What Makes a Garage Door Hurricane Proof?

Protecting your home from hurricanes and tropical storms in Florida (includes making sure that every part is covered). This begins with hurricane impact windows and doors. Reinforcing your Florida home’s garage door is important, but there are a lot of questions about the best practices for protecting a garage before and during a storm. Proper hurricane materials for your home and structural preparation are essential to ride out a storm, and that includes your garage door.

What Is a Hurricane Rated Garage Door?

What makes a garage door hurricane proof? The Florida building code covers the standards for hurricane protection for windows and doors, including the garage. According to the code, hurricane resistant garage doors are simply those that have a certain degree of windproofness. The amount of windproofness that the door is required to have depends on what part of the state you live in. For example, the southern part of the state, Miami-Dade County, is considered a high-velocity region for hurricanes. Therefore, the codes have stricter requirements about how much wind resistance they need.

Should You Leave Your Garage Door Open During a Hurricane?

The short answer? No. It’s better to make sure that your garage door is closed during the storm and reinforce it. This can mean either replacing your garage door with one that’s better rated to resist hurricanes or taking other measures to protect your home.

Leaving the garage door open during high winds leaves the interior vulnerable to damage, the inside walls aren’t as strong as the outside walls, and you could end up with flying objects damaging the walls.

Homeowners and businesses in hurricane-prone regions who plan ahead and install garage doors resistant to high wind storms are always going to come out ahead. By installing hurricane ready doors and windows throughout Florida structures, it not only provides high impact protection, but helps residents and business owners to endure storms with more ease.

Is My Miami Home’s Garage Door Hurricane Proof?

Before tropical storm season starts, take a look at your garage door to see if it’s capable of protecting your home against flying debris and excessive wind. If you purchased an older model home, there is a very good chance that the garage doors currently installed are not hurricane resistant.

There are a few steps you can take to see if your garage door is hurricane impact-proof:

• Look for the wind load sticker inside the garage door. You will also see the manufacturer’s name and model number, plus the design pressure number of the door
• Check the Florida Product Approval website to find the specs for your garage door
• If you see your garage door’s model number listed twice with either an A or a B listed after the number, the door has glass inserts. This is important, as the letter indicates the strength of the glass. A-labeled doors have impact-resistant glass or glass inserts, while B doors don’t have impact-rated features.

 Garage Door Hurricane Protection Starts Here

If you find that your garage door isn’t hurricane impact resistant and want to ensure that it can protect your home against an upcoming storm, contact a professional hurricane window installation company. The team at Signature Impact Windows can help you find the right kind of garage door to protect your home that will also improve your curb appeal.

Signature Impact Windows & Doors also offers additional products and services in South Florida, including impact front doors, impact patio doors, impact sliding doors and more. Give us a call today at 305-912-7493 or simply request a quote online!

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