Florida coastal property owners want to make sure their garage door meets updated building code wind-resistance requirements. As much as 80 percent of the dollar damage to residences during Hurricane Andrew were attributed to garage doors.
According to this FEMA Bulletin:
High winds from hurricanes and tornadoes can damage garage doors or even blow them in. If wind enters a garage, it can cause dangerous and expensive structural damage. Reinforcing your garage door helps you protect not only your garage, but its contents as well. One example of hurricane and tornado protection is reinforcing garage doors to protect them from damage by high winds, or replacing them with doors that are more wind resistant.
Avoiding the “Full Fury of a Hurricane” from entering your house
Failure of the garage door allows the full fury of the hurricane enter the house to act on interior walls, doors, ceiling or roof that form the barriers between the inside of the garage and the rest of the house. This frequently leads to failure of these surfaces and can lead to significant loss of roof sheathing or loss of a part of the roof.
Backing your car against the door provides little additional bracing. It may help brace the panel the car bumper pushes against from positive (inward acting) pressure; but, it will do nothing to help with negative (outward acting) pressures.
It just puts the car closer to possible debris impact damage!
If your garage door is old and showing signs of wear, one of the simplest solutions is to replace the door and its tracks with a door that is code approved for both wind pressure and impact protection.
Omega Garage Doors is able to assess the wind load requirement of your garage door, which is based on size, local design wind speed, and location on the structure, among other factors and make recommendations that can save your home, and possibly lives.
Don’t wait until a hurricane warning is issued to have your garage door evaluated. Contact us for a free evaluation.