Protecting Your Florida Coastal Home: The Critical Importance of Hurricane-Resistant Garage Doors in 2024

As Florida’s 2024 hurricane season continues to demonstrate nature’s devastating power, coastal homeowners are increasingly recognizing that their garage door represents the largest and most vulnerable opening in their homes. Analysis shows garage doors are your weakest opening during a storm. Reinforcing or installing an impact-rated garage door can greatly reduce your chances of catastrophic damage.

Understanding the Critical Need for Hurricane Protection

NOAA’s outlook for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which spans from June 1 to Nov. 30, is a range of 17 to 25 total named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher). Of those, eight to 13 are forecast to become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including four to seven major hurricanes (category 3, 4 or 5, with winds of 111 mph or higher). With these sobering predictions, Florida coastal residents cannot afford to overlook any aspect of their home’s hurricane preparedness.

If your home has an attached garage, think of it as a welcome mat for destruction if you don’t have a properly reinforced garage door installed when a hurricane rolls in. When 100 MPH winds hit a non-reinforced garage door, the door can buckle, fail, and be pulled off its hinges, allowing pressure to build up inside the house until it blows apart.

What Makes a Garage Door Hurricane-Resistant?

Hurricane rated garage doors, also known as impact-resistant, wind-resistant, or reinforced impact-rated garage doors, are specifically designed to withstand hurricanes and other high wind storms. Some models can endure winds up to 200 miles per hour, which is higher than the wind speeds you’d likely experience in a Category 5 hurricane.

Key features of hurricane-resistant garage doors include:

• Impact-resistant garage doors are built with a minimum of one layer of steel. The number and thickness of the steel layers can help improve the maximum wind speed the door can withstand.
• Heavy-gauge track: In addition to heavy-duty layers, hurricane rated garage doors also have heavier-gauge track than standard garage doors. Heavy-gauge tracks keep doors in their place and prevent fierce winds from lifting, twisting, or removing the door.
• In addition to steel, many wind-resistant garage doors also have additional layers of aluminum, wood paneling, and insulation.

Florida’s Specific Requirements for 2024

Florida code requires all new garage doors to be hurricane-rated. However, only homes within a few miles of the coastline must be impact-rated. The requirements vary significantly based on your location:

Miami-Dade and Broward Counties require all garage doors meet the large missile impact rating, regardless if the garage door has windows or not. South Florida, including the area surrounding Miami-Dade County, is considered a high velocity hurricane zone, seeing the strongest winds in the state. Due to its intense wind levels, Miami-Dade building requirements are stringent and modeled as the gold standard for impact ratings, protecting up to 200 mph winds.

Florida homeowners should also be aware that Florida homeowners can take advantage of the Home Hardening Sales Tax Exemption to purchase qualifying impact-resistant garage doors. The impact-rated garage door sales tax exemption began last year and continues through June 30, 2024.

Beyond Aesthetics: Style Meets Protection

Many homeowners worry that hurricane-resistant doors will compromise their home’s appearance. Just because a door is hurricane rated doesn’t mean it isn’t stylish and appealing. Reinforced garage doors still have the same beautiful facades of standard doors — to an observer, a reinforced garage door looks like any other garage door. However, reinforced hurricane garage doors pair beauty with durability, and they are strong enough to resist even the highest hurricane winds.

Modern hurricane-resistant garage doors are available in numerous styles, including glass options. At Broten, all of our garage doors are hurricane-rated in Florida including our full-view glass garage doors. The glass doors include heavy-duty aluminum frames to protect the structure of the door.

Financial Benefits and Insurance Considerations

Many insurance companies offer discounts to homeowners who invest in hurricane protection systems. These discounts can range from 5% to 30% off annual premiums, depending on the level of protection installed. For example, homes with impact-resistant windows, reinforced garage doors, and roof tie-downs often qualify for the largest discounts.

One of the most significant financial assistance programs available to Florida homeowners is the MySafeFlorida Home Program, which offers grants of up to $10,000 for hurricane protection upgrades.

Professional Installation and Local Expertise

For homeowners in Long Island and surrounding areas who may be considering relocating to Florida or have second homes in the state, companies like Expressway Roofing & Chimney understand the importance of comprehensive home protection. Expressway Roofing & Chimney is Long Island’s premier, full-service, licensed roofer and insured home contracting roofing company serving Suffolk County, NY and Nassau County, NY. We’ve been a Long Island-based, family-owned and operated roofing, chimney, siding, gutter and home contracting company for over 22 years now because we only adhere to the highest standards for quality – without ever compromising on the materials or the services we provide.

When it comes to Florida installations, homeowners should seek out specialists who understand both the technical requirements and local codes. For those in the Fort Myers area specifically, finding a qualified Hurricane Garage Door in Fort Meyers installer is crucial for ensuring proper installation and code compliance.

Preparing for Hurricane Season

To keep your hurricane-ready garage door systems in top condition before hurricane season in South Florida, it’s essential to perform a few key checks to ensure everything is functioning properly. First, examine the door’s seal and weatherstripping for any holes or tears. Damaged weatherstripping can allow water to seep inside, leading to potential damage during a storm.

When you choose from among hurricane rated garage doors, you’re able to enjoy some peace of mind as hurricane season approaches. And hurricane garage doors aren’t just handy during hurricane season. They are stronger and more durable than other options, meaning you can count on long-term performance and durability through all seasons whether a hurricane strikes or not.

The Investment That Protects Everything

Replacing your garage door or protecting your existing one is an affordable upgrade that offers major peace of mind. When you consider that Reinforced garage doors can withstand wind pressures of up to 180 mph, preventing them from caving in and protecting your home from further damage, the investment becomes clear.

For homeowners in Florida, investing in a quality hurricane-rated garage door is not just a smart choice—it’s essential for the protection of your property and loved ones. As the 2024 hurricane season continues, there’s no better time to ensure your home’s largest opening is properly protected against nature’s most powerful storms.

Don’t wait until the next hurricane warning to discover your garage door isn’t up to the challenge. For the most accurate results, talk to both your local building code authority and a garage door professional to find a hurricane garage door that meets your area’s wind resistance requirements. Your home, your family, and your peace of mind depend on making this critical upgrade now.