Replies

1. 
   4Lorn1 | Mar 15, 2005 04:41am | #1

   Google or search under 'Florida vernacular architecture' and 'Cracker home'. Or variations on those themes.

   Traditionally:

   Typical is 'tin', galvanized steel, roofs. Wide overhangs. Sometimes dual pitch with the flatter portions covering the porches. The steep portions make for large, often 3 or more feet square, louvered gable vents, pretty good. Or, even better, a cupola. With large louvered vents. Drip trays, to catch rain blown in , are common.

   Tall double-hung windows that are often as good as AC. Also kitchens segregated from the house. Also 'Dog trots', relatively narrow open air walkways between blocks of room, typically between kitchen and bedrooms.

   Also wide porches that typically wrap the house. Most old houses didn't have screens. Expect the house to have a crawl space, all the better to keep rising water and critters. You ain't seen critter until you have seen what we have in Florida. Mostly the crawl spaces were open in really old homes. Lattices or rubble were often added later.

   Walls, actually pretty much everything, is wood. Clapboard and board and batten common. Four-coat plaster lath on higher end homes. Wood seen on lower end. Plaster or tin ceilings on higher end homes. Boards, sometime board and batten, in lower end ones.

   Simple but wide, often just square cut planks, baseboards and trims. Doors are a little more decorated but nothing ornate. Often with a tilt-vent panel or small window above for ventilation. Ceiling fans were common in homes that could afford them. Often only in the living room and master bedroom.

   Insulation rare but your going to want some.

2. 
   RickD | Mar 15, 2005 05:40am | #2

   From what I've seen on the news the last few years, I thought a modern Florida home was just a home without a roof :)

1. 
   zendo | Mar 15, 2005 06:11am | #3

   I thought it was a trailer.

    

1. 
   4Lorn1 | Mar 15, 2005 08:27am | #4

   Actually your both right.The modern Florida house, at least going by what you see on the news, is a trailer, many provided by FEMA, or a house with a blue tarp for a roof.

3. 
   IronHelix | Mar 15, 2005 02:13pm | #5

   Yes, I remember the article........researched it for a customer a while back.

   Can't instantly recall same, but I do remember it was in the earlier years of FHB issues.

   I'll check my notes and see if I can help you out!

   Now then.....where did I put those notes?

   ...................Iron Helix

1. 
   brownbagg | Mar 15, 2005 02:38pm | #6

   sep 04 p96

1. 
   IronHelix | Mar 15, 2005 04:10pm | #7

   I did find my notes.............amazing!

   I think the one he is thinking of is from june/july 1981  No.3  pg 56.

   ..............Iron Helix

1. 
   RdWing | Mar 15, 2005 05:03pm | #8

   Thanks