Welcome to Category-5
Living through Hurricanes Alicia, Bonnie, Rita, Ike, Harvey and Beryl, storms like Allison, and witnessing nearby Hurricane Katrina, we here at Cat-5 in Southeast Texas know the extremes of weather during climate change. Where once they visited 3 times in a generation, such disasters now arrive 3 times or more in the span of a decade. 21st century storms are larger and more frequent, winds stronger, and floodwaters higher. Conditions of all kinds are more severe, and compound each other. Our weather is increasingly volatile.
Working in threatened locations, we’ve learned since 2005 to build weather security through elevation, strength and durability. Based on 2017’s Hurricane Harvey, we know our system can handle 54+ inches of flood (= Houston in 2017) and strong hurricanes (Categories 3-5).
The Storm Defense House stands mid way between conventional stick construction, unitized modular systems, and a true custom home. Like the first, it’s made of standard pieces; like the second, it’s assembled as a system of systems; and like a custom home it’s configured to the owner’s exact specifications.
A Cat-5 is a hybrid solution to the hybrid challenge of climate change – more durable and efficient than any other type, and reflecting owners’ desires without the time- and complexity-costs of a custom project.
Here’s our approach…
WE ENGINEER FOR UP TO CATEGORY-5 WINDS OF 157 mph
WE SPECIFY POINT LOAD STRUCTURES THAT REDUCE THE NEED FOR CONCRETE, AND THEREFORE ALSO REDUCE GREEN HOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
WE ELEVATE OUR BUILDINGS UP TO 60" ABOVE GRADE
WE SPECIFY STRUCTURAL MATERIALS THAT ARE 95%+ RECYCLED
WE BEAT BACK HIGH TEMPERATURES BY INSULATING WALLS AND ROOFS UP TO R-54
WE DESIGN OUR ROOFS TO MAXIMIZE SOLAR AND RAIN HARVESTS, AND WITH LARGE OVERHANGS FOR SHADE AND TO GENERATE AMBIENT BREEZES
WHERE BUILD A STORM DEFENSE HOUSE?
The Cat-5 can be configured to any context - from urban, to suburban, to rural locations. Any place potentially subject to storms, inundation or fire risks would benefit. That means:
The entire Gulf Coast, from Texas to Florida
Ocean and riverfronts everywhere, including the Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri watersheds - any property in or near any flood plain should have the elevation and strength of a Storm Defense House
Any areas with an arid, prairie and forested ecology potentially vulnerable to wildfire
“HIGHER THAN THE FLOOD, STRONGER THAN THE WIND”
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DESIGN…
Our system is based on a few simple ideas…
Category-5 wants to build storm-resistant homes wherever weather or water threaten
We aim to deliver real buildings with real foundations and roofs, not prefabs or kits
Our system is based on super strong steel framing with extreme insulation and a choice of exterior finishes
Cat-5s come in three sizes - 1600 and 3200 square feet (approx), and Custom, which can be docked together or erected separately
Our envelopes are “open plan” with no interior obstructions, to accommodate any floor plan
Cat-5s are designed to sit 60” above grade, or higher, but can be engineered for a slab foundation
Parking is normally in an open carport, which can be enclosed
The Cat-5 is “Climate Safe” with 25-30% less embodied carbon than a typical stick-framed house of comparable size
Our steel is made in grid-powered Electrical Arc Furnaces from 95%+ recycled material. In Texas, power for making steel is 30-40% from renewable sources (2025), a ratio that is quickly increasing
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PROCESS…
Cat-5s are made one by one, one after another. Each is a unique bespoke product laser focused on surviving climate breakdown. Their shared system equates to engineering and construction efficiency. Their unique flexibility promises direct responses to owner needs and site conditions. They are supremely adaptable.
Each Category-5 Storm Defense Houses is predicated on,
Complete site information, including a survey, geotechnical report, and topographical information, and a plant and animal inventory
A project program reflected in an inventory of critical needs and specifications for the interior layout
Diagrams of the envelope foundation and structure for use by engineers, and of the building’s interior layout
Category-5 supervision of purchase contracts, such as for steel, doors and windows, insulation, and interior kitchen and bath module
Involvement of a qualified, experienced General Contractor
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COMPARE…
As the graphs above show, the Category-5 system departs from conventional buildings in important ways:
Superior materials and assemblies assure resistance to severe weather, and long term durability
We engineer for strength
The Cat-5’s thermal efficiency equals low cost operation
“First, do no harm”: our system minimizes green house gas emissions to reduce the causes of extreme weather
Carbon and Green House Gases
Wooden homes rely on massive, carbon-heavy foundations; by contrast, Cat-5s sit on only a few widely-spaced concrete piers
The carbon count of a typical wooden house is 25-30% higher than that of a Cat-5
Our structural steel comes from modern Electrical Arc Furnaces, using 95%+ recycled material; in Texas and elsewhere, the grid is rapidly increasing beyond 35-40% from renewable sources (2024)
2. Strength, Durability and Survival
Our structures are engineered for extremes - from fire, to flooding, to hurricane level weather.
Cat-5s have 100% non-combustible, inorganic exteriors to defend against fire spread
Our structures are elevated to 60” or more to ride above severe flood events
Cat-5s are engineered to resist winds of up to 157 miles per hour (Hurricane Category 5)
Exterior materials usually carrying 20-30 year manufacturers’ warrantees. Interior organic materials are 10”+ away from exterior surfaces (see images below for why we reject conventional exterior construction and finishes)
3. Thermal Performance
Our outer walls provide R-48 to R-54 insulation; roofs have R-48+ insulation - much more than R-19 (walls) and R-30 (roofs) of wooden types
Windows and doors are 100% aluminum and fully insulated with thermal breaks
Cat-5s have roof overhangs of 9 feet or more to reduce sun exposure and generate cooling breezes - much more than what’s possible with wooden structures
Our big roofs enable large scale solar and rainfall harvesting
COMPARE TO TYPICAL WOODEN STRUCTURES…
The pictures below show the rapid degradation of relatively new, wooden wall systems under climate change conditions, such as are typical in Houston and along the Gulf Coast. This kind of weather and its effects on wood construction are becoming commonplace in much of the U.S.
Please contact Category-5 using the form below