Paradise Pointe Dr · Port Aransas
Low ground beside the tidal marsh, where a house has to stand above the flood line and stay tied together from the roof to the sand. 334 went from bare pilings to a dried-in roof in eight months.
The ground
Paradise Pointe sits on the low marsh and bay side of the island. The view is across open water and flats, and so is the wind; the ground is the first to flood.
A house here stands on pilings, with the lowest structural member above the base flood elevation and the space underneath left open so water can pass through. Parking and storage go below. The living floors go up where the view is, and everything above the pilings, including a lookout that catches the most wind, is tied back down through the frame into them.
Then & today
334 Paradise Pointe: the pilings and beams in January 2023, and the finished house from the air.
Jan 2023
Today
Timeline
Dated site photographs from the job, January to September 2023.
21 Jan 2023
The pilings are in and the floor beams bolted to them: the whole house will stand on this grid.
7 Feb 2023
Framed high on the pilings, with the open space beneath that the flood rules require.
Feb–Mar 2023
Walls framed on the platform through February and into March.
29 Mar 2023
Two floors framed above the flood line, the roof going on.
10 Apr 2023
Green structural sheathing with taped seams, the house closing in.
May 2023
A small room framed above the main roof, sheathed and tied into the frame below.
Jul 2023
Lap siding goes on and the covered decks are framed front and back.
Aug 2023
The long covered decks and the stairs finished; the rear deck done in mid-August.
Sep 2023
Dried in by mid-September, eight months after the pilings; then finished, painted white and roofed in standing-seam metal.
The two
Both on pilings, both under white metal roofs, both certified for wind as they went up.
New build · 2023
A house that lives upstairs, with views over the marsh and bay. Two living floors above parking and storage, covered decks front and back, and a small lookout room rising above the main roof.
New build
A home with the marsh as its back yard: living space up high for the view across the channel and the flats, the ground floor left for parking and the water. A marsh-edge lot takes the full wind off the bay, so the house is tied together from roof to piling and opens up to the view on its most exposed side.
Gallery
Questions
What people ask about a raised house beside the marsh.
Because the ground is low and floods first. On pilings, the lowest structural member sits above the base flood elevation and the space below stays open so water can pass under the house rather than through it.
334 Paradise Pointe went from pilings and beams in January 2023 to a dried-in roof in September, about eight months. A new house here typically runs ten to fourteen months from permit to keys, depending on the lot, the design and the weather.
It has no shingle tabs for the wind to lift, it sheds wind-driven rain, and in white it reflects the summer sun. It suits a house that stands exposed at the edge of the marsh.
Yes, and it is the best time to ask. Flood zone, base flood elevation, wind exposure, setbacks and what the city will permit all change what a lot costs to build on. We check them at feasibility, before a design is drawn.
More of our work
Tell us about the lot. We will check the flood zone, the elevation and what the city will permit before anything is drawn, and tell you plainly what it takes.
