Deltaman...

[Rick]

How'd you fare with the storm?

[Deltaman]

How'd you fare with the storm?

Just seeing this.............we came out fine considering it made landfall as a Hurricane. Thankfully, it moved through fast, and the winds were sub 100 mph! Had a yard and street full of limbs, leaves and pine straw, but nobody around me had any house damage, so we count our blessings. My family home on the Eastern side Mobile Bay came out o.k., but the 240' bay pier, leading out to the house structure on the end took a hit. We lost all of our decking leading out, but the double pilings and cross members seem to all still be intact. We just spent $27k on a new bulkhead a few weeks ago, which included additional dirt and sodding behind, and the storm surge made it over the top, with a hard West wind coming straight at it on Sunday morning. I'm curious to see how much we will have to do with the grass and dirt behind it, but the house made out fine. Thankfully, I have a big family, and with a load of 5/4 decking, a chop box, hammer, nails,string and some labor, we should be able to replace without too much trouble. Considering what Florida and Texas went through this year, this was a minor storm, and we are thankful. Dauphin Island took a pretty good hit, being a barrier island. I've been told that the last 3 miles of road going towards the West end, had 6' of sand piled up on it, and I'm curious to see how many of the beach homes on the gulf side made out, especially the ones that are one the edge. We rented one two years ago that I could cast into the gulf from the upper porch, and I feel sure it, and others around it, likely took the brunt of the storm.

[Darren]

Glad to hear you made out OK; bummer to hear of Dauphin Island. Made my first visit there this summer and enjoyed it, neat place.

[Rick]

Thankfully, I have a big family, and with a load of 5/4 decking, a chop box, hammer, nails,string and some labor, we should be able to replace without too much trouble.

Sounds like time for a family BBQ.

[Deltaman]

Thankfully, I have a big family, and with a load of 5/4 decking, a chop box, hammer, nails,string and some labor, we should be able to replace without too much trouble.

Sounds like time for a family BBQ.

Will definitely be in the near term forecast, and just gives us another reason to get the family together. We've had to rebuild the pier quite a few times over the years, and have gotten pretty good at it. We started off making "Frank Sinatra" we did it our way piers........dips here and there, using the single pilings with the A-frames underneath, and have gotten a more professional look over the years. After Katrina, we pulled up our old singles, and replaced them with double pilings, 4' longer. Also, we've noticed that after most major hurricanes, the only pier end structures left standing, had pilings long enough to reach the ceiling of the end structure from the sandy bottom, and that's what we did, raising it the add'l 4' as well. It has definitely helped save our bacon from most of the periodic storms over the years, but not much you can do about storm surge when it reaches high enough to touch the decking, and the waves are white-capping. Pretty sad sight when you are watching it happen and can do nothing about it.
As you mentioned, just another reason for us to get together