After Hurricane Charley in August 2004, Bob Vila was inspired to build a storm-ready home for his self-titled series, “Bob Vila.” Little did he know that a month after finishing filming for the season, the new house in Punta Gorda, Fla., would be tested by Hurricane Wilma.
But the home and its owners did just fine, Vila said in an interview last week from New York City. A Web camera posted outside the house on Oct. 24 recorded images of heavy rain and wind, palm trees ready to snap in two, and garbage cans flying past the house. The footage can be seen on his Web site, bobvila.com/StormReady/
At the moment, though, builder and pitchman Vila is more concerned about his sister, who lives in Kendall, Fla., just south of Miami. As “the only brother” in the family, he’s doing what he can to help his sister. “Fortunately, she didn’t have any serious damage” to her home, he says, “but there’s no power, no water.
“I didn’t expect another hurricane season like this,” he says. “It’s kind of a sad coincidence.”
In May, with help from the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes and Mercedes Homes, he started filming the construction of a house for Teresa Fogolini and Jim Minardi. Vila chose this location, he says, because “people in Punta Gorda were hammered so severely by Charley.”
Fogolini and Minardi’s home, a 1961 3-bedroom ranch, was ruined, while their neighbor’s home, a Craftsman bungalow built in 2003, was unharmed partly because of updated technology and building codes.
Leslie Chapman Henderson of FLASH explains, “These [bungalow] homeowners took it a step further. They decided to protect their windows their doors and the back of their home from the impact of pressure of wind. And that’s why it survived.”
“It’s all about the building practices,” she says in an early episode. “The way you build or the way you rebuild is going to make a difference in a disaster.”
The series is much like Vila’s first TV foray, “This Old House.” Both offer a study in details, meticulously tracking every phase of construction. Vila continues his tradition of making frequent inquiries about the process and occasionally delaying it, such as when he asks countertop installers — wincing under the weight of the mammoth Corian slab in their grasp — about molding. But overall, these episodes are timely and assuring that some precautions can be taken against storms.
“My only wish is that we could’ve done this for the hundreds of other people still living in trailers more than a year after Hurricane Charley,” Vila says.
“Bob Vila” airs on WBBM-TV at 4:30 a.m. on Saturdays.
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– The October/November issue of ReadyMade lists a plethora of pumpkin-carving devices, including a botany dissecting kit. The issue also has a whimsical article on alternative uses for hardware in the kitchen, like using a PVC pipe for drying pasta.
– The Learning Channel puts a twist on house hunting with “Dead Tenants” on Oct. 30. A quirky group of “paranormal investigators” inspects some of the most haunted houses nationwide. Likewise on the Discovery Channel, an upcoming episode of “Haunting” takes viewers to Springfield’s Lake Club dance hall.
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Carmel Carrillo is assistant editor of Real Estate. You may contact her at [email protected], or write to her at baiduhai, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611.