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I was amazed at things you did to make sure it could. can you tell me a couple things you did that are different in this house versus others? >> the pilings the house rests on our 40 feet long and go 20 feet below, at the top of those pilings steel brackets create union with the girders, made of the same reinforced concrete. those girders have vertical rebar and concrete walls are on that and the walls are mounted and united by steel and concrete 28 feet down in the ground, that goes all the way to the roof. in the roof we used tiedowns, the company is simpson strong tie, a great company and t...

>> well, first off, on every parameter of the building, we went and look at the building materials and look at what was available. we would try to go the one step beyond what would be ordinary. for example, we were told that 30 foot pilings will be adequate. weuired about the cost of 40-foot pilings. so we put in 40-foot pilings. there's the story of sand palace begins at 28 feet below what you'd see. it continues pretty much as a single structure bonded by concrete or steel all the way to the top of the roof. >> obviously it's more expensive to do that. i'm told the construction costs alone a...

My partner and i, my uncle, russell king and i, decided we wanted to build a house on the panhandle. we wanted to build one on the coast. we knew it could be in harm's way. just like when you get in the car and buckle your seat belt, you're trying to prepare for something that you nope never happens. we built a house with that thought in mind. we didn't dwell as much on the building codes although we comply with every code. we dwelled on the one that could survive a hurricane. could we build one that would stand the big one. >> neil: you did that. obviously to withstand winds the way you did u...

We just have to go and figure because the hurricane windows are supposed to be in regardless and hurricane doors. you are supposed to do a lot of that regardless. going from vinyl to cement board, it is not that much. now, we -- the 30 foot pilings is what they were going to do. then i called and said what can we get better than that? they said 40 foot. it was like $2,000. then i called back and said, can we get 50 foot. i said great, we'll do that. but then they said they couldn't get it without spending $12,000. >> basically, we beefed up the specs. we reach some point where you can't beef u...

And we consistently tried to build it for that. >> the engineers took all kinds of things. >> apparently so. >> my understanding is the codes -- the hurricane andrew code is that you have to build a house to withstand 120 miles an hour winds. you built this to withstand 240 miles an hour winds; is that right? >> 240, 250 something like that. it is poured concrete walls on top of 40 foot pilings and rebar all in the walls. steel cables go from the gurters above the pilings through the roof and continue through the roof down the other side on the back wall. >> and then of course you can see the ...