Who Got Owned By The FL Hurricane?

[MrElussive]

Hey,

Just curious, I know we have a few FL residents on the board. Did anybody get hit or affected in any way by the hurricanes? In Palm Beach, we lost all our landscaping (seriously no more grass in the backyard anymore), some windows broke, and our Jet Dock and one jetski are missing! The regular full-size dock was destroyed by the hurricane. Last time we were there, I put my jetski up on the lift and out of the water (put the cover on it also, obviously), so my baby is safe and sound but the other ski is just totally gone.
For those of you don't know what a Jet Dock is, here is a picture (from the Jet Dock web site, that's not our actual Jet Dock or our actual wave runners):

So basically after the hurricane, the caretaker of the house came back and found the Jet Dock missing (and since one jetski was on the Jet Dock, that is gone too) and the regular dock destroyed. The lift where I place my jetski is attached to the sea wall (thank God!) so my jetski is safe and sound, but we're out a jetski, a Jet Dock, and a dock. My dad said insurance will cover all the costs of the damage and we sent out a report to the coast guard or whatever about the missing jetski and Jet Dock, lol.

Anyways, so who else got owned by the hurricane and care to share???

I know my experience was of a lighter note but please don't think I'm making a joke of the situation. Hurricanes are very dangerous, I'm just glad things aren't any worse than how they turned out.

 

[Bryan330i]

It sounds like you came out okay overall.

I was going to ask you if you have window protection of any kind. There are some metal shutters I have seen that are virtually invisible if properly constructed in the house and they can be lowered in situation like this. Are you aware of them?

We have been looking at lots in Florida but I am starting to have some second thoughts. We found this awesome builder and a cool floor plan. The plan is for a house in a big “U” kind of shape with the pool in the middle. One side has 2 guest suites with main bedrooms on the opposite side of the pool and the living space in the front. Every room has full glass wall with a view of the pool area. It’s very unique and cool.

 

[MrElussive]

Bryan, most of the windows have those metal shades/shutters that lower automatically with a switch. Although the house has a shitload of windows (no joke, some parts of the house are just completely windows) so some of them don't have those shutters and were not protected from the hurricane.
As for the plan of the house from a builder you found, does the house look nice (based on the plans)? Typically, weird shapes like that don't end up looking good. Also, I don't know what needs you have, but you might want to make sure if you need two guest suites. One thing that's extremely important when building a house is how you use your space. If you don't need two guest suites, then why build it? The other guest suite could be a totally different room that accomodates much better to your lifestyle. Just keep in mind that plans can be altered (even if it's a pre-set layout/plan from the builder you are using).

 

[Bryan330i]

The good part about the plan is the availability to use the guest room space as an office and a workout room and having them be somewhat separated from the rest of the house.

We are more concerned with a lot and will no doubt look at more plans before deciding. This is probably going to be a project over years and we are still not sure how everything will fall in place. However, I have been looking at lots for a while as they disappear and increase in price each time I look so I think the time to move on the land is now.

 

[MrElussive]

Yup. Land is running out throughout the whole US, and fast (property prices are becoming absolutely insane). I believe Jupiter (of FL) has a lot of space left...although I can ask my dad to make sure, he'll definitely know.

 

[codex57]

The U shape needs to have a lot of land for it to work properly. My uncle's house is a U shape. Total waste of space if you ask me. The middle section could house a pool, but it's some kinda Japanese garden in there. Kinda cool, but I'd much rather have enclosed that entire area and stuck the pool on the side if possible. If the family room is in the middle, you can still divide the house.

 

[jszar]

my brother lives near the pan handel. we havent heard from him in weeks. cant get in touch...pretty scarey considering we heard they are evacuating that area.

 

[Bryan330i]

The U shape needs to have a lot of land for it to work properly. My uncle's house is a U shape. Total waste of space if you ask me. The middle section could house a pool, but it's some kinda Japanese garden in there. Kinda cool, but I'd much rather have enclosed that entire area and stuck the pool on the side if possible. If the family room is in the middle, you can still divide the house.

We are looking at primarily single story plans because this is what we like for the area. We are not in a price range that allows a design and build from scratch, still looking at cookie-cutter plans.

This is one that we like a lot but we are still looking. The master BD door would be moved where the outdoor kitchen is, away from the living room.

 

[Bryan330i]

Part of the problem is that there seems to be a trend to mix the master with the front of the house like this one. It seems like this is the case more than not and we don’t like it.