Hurricane Impact Windows

Many methods of protecting a home against hurricanes exist. The current gold-standard in testing is the Miami-Dade County hurricane impact test. Be clear that products that meet or exceed this test are appropriate for all areas that may be impacted by hurricanes, tornadoes or other high wind situations. Remember, it is your life and your property. Essentially all of Florida, and all the coastal regions of the United States should prepare for possible wind speeds of 110 mph or greater.

The impact tests do not guarantee the windows will survive a hurricane, but they do test specific conditions that they should survive. Impact survivability certainly helps home survivability. If you can maintain the structural shell of your house or business, you are significantly more likely to save the structure. Once wind enters a building, it becomes much more likely that the structure will be significantly damaged. Therefore it becomes imperative to protect all the openings in your building.

THE IMPACT TEST, from the Miami Dade office of Code Compliance
The Miami-Dade Building Code requires that every exterior opening - residential or commercial - be provided with protection against wind-borne debris caused by hurricanes. Such protection could either be shutters or impact-resistant products. There are two types of impact-resistant products: large-missile resistant and small- missile resistant.

Large-missile resistant A product is tested as large-missile resistant after it has been exposed to various impacts with a piece of lumber weighing approximately 9 pounds, measuring 2" x 4" x 6’ (no more than 8') in size, traveling at a speed of 50 feet per second (34 mph). Then the product must pass positive and negative wind loads for 9,000 cycles, with impact creating no hole larger than 1/16 x 5" in the interlayer of the glass. If you live in a building where doors and windows are located 30 feet or less above grade (e.g. above ground level) then the products must pass the large-missile test. If the doors and windows are more than 30 feet from the ground then they must be either large or small missile compliant.

Small-missile resistant A product is declared small-missile resistant after it has been exposed to various impacts with 10 ball bearings traveling at a speed of 80 feet per second (50 mph). The product is then subjected to wind loads for 9,000 cycles.

Hurricane Windows

Hurricane impact resistant windows provide continuous protection from wind borne debris. The advantages are numerous: 

• no shutters to put up.
• no plywood to cut and put up.
• continuous protection. 
• the windows are structurally part of the house so it is much more difficult for wind to get behind the windows and pull them off which can occur for shutters and plywood. 
• while clear shutters do exist, they are less common so impact resistant hurricane windows provide the added advantage of letting light in.

In our experience, hurricane windows are somewhat more expensive than good according shutters. This is primarily due to the labor costs of removing and re-installing windows in your home.

Source: Hurricane

Science and Wind

Phys.org is doing new studies that feature a man-made wall of wind to test wind resistance on buildings. This has an immediate effect on our building code and that of other locations as Florida is leading the way in wind-resistance and building ordinances! Read the article here.

Hurricane Safe

We’re not as safe as we can be from hurricanes

 

BY LESLIE CHAPMAN-HENDERSON

WWW.FLASH.ORG

Twenty years ago, Hurricane Andrew made landfall in South Florida in the middle of the night of Aug. 24. When residents from Key Largo to North Miami walked outside their homes the next morning, they gasped at a level of devastation that had never been seen before.

Much has changed since then in Florida and around the nation. We have made great progress in the past 20 years to strengthen our coastal areas against the unstoppable reality of hurricanes. But we cannot become complacent simply because time has allowed memories to fade.

Mitigating the damage of natural disasters and, in some cases, actually preventing damages, is a proven money-saver. A 2005 study by the National Institute of Building Sciences found that, on average, a dollar spent by FEMA on hazard mitigation saves the nation $4 in future benefits. We believe the savings for property owners are even greater.

There are three fundamental building blocks to improved mitigation:

•  Stronger building codes. The creation of the International Code Council in 1994 gave us a single entity to draft model building codes that can be, and are, used as guidelines for local codes worldwide. Stronger building codes help drive the creation, and adoption, of better building products and practices. Alabama, for instance, this year adopted its first-ever statewide residential code.

Many hurricane-exposed states, unfortunately, still are lagging. Alarmingly, there have been efforts to weaken building codes in some states.

An Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) study last December found that, on a 100-point scale, only seven of 18 coastal states scored higher than 80 points when ranked for “strong statewide residential building codes and comprehensive regulatory processes for the building code officials, contractors, and subcontractors, who translate building code requirements into actual homes.” Bottom of the pack? Mississippi, Delaware and Texas.

•  Incentives, both public and private. Financial incentives work wonders in improving mitigation and reducing losses. Florida, for instance, has the nation’s most robust system of insurance incentives. Residents are supposed to receive a significant discount off of hurricane insurance if their homes were built after 2002 under the newer Florida Building Code.

Older homes also can get credits for mitigation features ranging from storm shutters, water barriers and impact doors and windows. Insurers are required by law to provide mitigation incentives in Florida, Louisiana and Maryland. Incentives are voluntarily offered in Alabama, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Rhode Island and South Carolina.

But we need more incentives. Local governments should consider property-tax relief for homeowners who invest in mitigation. Governments also should waive taxes and fees on specific mitigation work, such as shutter installations. Sales-tax holidays could be implemented for all hurricane-protective devices. None of these efforts are particularly onerous, but provide the incentives to promote action.

•  Education about mitigation and prevention. Understanding the positive impact of mitigation and damage prevention remains the biggest challenge to our efforts. People lose their lives because they either don’t know or underestimate the dangers of natural disasters. While the media have done an exemplary job of providing useful tips in advance of storms, there is so much more to do. A troubling example: Nearly seven of 10 homeowners think masking tape on windows somehow will help prevent damage, according to a Harris Interactive survey this year. It doesn’t.

Massive losses to the insurance industry from Andrew, Katrina and other storms have resulted in more homeowners being forced to turn to government-backed “insurers of last resort’’ for coverage. That means we increasingly are placing these risks on our own pocketbooks.

Again, we have made great progress. But by no means are we as safe as we can be.

Leslie Chapman-Henderson is President and CEO of the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH).

Source: Miami Herald

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/14/2951750/were-not-as-safe-as-we-can-be.html#storylink=cpy

Hurricane Season

Be prepared. Plywood is a last resort. For safety, you will need to cover your windows with hurricane shutters or replace your windows with hurricane-resistant glass.

Hurricane Shutters
Shutters do require a permit. Permits are used to ensure that your materials are going to stand up to the winds and protect your home. Your homeowner's association may have restrictions to the types of panels you can use. Check with them before purchasing materials. They may also require you to paint your shutters to match your home. The most common shutters are made from aluminum, but there are other materials on the market, including some which are clear.

Hurricane-Resistant Glass
This glass is thick, much like bullet-proof glass, and will require a permit before installation. Many companies are offering this as an alternative to putting shutters up and down each storm season. This can be a time- and money-saver, especially for people who are not able-bodied, such as the elderly who might otherwise have to hire someone to help them protect their home. Also, the glass allows the homeowner to watch the storm in progress and will not darken the house.

Copying Florida's Building Code

In the wake of the recent tornadoes that swept through Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Alabama, and Georgia, other states' building codes are considering adopting the strict standards to protect against violent winds that Florida has in place for hurricanes.

Source: Indy Star