113 Calhoun Street: A Center for Sustainable Living was dedicated on Thursday, Oct. 19, at 113 Calhoun St. in downtown Charleston.

113 Calhoun St. develops low-cost tools and techniques, educational activities and technical assistance programs in three areas: Natural Hazard Mitigation, Sustainable Building Practices, and Sustainable Living.

Within the Natural Hazard Mitigation theme, the center demonstrates methods of minimizing loss of life and property from effects of flood, wind and earthquake events.  Within the Sustainable Building theme, 113 Calhoun St. addresses how to reuse building materials, recycle construction waste, and employ sustainable landscaping techniques.

Within the Sustainable Living theme, the center demonstrates how people can manage household hazardous waste and improve indoor air and water quality.

Speakers at the dedication ceremony included Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr.; James Barker, president of Clemson University; Leroy Davis, president of S.C. State University and chair of the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium Board of Directors; Stan McKinney, director of the S.C. Emergency Management Department; Roland Windham, administrator for Charleston County; and Mike Armstrong, associate director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

113 Calhoun St. is now open for walk-ins 9a.m.-noon, M-F, and by appointment.  For appointments and information, call (843) 727-6497.
 

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.

On September 20,1999, more than 100 years after an earthquake flattened much of the city of Charleston, 10 years after Hurricane Hugo, and just five days after a brush with another hurricane, federal, state and local officials met on the WWII carrier Yorktown to kick off a new hazard mitigation initiative.  The initiative, termed Project Impact, is a federal program administered through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that aims to minimize loss of life and damage after a disaster.

113 Calhoun Street Foundation board member Rick Devoe joined Barrett Lawrimore, chairman of Charleston County Council,  FEMA director of mitigation Mike Armstrong and other government officials and business executives in signing to pledge their commitment to the program.

After the ceremony, officials and community leaders accompanied DeVoe and 113 Calhoun Street Foundation technical committee chair Bob Bacon on a tour of the 113 Calhoun Street Center for Sustainable Living, currently under construction.  Located in a 125-year old home, the Center implements flood, earthquake, and hurricane-resistant construction retrofit techniques. After completion, it will function as a demonstration site.

Professor Tim Reinhold and graduate student Brian Pietras, researchers from Clemson University's civil engineering department, demonstrated several retrofit techniques with hands-on displays.  Officials were asked to pull screws and nails from wooden blocks with a special device that measured the strength of each attachment.  Screws can add up to five times the resistance to uplift forces caused by wind.