Do You Really Need Hurricane Shutters?

When hurricanes are still brewing in the ocean and begin to make movement toward you and your family, panic can begin to set in. If you’re not prepared with established storm protection, now is the time that people start scrambling toward their home improvement store to buy plywood boards. While these are certainly better than nothing – oftentimes, plywood won’t protect your home adequately from the storm’s mighty winds, rain, and flooding.

While it is considered under “code” to use plywood boards as a means of storm protection, it’s only when the boards are installed with extremely specific pieces of hardware and deployment methods. We’re going to make an educated guess and say around 99% of homeowners using plywood as a form of hurricane protection are not using these particular methods of installation.

According to the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS), hurricane shutters are the best line of defense to protect the openings in your home, such as doors and windows. Hurricane shutters also are the only means of closing off your home to the rain and severe wind that can damage the structural integrity of your home. Storm panels, for instance, can do all of these things, while also being extremely simple to deploy. IBHS also claims that while plywood is not an effective alternative, many people turn to it as a last-minute resort before a hurricane hits. But once the rain begins falling, the plywood has a great chance of becoming wet and warping, inadequately protecting your home from wind and dangerous projectiles.

Replacing your plywood backburner option with storm panels is an efficient, effective way to secure your home during a storm. Whether you choose metal or fabric, you will be much better protected when the going gets tough.

Steel or aluminum storm panels attach to the walls around the openings of your home with bolts or tracks. These are corrugated, with each piece overlapping for maximum strength. Here are some more benefits to aluminum or steel storm panels:

• Affordable – They are the most inexpensive of the storm shutters.
• Removable – They don’t change the look of your house when you’re not using them, so you don’t have to worry about style.
• Strong – They provide excellent protection for all openings, including doors and windows.
• Efficient – They only take about 20 minutes per window to deploy.