framed home system from Washington that will withstand 100 mile-per-hour winds. Home price is only $94,000.

A steel-frame system from Australia, designed for 159 mph winds, is being constructed on a Hawaiian Home Lands lot in Nanakuli. The system also will be used by Benedictine monks at Waialua on the Oahu North Shore.

A concrete home with plastic forms from Canada, designed for 155 mph, is being showcased at Kapolei.

These are just a few of the stronger homes in Hawaii which greatly exceed the local building code design requirement of 80 mph.

Jim Adams, a structural engineer, cautions consumers about thinking that the high wind load figures mean no damage will come with hurricanes. That all depends on many factors, including how parts of the home are connected together, how windows are protected, the type of roofing material, design of the garage, and whether the home is located on a hill or land vulnerable to accelerated gusts of high winds.

However, even with those cautions, there is no doubt that stronger homes have arrived in Hawaii. Kauai county is moving to new technology using Shioi Construction Inc. as its contractor.

"We want to invite different government housing agencies to come and see it during the erection process. Framing takes about a week," said Conrad Murashige, president of Shioi Construction Inc.

The pre-fab home uses a 2- by 2-inch tubular steel frame system in eight-foot welded sections which bolt together and to the concrete slab. The system from Inter-Steel Structures Inc. of Seattle, Wash. is being used in the Pacific Northwest for affordable homes on the reservations of Native Americans, says Murashige.

The first shipment from Seattle will arrive in middle of November and the construction is expected to start Nov. 18.

The home in the Eleele Nani subdivision near Hanapepe is the second area home developed by the county to showcase new construction standards. The county requirements included an engineer certification that the home would stand up to 100 mph winds and a builder's guaranty against termite damage for 20 years.

Concrete home at Royal Kunia built with Isle CellCrete.
By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin

The "Force 10" steel-frame system from Australia can withstand gusts up to 200 mph, says John R. Wilson, the local distributor.

"I've put up 60 or 70 of these homes on Saipan, Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands and they really hold up," says Wilson. "I put the first one up in 1985 on Saipan and then we had a typhoon with 200 miles per hour winds and the home held up beautifully."

Force 10 homes are going up in Nanakuli, the North Shore and the neighbor islands. The cost is about $70 to $100 a square foot, which is about the same as other home systems, says Wilson.

The Nanakuli home was approved for a 50 percent reduction in hurricane insurance costs, and up to 70 percent if shutters are placed, said Scott Clawson, the Hurricane Relief Fund's specialist on hazard mitigation.

The Force 10 system bolts walls together and to the roof and slab foundation. Walls include polyurethane foam for insulation. The interior walls are made of cement, silica sand and cellulose fiber which is stronger than the standard gypsum board walls.

The Royal Building Systems home with plastic forms and concrete is already well established on Guam with more than 35 homes built, said Tony Agozzino, the Pacific representative for the system from Ontario, Canada.

Agozzino has put up a small Royal model home at the Hawaiian Cement plant in the Campbell Industrial Park. He is also working with Hawaiian Home Lands officials and expects some sales of affordable models.

The Royal system uses polymer plastic forms which slide together and then concrete is poured in to make four-inch-thick home walls. The plastic forms are left in place so no exterior or interior wall finishing is required. The polymer exteriors can be made to look like bricks, stucco or wood and the polymer roofs like tile.

City Construction Inc. is starting to use light-weight concrete, made by blowing foam into the standard concrete mixture. Island Ready-Mix Concrete Inc., a local company, says its "Isle CellCrete" wall system offers better sound/insulation and moisture resistance than standard concrete systems and is faster to install.

Adams says that concrete homes generally hold up better than steel-frame systems. He says the CellCrete walls should be rated for sustained winds of 150 mph.

City Construction will build a four-bedroom, two-bath home with 1,200 square feet using light-weight concrete for $129,000, or about $108 a square foot. That's about the same price as a concrete hollow-tile home and slightly more than a steel-framed home, said Cliff Cassity, sales manager.

The CellCrete system was tested at the Royal Kunia project but Castle & Cooke is still waiting for final cost figures. "It looks like it probably is not cost effective for us," said Larry Lum, vice president/general manager at Castle & Cooke Homes Hawaii Inc.

For subdivision builders, construction costs must be about $80 a square foot or less to make sense in today's cost competitive market. That means large home builders will be reluctant to sell stronger homes unless costs can be cut or the public demands them.

However, some large builders are using new concrete systems for multi-family housing. Hawaiian Dredging & Construction is building townhomes for Gentry Homes using a precast system. It is one of six concrete systems that will be featured at a Cement and Concrete Products Industry of Hawaii (CCPI) seminar Nov. 19 at the Pagoda Hotel.