ST. AUGUSTINE, Florida — One St. Augustine man knows all too well what a hurricane can do to a cherished home.
The night Hurricane Irma struck the historic town two years ago, Rob DePiazza was devastated.Hurricane Irma toppled a tree onto his home, destroying it.
That night, he said in a Facebook post, "Well, the worst thing that could happen, has happened.”
DePiazza chose to rebuild, and it's not an ordinary house. It is a home made out of shipping containers.
Tuesday, he showed First Coast News the unfinished bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, and living room. It's certainly not complete. Full walls aren't even erected.
Now as another hurricane comes close, Depiazza is literally battening down the hatches on the doors of his containers.
And all this talk of another storm has made him a little bit anxious.
"Because you start playing out all the scenarios," he said. "But I’m not concerned about the structure at all."
He doesn’t think another tree will take it down, but there are other concerns.
Dipiazza’s home is mostly secure except, he said, the company that installed some of the windows put them in incorrectly. They leaked, and they had to be taken out,he said. So now, there are holes where the windows should be. For the time being, Dipiazza has put in some corrugated plastic over those square holes.
"My biggest concern is not having the windows in place, which allows water to get in. All the wiring is done, plumbing is done, insulation is in," he said.
So, it’s not a space he wants water to get into, "because you have to think about mold," he said.
And that could delay a process that’s already taken two years since the last hurricane shattered his home.
"I’ve not stopped since that happened," Dipiazza said. "There really hasn’t been an opportunity to grieve or mourn."
He said the house he lost was special.
"I raised my daughter. I lived there for 32 years. She was born in that house. She picked out the colors for her room. Her toys were there," DePiazza said. "Losing things like that, that’s probably the hardest part."
And so, he rebuilds. He's not choosing to build with containers in order to withstand another storm, but to create a place pleasing to his eye, where more memories can be made.