If you live in an area that is prone to hurricanes, you must be aware that a hurricane will eventually happen. This can not be prevented. What can be prevented is damage from hurricanes. When homes that have been damaged by a hurricane are inspected by experts, there are typically four areas that cause the most trouble. These are roofs, doors, garage doors, and windows. If there is a weakness in any of these problem areas that causes it too fail, the result is a great deal of damage. The good news is that there are several different things that you can do to protect these areas of your home in order to make your house both stronger and more safe in the unfortunate even of a hurricane.
One of the weakest points in the home, and one of the largest, is the garage door. Garage door braces can be used to reinforce them and help secure this weak link in your home’s safety. They work by being attached to the wall above the garage door, to the floor of the garage, and to each hinge inn the garage door. It is attached to the hinges through the use of brackets. This prevents the door from being either sucked away from the home or being blown into the garage. While a professional can install garage door braces for you, you can install them yourself without any legal complications. They are easy to install because they are made of lightweight but strong aluminum. Once it has been installed, it only takes a few minutes to install each one of the braces.
Doors and windows can be protected through the use of hurricane panels. In most cases these are installed when a hurricane is anticipated and they are removed after the storm has passed. Steel panels are more difficult to install because of their weight. Aluminum panels are easier to install but more expensive. In addition their are transparent Polycarbonate panels which offer the advantage of being able to see outside your house while they are installed.
Hurricane shutters are similar to hurricane panels and come in several different varieties. Some of them are installed before a storm and removed afterward just like panels, but some of them live up to the name and actually work as “shutters” which can be opened and closed and left installed year round. The greatest advantage of shutters is that they are very strong, although they are also heavy and difficult to install. Some of them must be installed by a professional.
A special type of foam used to protect your roof, known as hurricane foam, is made of a polyurethane foam adhesive that prevents you from losing your roof during a hurricane. It is applied to the underside of the roof through the attic. This seals together the sheathing and can increase the resistance of the roof to wind by as much as five times. If the covering of the roof fails during the storm, the foam will also help to guard against leaks.
Their are protective fabrics which can be used to guard doors and windows against hurricane force winds. There are several different types of fabrics but all of them are light weight and very strong. In some cases, the fabrics are coated with UV resistant chemicals, while in other cases PVC is used. The fabrics protect against wind, water, and debris. In some cases the top models are rated for category five hurricanes and can withstand twelve hundred pounds of force. The advantages of hurricane fabrics is that they are light in weight, easy to install, and can be folded up for easy storage as well.
Finally, hurricane window films can be applied to the inside of your windows. These do not protect the windows from breaking, but the prevent the glass shards from flying into the house by holding them in place. The biggest advantage of hurricane window films is that they are low in cost. In addition, they only need to be installed once and nothing else needs to be done when a hurricane warning is in place. They also do not obscure your vision at all.
The option that is best suited to you will depend on your needs and your budget, but it is important to be prepared regardless.