In March 2000, Bob Vila's "Home Again" show filmed a five-minute segment at 113 Calhoun Street: A Center for Sustainable Living, featuring the hazard-resistant and sustainable features of the reconstructed building. The segment is scheduled to air in September.

Beth Judge, coastal hazards specialist for the S.C. Sea Grant Extension Program, provided an on-air tour of the 113 Calhoun Street house. The 125-year-old building, located in downtown Charleston and scheduled to open this summer, will function as a laboratory and demonstration site for hazard-resistant retrofit techniques.

Judge pointed out the new foundation, sustainable construction materials, and reinforced structural connections. Vila noted a special "high-wind retrofit bracket," which homeowners can install to reinforce structural connections without removing sheetrock from the walls. The bracket was invented by graduate student Ed Sutt and civil engineer Tim Reinhold of Clemson University.

The 113 Calhoun Street project is a partnership of the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, Clemson University Extension Service, the City of Charleston, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, South Carolina state government, and Charleston County.
 

On August 30, 1999, 113 Calhoun Street was featured on the CBS Morning News.  In a segment that ran four-and-a-half minutes, Bob Bacon, S.C. Sea Grant Extension Program Leader and 113 Calhoun Street Foundation technical committee chair, provided reporter Jose Diaz-Balart with a tour of the house, pointing out key methods and materials used in buildings to make them more resistant to wind, earthquake and flood hazards.

The building's "hazard retrofit" is based largely on work done at the Wind Load Test Facility at Clemson University by civil engineering faculty.  Many of the low-cost, effective home-retrofit methods and materials are products of S.C. Sea Grant funded research.

The tour focused on the building's retrofit elements, including solid connections from the building foundation up through the walls and into the roof.  Using "hurricane clips" and other metal connectors eliminates weak links and helps the structure resist wind and seismic forces.  Bacon also demonstrated the importance of protecting windows with storm shutters and using screws in roof decking and construction adhesives.  And Bacon showed how floodproofing techniques are being used in the house to minimize damage to walls and electrical and climate control systems.

After the tour, Beth Judge, S.C. Sea Grant coastal hazards specialist, told viewers about her role in bringing important mitigation information from the research lab to the community.

The 1999 John R. Sheaffer Award for Excellence in Floodproofing was awarded to the 113 Calhoun Street Foundation for it's Multi-Hazard Residential Retrofit Project. 

The National Association of State Floodplain Mangers (ASFPM), which provided the award, praised the 113 Calhoun Street project for providing educational resources to the public while protecting an historic structure.  The ASFPM makes the award on an annual basis if there is a worthy recipient.

113 Calhoun Street: A Center for Sustainable Living is a partnership of the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, Clemson University Extension Service, and the City of Charleston.