Hurricane Resistant Homes – Part 6 OPENING PROTECTION

Moving right along from Part 5 on gable or hip shape.

Opening Protection?  When the wind starts blowing things around it breaks windows and the like.  This causes an increase in the internal pressure loading of the house and allows rain into the house.

HURRICANE SHUTTERS (OR IMPACT GLASS) ARE THE LARGEST SINGLE INSURANCE MITIGATION DISCOUNT.

Impact glass or shutters?  Similar to roofs, opinions vary on this one.  Impact glass is great. It’s always there whether you need it or not. BUT it’s very expensive, can break (but not breach, when impacted, can be scratched by blowing sand and the like, and since it’s typically a multi layer system with gas between layers they can leak this gas out leading to a moisture looking fog in the glazing.  Any one of these would necessitate the change out of at least the glazing which is VERY expensive.  If money is no object then go for it.

Shutters, the most important feature about shutters is that they get used.  Accordion and Bahama shutters are expensive but the easiest to close up.  The fabric coverings are also very easy to install but tend to go moldy if they are left rolled up in place.  Clear panels are great as well.  They are light weight and allow light in.  Some people leave them up all year round but this can be dangerous is a fire or if some other need to escape your house comes up.  Aluminium shutters are also light (er than steel).  And, finally the good old steel shutters.  I have Miami Dade approved steel shutters at my house and they are VERY heavy BUT I get a larger insurance discount even though they are stronger than what the building code requires in my area.

The best answer on this is most likely some combination of systems however to qualify for the insurance discount you must have 100% coverage of all opening including the garage door.  Garage doors have been shown to be particularly susceptible to wind failures.  The good news is that they are relatively inexpensive.  At my house I can tell you that installing a 100% coverage system of Dade County approved shutters was re-paid in a SINGLE year of reduced insurance premiums.  CLICK HERE TO SEE A POST I DID ON HOW TO CALCULATE THE ECONOMICS OF MITIGATION DISCOUNTS

One more tip.  Make sure you have all the required nuts, bolts and fasteners for your system.  When the storm is on the way these sell out quick.

That’s it for this series.  Ig you have any questions please use the chat button on this page or call me at the office at 561-626-8550.

CLICK HERE to go back to the first post in this series of how to buy a hurricane resistant home.

Hurricane Resistant Homes – Part 5 HOUSE GEOMETRY

The geometry of the house.  When I say this I mean is it a single story structure or 2 or 3 (townhouse) stories and is it hip or gable ended roof and does it have anything particularly susceptible to uplift?

As one goes up in height the wind gets stronger so generally a single story house is better than 2 or 3 stories.  This is due to the ‘shielding’ effect of ground structures, trees and the like.

The gable, hip or flat roof is the shape of the house.  Hip shaped roofs tend to do better than gable shapes at the end walls and both do better than flat roofs.  One can retrofit braces into a gabled roof end and these work well.

Most houses are a combination of at least 2 of these shapes but again if the house was built under the 2001+ FBC then it is built to withstand the appropriate loading.  Many older ‘classic Florida’ homes have hip shaped roofs with flat screened rooms.  These have been shown to be a particular weak point in many older homes.  Wind gets under those screened patios and lift the roof up which can tear right off at the wall attachment point allowing water to get into the house and the damage can compromise the remainder of the roof.  Now, I happen to like my big screened patio but I am very aware that it is a weak point in my house.  And, I get less of an insurance mitigation discount because more than 10% of my total roof perimeter is something other than a hip shaped roof.