The LSU AgCenter will open its Louisiana House Home and Landscape Resource Center June 13 for a daylong series of educational programs designed to help families prepare for the upcoming hurricane season.

Dubbed “Hurricanes, Homes and Yards,” the program will be conducted from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. Saturday, June 13, at the Louisiana House on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge, La.

Known as LaHouse, for short, the LSU AgCenter facility is designed as a showcase for safer, stronger and smarter building techniques. Among its purposes are educating homeowners, home buyers and the building industry on ways to create homes that are built for the state’s hot-humid climate, are energy efficient, resist damage from hurricanes and termites and minimize adverse effects on the environment.

Among the topics that will be covered are features of hurricane-hardy homes, such as hurricane shutters, raised foundations and wet flood proofing. Energy efficiency and how to achieve as much comfort as possible when the power is out will be another topic.

Experts also will cover storm-surge models and hazard maps and conduct discussions about steps you can take to build hazard resistance into your home.

Looking outside the home, LSU AgCenter horticulturist Dan Gill will provide details on hurricane-resistant landscaping and steps you can take to try to protect your lawn and landscape from storm damage.

“As we saw in 2008 with flooding and high winds as far north as Caddo and Ouachita parishes, hurricanes don’t just affect south Louisiana,” LaHouse coordinator Margaret Pierce pointed out. “From Abbeville to Zwolle, LaHouse benefits all Louisianans.

“Whether you need information on flood proofing or energy-efficient sky lights, there is something for everyone at LaHouse,” Pierce said.

In addition to the activities at LaHouse, the LSU AgCenter’s nearby Callegari Environmental Center also will be demonstrating how to make biodiesel and conducting demonstrations of solar energy panels.

Located southwest of the central portion of the Louisiana State University campus in Baton Rouge, LaHouse is one of a variety of LSU AgCenter research and demonstration facilities, as well as extension educational offices, across Louisiana. It is located off Gourrier Lane near the new Alex Box Baseball Stadium.

For more details on LaHouse and its variety of activities, visit LaHouse. Or contact Margaret Pierce at (225) 578-7913 or [email protected].