These photos got me to thinking about homeowner’s insurance and coverage for nature’s angry outbursts. Thanks to Pamela Stevens of TopTen Reviews, I have the skinny for you.

Ugly outcome when the earth roars

Photo by USGS

In 1971, a magnitude 6.7 quake threw me out of bed, across the room, and dropped a bookcase on me. We were luckier than many in the San Fernando Valley. Stevens writes that if you have private homeowner’s insurance, you can add earthquake endorsements. If you live in California, the California Earthquake Authority offers coverage.

Twister assister

Photo by Richmond Times-Dispatch

Even if you live where this is a common sight, you can buy tornado coverage as part of your homeowner’s policy. Make sure you get repair coverage for hail, which typically shows up at the same time to hammer dings into even the best vinyl siding.

Surf’s up

Photo by Freak Waves

Don’t assume your homeowner’s insurance will cover damage from flooding. Stevens says you must secure a policy purchased through the National Flood Insurance Program.

Crispy creamed

Photo by Premier Choice Restoration

You can get fire damage endorsements throughout the country – unless you live in a high-risk area or a long way from the nearest fire station. Stevens says insurance companies can refuse you coverage. To find out if you live in a high-risk zone, check with The National Interagency Fire Center.

DOH!

Photo by Indy Media

Sad to say, most insurers will not offer coverage for radiation damage if you live near a nuclear power plant. Perhaps you should consider using lead when evaluating replacement windows.

What is it about Victorian architecture, anyway? Well-kept or restored Vicks are a delight. There’s one overlooking the sea where I live that always takes my breath away. And it’s green, too, with well-matched energy efficient replacement windows and a new copper roof.  Nonetheless, an unkempt old house is enough to scare the pants off of me to this day.

How to terrify, Pt. 1

Photo by Austin Home Restorations

According to the folks at Austin Home Restorations, a scary house has to be old and large, have neglected house exteriors and a spooky background story.

Salem architecture

Photo by The Mirror Up to Nature

Not all spooky homes are Victorians. I’ve never been to Massachusetts, but I can see that some parts of Salem are haunted to this day. The exteriors of this place recall the Amityville home where those gruesome murders took place. Come on, people! Painting an old house isn’t all that difficult.

Bewitchingly apt

Photo by Andrew's Blog

This New Jersey home in Freehold was used for the exteriors in the production of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Add a dark night with clouds streaming across the face of the moon, mix with a dash of moaning hounds, and finish it off with a wind-blown creaking gate. Brrr!

Green center of horror

Photo by The Green ABC's Blog

Indiana’s April Brewster Smythe posted this blog photo to promote the Green Center Haunted School House. Just a few miles from Churubusco, Green Center is located at the intersection of CR 300S and CR 300E in Noble County, just in case you want to walk by some creepy evening.

The ugliest fence

Photo by Rick's Fencing

There are lots of contenders but few winners. Oregon’s Rick’s Fencing chose this Corvallis fence as the worst of the year in its annual contest. If good fences make good neighbors, avoid living next door to this place. The homeowner (mercifully unnamed here) won “100 feet of free fencing materials” from Rick’s.

Arresting door of the year

Photo by New Jersey.com

Ohio police officer Michael Cleary submitted this photo to New Jersey.com’s annual ugly door contest. One voter remarked: “I expect that door to open and Liberace to be standing there.” Since Liberace passed in 1987, I reckon he would easily look better than the door. If this photo isn’t enough to induce vomiting, watch five minutes of any movie with Ashton Kutcher.

Tackiest lamp of the year

Photo by Find Great Stuff

A Tennessee woman created this lamp for a single Gatlinburg man in the hopes of keeping him warm on winter nights. I’d prefer setting a bonfire on the sofa and singing “Tenting Tonight”  to my ferret.

Fixer-urper

Photo by Milwaukee Rennaisance

The wood may still be salvageable underneath the siding in this most-foul of outdoor treatments. I’d recommend running a jackhammer across the surface and then dynamiting the rest of the place.

Worst carpet of the decade

Photo by Las Vegas Carpets

Earlier this year, I ran a retrospective of ugly carpets from Vegas. This is what you call a “throw rug”; you roll it up and throw it in the dumpster.

Here’s to a New Year luxuriant in décor and dazzling with fine taste. But I doubt it!

They say that the thicker your vinyl siding product, the greater its ability to withstand the forces of nature. But unless you have a Kevlar shroud around your house exteriors, there are times when the environment wins.

Dear sir, that’s an ugly wound you have

Photo by Airpark Collision Center

If hail stones can make the rear window of a Beemer look like it’s been through the country roads outside Feyzābād, imagine what it does to thin siding. The hail dented the hood and trunk of Margusity’s car, but have a gander what it did to the exteriors:

The environment strikes back

Photo by AccuWeather

Driven by wind, the hailstones that slammed into Margusity’s siding also ripped off half a shutter on the house and peppered an entry door at the home across the street. Read more about it at AccuWeather.

Meteorological madness

Photo by KNIA Radio

A month before the storm stippled Pine Grove Mills, a similar hail storm raced at 60 miles per hour through central Iowa, turning this vinyl siding effort into unpalatable Swiss cheese. The wind was strong enough to whistle through the open door residential garage and blow down two walls. You come home to damage like this, pour yourself a tall adult beverage. While you’re awaiting a call back from the insurance company, you can always read Margusity’s blog.

Putting a new face on home exteriors

Photo by Denver Siding Solutions

Your vinyl siding may be insured against these projectiles, but read the terms carefully. Often the provisions are for just the damaged face of siding to be replaced. After a few years, your siding color will have faded. Now you’re looking at un-matched colors around your house. The answer? Paint your siding with high-grade acrylic latex paint to match the new panels.

Originally slated for today, the chat has been rescheduled for next Thursday, June 30, at 10 a.m. Pacific time/1 p.m. Eastern time.

VinylSidingZone will join with other home improvement experts in participating with Vila in a discussion of renovations, siding, stains, paints and other exterior options. The chat can give you a great insight on house exteriors and you can connect with home improvement guru Vila in real time.

Again, you can participate by going to http://twitter.com/#!/bobvila and http://twitter.com/#!/vinylsidingzone and select the +Follow” buttons on each site.

Twitter fans, use the chat hashtag:  #GetReadyThurs.

A Vila tweet is a serious treat!

Think of this: today’s newest iterations of vinyl sidings have a wide range of color and pattern options so that all designs are not alike. Unless you’ve cultivated the contractor’s keen eye, you may have driven past a stunning home and never paid heed to the siding. Up close you can tell, but in terms of curb appeal, many of the newer siding treatments are carefully matched to the building style and architecture.

Ask Bob Vila about siding

Have your concerns about siding? Why not ask home improvement maven Bob Vila? He and experts from VinylSidingZone.com are participating in a Tweet chat Thursday on the topic of siding, paint and other home exterior options. To follow or participate in the chat, visit http://twitter.com/#!/vinylsidingzone and http://twitter.com/#!/bobvila and click the +Follow” button. The chat is broadcast live, June 23 at 10am Pacific time/1pm Eastern time. (You tweetersb just use the #GetReadyThurs hash tag.)

Natural-looking house exteriors

Architect Magazine has taken a long view at the newest generation of vinyl siding exteriors and given it the thumbs up. It found that homeowners can have contractors install insulated vinyl siding that has superior R-values and durability.  The color choices are varied and vivid.

How durable is it? Alcoa claims that its Structure line has an XPP backing that is 30 percent stronger against impact than standard EPS foam.

Need more help determining whether or not vinyl siding is the best solution for your home?  Tweet with Bob.

What? You claim to be a traditionalist? Then look over these examples of traditional architecture. If you need a serious refresher in the shoe house legend, try Kermit.

Pennsylvania:  Uniquely traditional

Thanks to Roadside America, I’ve found The Shoe House, built in 1948 by shoe magnate and millionaire Colonel Mahlon M. Haines. You’ll find the house at 195 Shoe House Rd. in Hellam, PA. Read more about the house.

Shoe architecture from way down south

Proving once again that folklore is universal, this shoe home in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, features an inspirational stone house exterior with a fancy toe piece. Bring the family!

Nice architecture, eh?

This house on Kitseguekla Lake Road in Smithers, British Columbia, provides a sanctuary for when the kids are at home.

Traditional shoe house exteriors for farm country

According to the Webster, S.D. Chamber of Commerce, the Blue Dog Lake State Fish Hatchery is one of the key attractions in the area. For me, it would be this rustic-style shoe house in the glacial lake area of the state.

Euro-loafer

The massive, global ING Group based in Amsterdam has apparently not forgotten its roots. While it’s not fashioned after a traditional clog, the ING world headquarters building looks like the latest sneaker from Nike. The building may resemble a high-speed train (or even an ice skate), but everyone knows what this is!

If the shoe fits, IMG…

CNN Money reports that HomeVestors often picks up homes that truly have virtues on the inside, but buyers can’t get past their ugly exteriors. The company has 200 franchisees, each on the look for “diamonds in the rough.”

Here are some roughs, sans any apparent diamonds:

Things might get ugly

I’d rather live in a refrigerator box beneath the overpass than move in here. Ugliness abides. There’s an entire website dedicated to the ugly called, uncannily enough, Ugly House Photos.

Gateway to the worst

Ah, the grandeur of St. Louis–the majestic Mississippi, the splendid arch rising from the shoreline and this turquoise shack along the highway. Almost gives you chills.

Borderline ugly

This freshly painted home in Mexicali (south of the California line) proves that ugliness knows no bounds. It looks like the stencil print children make from tempera ink using cut-out ends of a large potato. Tan feo, hombre!

Beast of burden

I wrote about his house before on the blog, but it deserves a reprieve. I cherish the tall crop of grass edges and the delightful use of contrasting oil stains on the drive.

Camden yards

This house in New Jersey was among 13 entrants in the Cramer Hill Ugly Home Contest run in 2009 by local churches bent on reforming the neighborhood ambiance. See the details at the Cramer Hill/CCOP website.

Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like ugly. I have plenty of other photos, but this is all I can take, friends.

Time in a Bottle

The 1950s design for stack-able beer bottles are attributed to Alfred Heineken—yes, the beer guy. The story goes that he was beachcombing in Jamaica when he was revolted by the insane number of castaway beer bottles. He was troubled, too, by the appalling living conditions among the locals. Vestial Design has the whole story on this decidedly green product.

Nothing New Under the Sun

While I can’t identify the people in the picture, I can tell the photo comes from the early part of the 20^th Century. That means that people were recycling bottles for home building long before Heineken came along. Either that or this is an early stage production of Animal House.

A Sinking Feeling

Kudos to Inhabitat for uploading images of the Sustainable Sky Box with a façade built entirely out of old kitchen sinks for a Dutch architecture firm. Wonder how well it sits with the locals who live nearby along streams, meadows, and windmills.

A Baleful Existence

The plucky British have come up with a construction brick made from hemp mixed with water and lime. Called “Hemecrete”, the blocks are said to have high energy efficiency and fire retardant ratings. Perfect for those who want hemp that won’t burn.

Temporary Housing

Finally, the folks at Marvin windows had given a sample product to Ed Hagele, who in turn created an igloo around it. After the snow melted, there was but a window on the lawn, along with a snowman scarf, top hat, and pipe.

Happy Holidays!

Snug as a Snowbug

Sunset Magazine features the 850-square-foot mini-lodge in Winthrop, Washington in its latest issue. It’s located in the Methow Valley, summer home to the state’s apple growing industry.

Extra Twispy

Ray and Mary Johnston of Johnston Architects designed and built this 1,200-square-foot cabin for their family in Twisp, overlooking the Washington Cascades.

Nighty Niche

Sunset editors marveled at the “bed cabinet” that the Johnston’s built into the heart of their Twisp getaway. I love the affect of the sliding barn doors.

Wallowa the Day Away

In the same issue this month, Sunset Magazine featured the diminutive, 130 square-foot cabin built on Wallawa Lake by Mariah Morrow and Ryan Lingard for $57,000, including the acreage.  The couple constructed their tiny getaway six hours from Portland at Joseph, Oregon. The cabin uses wood heat, has no electricity or water. (That’s off the grid!) Ryan, an architect, designed the cabin with its metal roof and cedar siding. The entire project was completed in two weeks.

Small IS Beautiful

If you want a small cabin getaway, or small permanent home, Thoreau devotee Jim Wilkins of White Bear Lake, MN, is here to help with plans. He creates designs for Tiny Green Cabins, which you can take with you, or for permanent small dwellings like the wildflower (pictured).

You gotta love it when Jim says, “There are trade-offs in everything, from owning a big home to a small compact tiny house or cabin; from a long commute wearing expensive suits to a short bicycle ride to a low stressful job; to living green in an earth friendly environment or living in a high rise condo that spills energy into the night. These are all choices, and we are each investing in our thoughts that will produce the life of our choice. Let’s make a smart choice, and rethink our bigness to one of living in harmony in earth-friendly products.”