Has anyone with an old house installed protection (other than sheets of plywood screwed down) for hurricanes that one can leave up without creating an esthetic horror? I live in a Queen Anne in New Orleans and it seems harder each year to find workmen who know what they are doing for this task . zemedelec
See if this helps.
Zemedelec:
Z > Has anyone with an old house installed protection (other than sheets of ply ood Z > screwed down) for hurricanes that one can leave up without creating an esth tic Z > horror? I live in a Queen Anne in New Orleans and it seems harder each yea to Z > find workmen who know what they are doing for this task .
No direct experience (and I don't want any, thank you!), but seems like the news footage always shows last-minute scurrying to hammer nails though plywood into the window frame. "No one" plans ahead like you are trying to. (Suppose if everyone did no exciting "film at 11"!)
Half-baked thought. (I'll admit it!) Why not use a sheet of plywood
-- cut to fit the window if necessary -- mounted using those double- ended screws like those that come with hanging lamps? Wood screw on one end, headless bolt on the other. Drill holes appropriately in the plywood, secure with wingnuts (and a washer?). Number or otherwise identify the plywood sheets so mounted in the correct position when needed.
- ¯ barry.martinþATþthesafebbs.zeppole.com ®
I live in FL. So far we haven't had a hurricane since back in the 30s I think
- but we've had some close calls. We did cut plywood to fit the windows and bought those Tapcon screws to use with it...and now it's stored in the garage. Our house is stucco and the holes have been drilled. We painted our house last year but instead of filling the holes, we just left them. Nothing else we can do to prepare.
Dorothy
Plywood is expensive these days, doesn't hold up well in storage, and is heavy, especially when wet. Recommend corrugated metal roofing instead, something strong enough to take a few hits (not the beer-can aluminum stuff). I've seen people have window/awning companies fit actual channels around the windows to hold these, but your idea of the double-ended bolts would work about as well. Of course, if cost is no object, you could have a window company make you actual non-decorative storm shutters and mount them to the house. In a New Orleans historical district they may insist on them being made from wood (teak? Cypress?), but I'm sure acceptable looking metal ones could be made, and would be much easier to maintain.
In New Orleans, if a Really Big One hits, isn't it all gonna be about 10 feet under water anyway? :^/
aem sends....
We have accordian-folding hurricane shutters, which will close and lock. For an 11' patio window/door, they stack about 4" on each side. Probably would not look great on a Queen Anne. We did the plywood thing one year, screwing plywood sheets onto the concrete block/stucco exterior. No storage space for plywood. If you have permanent anchors put in place, and plywood with pre-drilled holes, and room to store them, you could be "ready" in a short time. The storm we prepared for wandered about in the Gulf for quite a while. If it had come ashore directly on us, a 20' storm surge was predicted. A 20' storm surge would have put our upstairs neighbor under water :o)
Office of Emergency Preparedness, and probably state websites, have instructions for various materials and installation. I believe solid sheet material is rec to have holes drilled to equalize air pressure. If the roof comes off, covering the windows won't do any good. Keep your insurance up to date.
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