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Bob starts off season two of Bob Vila with a return to storm-threatened Florida and the region's need for quick-build, strong, affordable housing. In response to the demand for affordable housing, steel shipping containers are being converted into houses that go up fast and can stand up to a storm. Bob participates in a project with St. Petersburg Neighborhood Housing Services and Tampa Armature Works to use these ISBU's (intermodal steel building units) to support recycling the hundreds of thousands of abandoned shipping containers that choke the nation's ports by turning them into affordable yet attractive housing—a win-win for communities and homeowners. These prefabricated steel units are built in accordance with FLASH (Federal Alliance for Safe Homes) Blueprint for Safety guidelines to resist high winds, impact damage, and termites, which makes them an ideal choice for coastal and storm-threatened communities.
In these episodes, four specially prepared ISBU's are cut, fit for windows and doors, and sprayed with a super insulating ceramic coating to combat heat loads and heat loss. They are then trucked to the site, set on the foundation, and welded onto the foundation plates. The 1,800 square foot, four-bedroom, single-family home is built with roof trusses, roofing, and siding that exceed Miami-Dade wind codes. It is fitted with impact-resistant windows, finishes, furnishings, and energy efficient appliances to make its deserving low-income, first-time homebuyers extremely happy.
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