Keeping wind and water out is critical for your home’s survival in a hurricane. According to the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, protective barriers help save your roof by preventing wind pressure from building up inside your home, reduce the chance of breaking glass and block wind-driven rain from soaking the home’s interior.
Options range from impact-resistant windows and doors that look no different than standard windows and doors but provide significantly more protection from wind-borne debris, to permanently installed shutters, to removable manufactured panels to plywood.
Factors including your budget, your physical capabilities and your preferences for the external appearance of your house will no doubt play into your choices. Many homeowners opt for a mixture of protective measures. The institute recommends either choosing permanent window and door protection or installing permanent fasteners long before storm warnings so panels or plywood can be put in place quickly and time can spent focusing on other needs.
Plywood also should be purchased and prepared for use well ahead of an impending storm, experts say. The American Plywood Association offers a series of Hurricane Shutter Designs that can be downloaded for free at the association’s website via tinyurl.com/apashutters.
The following summary of protective options, their prices and pros and cons is excerpted and adapted from the safety institute’s “Guide to
Shutter Installation.” The full report may be accessed by going to disastersafety.org, then clicking on “hurricane” and “windows and doors."
How much will it cost?
On average, the area of windows (and doors with windows) to be shuttered is about 15 percent of a home’s square footage. So for a quick
and rough estimate of how much each of these protective options would cost for your home, take your home’s square footage, multiply by .15, then multiply by the price-per-square-foot ranges in the chart. For example a 2,000-square-foot home would require about 300 square foot of coverage. So do-it-yourself plywood shutters would cost $300 to $600, while professionally installed roll-up shutters would run you $8,400 to $15,000.
SOURCE: Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety
| PlPLYWOOD COVERING |
CORRUGATED STEEL PANELS |
FABRIC PANEL SYSTEMS |
CORRUGATED ALUMINUM PANELS |
CORRUGATED PLASTIC PANELS |
ALUMINUM ACCORDION SHUTTERS |
|
| Price per Square Foot | $1-$2 DIY, $3-$5 installed |
$3-$5 DIY, $6-$12 installed |
$4.50-$6 DIY, $8-$12 installed |
$6-$8 DIY, $9-$16 installed |
$6-$8 DIY, $10-$18 installed for polypropylene, $15- $20 installed for polycarbonate |
$18-$28 installed |
| Description | 1⁄2-inch-to-3⁄4-inch CDX plywood available in 4-by-8-foot sheets |
Panels available in 13- to 16-inch widths, 24- to 18-gauge thickness, various lengths; typically overlapped to cover small to large openings |
Panels are a strong polyester weave with a PVC coating on both sides; complete DIY kits available |
Panels available in 13- to 14-inch widths and thicknesses of .040 to .072 inches; typically overlapped to cover small to large openings |
Flexible translucent panels; some require mixing with metal panels for support |
Aluminum slat folder shutter system that moves horizontally and folds out of the way on either side of opening |
| Pros | Lowest-cost protection; available from many sources in all markets |
Inexpensive system with good protection; easy to deploy when used with track systems |
Won’t rot, warp, corrode or rust; can be stored in place on the opening in a decorative cover; lighter than most systems; panels can be used for emergency roof repairs (stronger and more weather-resistant than tarps); translucent panels allow light into house |
Lighter weight than steel panels with good protection; corrosion resistant when stored properly; available perforated with small holes on the upper ribs to allow light to enter home for about $2 extra per square foot |
Corrosion resistant; lets light in; lighter than steel or aluminum; some polycarbonate systems are UV resistant and can be left up for entire season on windows that do not provide emergency escape in bedrooms |
Moderately priced; easily covers large openings; excellent protection from flying debris; can be closed in seconds; deploys faster than most other systems; locks for security; can be used for upper windows and operated from the inside if you have single/double hung or sliding windows and in-swing or sliding doors; commonly used to enclose entire balconies |
| Cons | Heavy and hard to handle; will warp when wet and during storage; should not be used for an opening larger than a sheet unless extra support is added; difficult to install on upper stories; 1⁄2- inch and 5⁄8-inch panels can by penetrated by 9-pound missile |
Lighter gauge panels easily bent by impacts and may allow glass to break unless there is 3 to 4 inches between the panel and the glass; heavy gauge panels offer better protection but can be hard to handle; panels may corrode during storage |
Significant deflection will occur if impacted by heavy objects, likely resulting in broken glass unless there is significant (1 foot or more) distance between fabric and glass |
Lighter-weight panels easily bent by impacts and will allow glass to break unless there is 3 to 4 inches between panel and glass; heavier panels offer better protection but can be hard to handle; panels will corrode on surface if improperly stored |
Flexibility increases impact resistance but allow means 3 to 4 inches must be left between panel and glass to avoid breakage; chemical exposure can significantly reduce strength; distorts view if left in place |
Adds a lot of material around openings that is sometimes viewed as unattractive; needs regular maintenance to keep the system from freezing up; --some condominiums complain of the noise they make when closing and restrict their use |
| Initial Installation Time |
1 hour per opening to cut plywood and install anchors |
11⁄2 hours per opening to cut panels and install anchors or tracks |
30 minutes per opening to install tracks or anchors |
1 hour per opening to install anchors or tracks |
1 hour per opening to cut panels and install anchors or tracks |
DIY not available |
| Crisis Deployment Time |
5 minutes or more per window |
5 minutes or more per window |
5 minutes or more per window |
5 minutes or more per window |
5 minutes or more per window |
Negligible |
| FABRIC PULL-DOWN SHUTTERS |
ROLL UP SHUTTERS |
COLONIAL HINGED SHUTTER |
BAHAMA AWNING SHUTTERS |
SINGLE-PANE IMPACTGLASS WINDOWS |
DOUBLE-GLAZED IMPACTGLASS WINDOWS |
IMPACT-GLASS DOORS |
| $28-$35 installed | $28-$50 installed | $38-$50 installed | $38-$50 installed | $40-$60 installed | $40-60 DIY $50-$70 installed |
$40-$60 DIY $50-$80 installed |
| Fabric shutter system uses a counter-balance spring and a hood to store the shutter when not in use |
Permanently mounted slatted shutters roll up into hood; extruded aluminum slats are the strongest and most impact-resistant available; also available with lighter-weight foam-filled aluminum or PVC slats |
Authentic swinging shutters fold back to the sides of windows; available in louvered and raised panels that are made of aluminum-reinforced PVC or fiberglass |
Decorative louver awnings permanently attached at an angle to provide shade can be closed down and secured over window for storm protection |
Two sheets of glass with a laminate between them, usually available only in aluminum, uninsulated frames |
Insulated glass consisting of laminate bonded between two pieces of glass on the inside and another piece of glass on the outside |
Single-pane or double-glazed glass in steel, aluminum, fiberglass or wood doors |
| Low-profile hood can be hidden into soffits or decorative trims; deploys faster than any other system; excellent waterintrusion protection; can be used for upper windows and operated from the inside if you have single/double hung or sliding windows and inswing or sliding doors |
Motorized systems can be automated; offers good security for absentee owners or evacuees; one of the better systems for water penetration resistance; can be operated from inside for all styles of windows and doors |
Attractive-looking, widely accepted where historical or architectural review committees control aesthetics; adds decorative touch to existing structures |
Attractive-looking, widely accepted where historical or architectural review committees control aesthetics; adds decorative touch to existing structures |
Hurricane protection is always in place; provides more security than standard windows; low impact to aesthetics of structure |
More energy-efficient than single-pane impact-glass windows; hurricane protection always in place; provides more security than standard windows; low impact to aesthetics of structure |
Same as impact-glass windows |
| Flexible material allows contact with the door or glass when impacted by large missiles; limited to a size of 7 feet wide by 7 to 8 feet tall |
Heavy extruded aluminum slats require motors at around 45 square feet of coverage, adding to cost; lighter slats do not require motorization but have other drawbacks; large hoods are not easy to hide and can be unattractive; must be built out to prevent contact with door or glass |
Most have to be closed and secured from the outside, making them impractical for windows above first floor; one of the most expensive shutter systems on the market; needs room on each side of window for shutter to fold back; looks bulky around large windows |
Most have to be closed and secured from the outside, making them impractical for windows above first floor; one of the most expensive shutter systems on the market; gets rather bulky when trying to cover large windows |
Do not meet energy-efficiency standards for solar heat gain; replacing impact-glass windows is more expensive than replacing shutters |
Even if only outer glass breaks entire insulated glass unit must be replaced; replacing impact-glass windows is more expensive than replacing shutters |
Same as impact-glass windows |
| DIY not available | DIY not available | DIY not available | DIY not available | DIY not available | Varies | Varies |
| Negligible | Negligible | 15 to 30 minutes per window to close and attach locking hardware |
15 to 30 minutes per window to close and attach locking hardware |
None | None | None |
