Floating Homes for Sale!

New scientific research study reports 3.9 million American homes are
now at risk for flooding, are you in danger?

Its official Sarah Palin’s “Global Warming” is real! According to scientist around the world and the American Journal of Environmental Research predictions of a 3 foot sea level rise over the next 50 years will affect 10 states across the US and nearly 4 million American homes. If you live in the following states you are potentially in danger of losing your home to the ocean: Georgia, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, California, Louisiana, and Florida. The low lying coastal areas in these states face the greatest risk and happen to be the most densely populated areas to boot. Since these numbers have been released many of the city planning agencies in the affected states have already begun preparations for the inevitable. Taking pointers from the Dutch where most of the country is below sea level new interest in floating homes and offices have taken hold in US city planning.

For years the Dutch have had to contend with flooding and rising seas due to its geographic location. Up until recently the only solution they’ve had available was to build a network of dams and locks to keep their major population centers dry. Recent advances in construction materials and processes (chiefly concrete) have allowed the Dutch to build homes that sits atop a hull made of poured concrete. The trick to maintaining an airtight seal with concrete is in the pouring process which has to be completed in one pour to insure that all the joints are fused and cured as one unit. Following the pour is a laminating process which is a trade secret that further fortifies the air-tight seal. Because concrete is naturally anti-corrosive to sea water and is cheaper to work with than steel it is the perfect building material for residential and commercial real estate.

Some of the new concepts for coping with the rising sea levels have spawned eco communities where each home is largely self sufficient and modular allowing for easy relocation so if the seas rise you just move your eco-home to a new beachfront.

When you think of a floating home the first thing that comes to mind is a houseboat lacking the creature comforts of the modern home. Because these homes are built on a concrete hull this makes for a very stable platform to build upon and many of these new homes pull out all the stops and look much nicer than many standard land-locked cookie cutter constructions without the view! The home below is located on Lake Union in Seattle, Washington and I must say “Not too shabby”!