I live in Florida and am getting ready for the hurricane season.
I can't come up with any ideas on how to secure my overhead garage door from the wind getting around the edges and between the slats.
Anyu ides or experience?
Bill
My three 25-year-old 10-foot-wide wood (and only wood) doors survived several hurricanes in Palm Beach County last year. I spent some time during the peak winds standing next to them, watching them bow in and relax out. Quite an experience.
During the panic preparation, I bought some SuperStrut from the electrical aisle at Lowes, and planned to bolt that vertically in the middle of the door for reinforcement, attaching to the house frame at the top, and the concrete floor at the bottom. I didn't get around to doing that, and got by without it, but having watched the action, I still believe it would have worked well.
The problem with any hurricane prep is that your perception of the value of preparations is twisted. Consider the 5 outcomes:
(1) You don't do anything and nothing happens anyway. (2) You don't do anything and the door blows in. (3) You do something and the door stills blow in. (4) You do something and the door doesn't blow in, but it wouldn't have blown in anyway. (5) You do something and the door doesn't blow in, but it would have been case (2) if you hadn't done something.
For (1) (3) and (4), you wasted your time and money.
For (2), you don't know if doing something would have changed things to (4) or (5).
So your expected success is only the small likelihood of (5) it total and (2) in part. My hunch is that that probability is small. And thus that most people are wasting their time preparing for a hurricane.
I used duck tape on mine, and made sure the door was locked. I live in Jacksonville last summers's storms were pretty bad but not compaired to south Florida.
I also live in S. Fla. After watching my 16' door bow in and out during the last storm, I saw that there weren't enough brackets holding the rails to the door frame. I went to a garage door copmpany in N. Palm Beach and bought 8 more brackets ($1 each) and installed them. I will also buy 2 more struts(the 16' long metal reinforcement pieces) and before the storm is here, I will bolt them to my door. They cost $25 each and include all hardware to install. Because the struts will add weight to the door, I will wait until the storm is close and the door won't need to be opened for a while. Any help? Chuck
clipped
"Doing something" may keep the garage door intact, which may keep the roof intact, which may keep the rest of the house intact. I've stared down a few hurricanes, watched some powerful winds that were nowhere near full force. That was enough for me :o)
We were first in our condo to install hurricane shutters. Upstairs neighbor just did it. Without his, we did not reduce our own risk much, but now the wing of our building is more secure. I think our max winds were 70 mph. That was interesting enough. We have huge recycling barrels, which are difficult for me to lift. Hubby is unusually strong. Barrel blew down the street, and it took all his strength to get it back. Had it gone toward a glass patio slider, the unit would have been a total loss. There were people in the neighborhood who had put trash at the curb for city to pick up, and left it through the storm. It could have been the missile that ruined somebody's house.
Even if the garage door doesn't stop the wind/rain, bracing it may stop something worse. Could reinforce the frame and then use some of those metal hurricane shields from the box store. It's a PIA, for sure, getting ready for storms. Nothing at all compared to folks who lost everything, then had to experience more storms.
When I lived in Florida I got ready in advance. I bought a couple of sheets of 3/4" plywood and cut them to fit over the door. I set bolt anchors in the concrete across the opening and prepared a 2X4 to be bolted down to the floor, outside of the door. I installed a 2X4 vertically in the middle, then nailed the plywood to the door frame, the 2X4 on the floor, and the 2X4 up the middle. I figured that should be a lot more secure than the garage door.
I only put it up one time, and then the hurricane pretty much missed, but I figured it was worth it to have that little bit more peace of mind.
Bill Gill
Based on my experience last week in replacing several door panels, Chuck B. has the right answer, with the reinforced hurricane braces. With our model door, adding the braces protects the garage door to 130 mph winds. These braces are "U"-shapped channels that mount directly on to each door panel and keep it from bending in the wind. They are always in place, and don'at interfere with normal door operation.
At a previous house, in Boynton Beach, I had a vertical brace, which bolted to the house above the door frame and into ground anchors at the base of the door, and then also secured to the door sections. This was a retrofit for older doors that had been installed prior to today's more severe specs. I suspect this doesn't meet the current Broward/Miami-Dade requirements.
I got help from my door's manufacturer, since the local installer was already overwhelmed with local service calls. A call to your garage door manufacturer customer service may give you more info on what's been tested and approved for their doors -- you should be able to add on mods to bring it up to current spec and still use the door on a daily basis. Regards --
During a hurricane the problem will not normally be the wind coming around the edges or between the slats (normally called sections on sectional doors & slats are normally on rolling [roll up into a ball at header] doors), but will be the door getting pushed in or out either by water or the wind. Basically the door bows until the rollers come completely out of the hinges. Therefore the wider the door the easier it is for it to come out.
So what you do depends on what type & size of door you have & how close you live to the coast. If you live on the coast & get hit w/ 20'+ storm surge like the Panhandle did during Ivan it's probably not going to make much difference whether the door is "braced" or not. However Charley showed SW Fla (my area) that 130 mph manufactured rated doors work as designed against wind and that non-rated doors came out by the thousands.
However whether you can bring your existing door up to any wind rating is debateable but should be verified w/ a pro or the manufacturer as someone else mentioned. A typical 16x7 standard non-insulated steel door normally has (1) 2-1/2" strut across the top section, (5) vertical stiles that holds the hinges, light 18 ga hinges, light 7 ball rollers or maybe even be plastic, (2) track brackets & (1) flag bracket holding each track to the wall. A 110 mph door (without any post) will normally have (5) 3" struts (2 on the bott section & 1 on the rest), (7) vertical stiles, heavy 14 ga hinges, heavy 10 ball rollers, (4) track brackets & (1) flag bracket, but the track is also a heavier gauge. A
130 mph door has the same things but has (8) 3" struts (2 on every section) instead of 5 and there are also spring clip washers that go on the end of the roller shafts to keep them from pulling out of the hinge. As the wind rating goes up or if you have a 18' wide door the bracing could be even more substantial (some times they may be 4" or 6" C-Channel). So, sorry Chuck B but in my opinion your 2 struts are not going to do a whole lot for you other then making the door harder to lift.The bracing may very slightly between mfgs but my point is that what many people do & even some garage door companies do to bring existing doors up to so called hurricane ratings may be giving people a false sense of security & in many cases it probably is a futile attempt and a waste of money.
So if the garage door is really a concern then your best bet is to replace it with one that is certified to withstand a certain amount of wind. If you believe last year was a fluke then you are probably better off spending your money elsewhere then to upgrade your existing door.
Sorry for the long post! Doordoc
Thanks to all for your help.
Bill
ue, 07 Jun 2005 02:30:30 GMT, Bill wrote:
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