Time to prepare
Keeping ‘envelope’ intact key for homes
Experts warn that wind entering a structure could blow the roof off
By LESTER R. DAILEY
Article published on Wednesday, May 10, 2006  |
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| Photo courtesy CITY OF SEMINOLE FIRE & RESCUE |
| This home in Bay St. Louis, Miss., is barely left standing after Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 hurricane with winds of 175 mph, hit on Aug. 28, 2005. |
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| Information on how to install plywood and help protect garage doors, as well as a wealth of other information, is available at fema.org. |
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| Photo by LESTER DAILEY |
| Rick Davis, president of Lloyd’s Windows and Glass Doors in Seminole, demonstrates an impact-resistant window that has been hit by a 2-by-4, and corrugated aluminum window panels. |
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PINELLAS COUNTY – During a hurricane, plunging barometric pressures may make the pressure outside a home lower than the inside, or winds blowing against the home may make the outside pressure higher than the inside.
Either way, if a window breaks, the air will violently rush from the area of higher pressure to the area of lower pressure.
“Think of the exterior of a building as an envelope,” said Rick Davis, president of Lloyd’s Windows and Glass Doors in Seminole and an officer of many organizations dealing with hurricane preparedness. “If you breach the envelope, the air rushes in and tears it apart, just like blowing into a paper bag.”
Therefore, window protection and a reinforced garage door are the first lines of defense in hurricane preparedness for homes.
“There’s no such thing as hurricane proof,” Davis said. “It’s hurricane resistant.”
Exterior-grade plywood is the least expensive of the many window coverings available, but it’s only legal on the lowest two floors of multi-story buildings. It should be at least half an inch thick and fastened with screws and washers every eight inches down both sides.
“Proper anchorage is the key,” Davis said. “Plywood only works if it’s attached properly; otherwise it can become a flying missile.”
Corrugated aluminum or steel panels that bolt into channels above and below the windows provide good protection at a relatively low price. But they have to be put up, so they’re no good if the homeowner is away when the storm hits, and they make the house as dark as a tomb unless they’re interspersed with a translucent Lexan panel on each window.
Metal roll-down shutters are good, but they should have a manual override in case the power fails, and they’re expensive.
Davis believes that laminated impact-resistant windows are a better option. They’re similar to the safety glass in car windshields, except that the plastic in the center is three times thicker, and actually more impact-resistant than a concrete block wall.
“A lot of condominium associations won’t allow shutters because of aesthetics, so impact-resistant windows are the only option,” Davis said. “You’re not enclosed in a dark home during a storm. And they’re passive impact protection, meaning that you don’t have to be there to put them up.”
Passive protection is important for snowbirds, who are usually up north during hurricane season, and for seniors, who may be physically unable to put up plywood or panels and not have a friend or relative to do it for them.
Fabric panels that are secured with wing nuts are easier to install than plywood, but they’re not passive.
Window film is passive, but it doesn’t provide adequate hurricane protection, according to Davis.
“There is no easy way to board up a home,” Davis said. “Window companies won’t put up your shutters and there is nobody who is licensed to put up plywood.”
Building supply superstores are ordering more window protection than in previous years, and pre-positioning it in centralized warehouses from which it can be quickly trucked to wherever it is needed in the hurricane zone.
“We always have plywood, panels and screws,” said Mike Jennings, sales manager of the Home Depot store in Largo. “We have a hurricane distribution center where we can get what we want.”
But even with the increased supply, emergency officials say people shouldn’t wait until the last minute to shop for window protection items.
“If they wait until the storm threatens, they have a better chance of winning the lottery than of getting (the supplies),” warned Bill Vola, Clearwater’s emergency manager.
Dozens of people died needlessly in the past two hurricane seasons because they tried to ride out the storm in a mobile home. Davis advises mobile home owners to have the tie-downs checked annually by a competent professional, protect the windows and leave when a storm threatens.
“Mobile homes are just that; they’re vehicles,” Davis said. “They’re not a safe place to be during a storm.”
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Article published on Wednesday, May 10, 2006
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