Protect Your Home from High Winds

by Rachel Lyon, Direct from the Designers™’ Assistant Editorial Director

If you live in an area with strong winds or hurricanes, you know the unsettling rattle that sounds around the house during a storm. Traditionally, shuttering windows, installing wind-resistant roofing materials, and hoping for the best were all that homeowners could do, but a new understanding of weather-related structural failures has led to the development of products that will withstand the power of nature better than ever before.

Garage doors are critically important in the face of strong winds. An inadequate garage door is actually a threat to your home. More than just losing the door itself in a storm, the subsequent uncontrolled buildup of pressure inside the opened garage, coupled with the suction pressure acting on the exterior, can cause major structural damage to the entire house by blowing out the roof and supporting walls. If you live in an area where the risk is high, it’s definitely in your best interest to explore your options.

Reinforced Garage Doors

To maintain the structural integrity of your home during a hurricane or other high wind event, a code-compliant garage door is absolutely necessary. Garage doors are more likely to suffer failure than other entryways due to their size—which can cause them to fly like sails—so a tested, reinforced one that meets strict standards will help to protect the rest of your home. This modification is a small investment that can minimize serious damage and help prevent property loss.

A number of states have implemented wind load reinforcement requirements for garage doors. A Clopay® WindCode® door is a great choice for homes in coastal states like Florida, Texas, Louisiana, the Carolinas and any other regions that experience hurricanes or strong wind storms. Designed and tested to ensure reliability, Clopay Garage Doors'® use of heavy duty and commercial grade springs, rollers, and tracks produces supremely strong, durable garage doors that will withstand high wind pressure. All you have to do is close and lock the door, and your garage door is secure.

Understanding Your Needs

Some locations are more likely to experience high wind events than others. Looking at variables like proximity to the coast, the surrounding terrain, the structural type of the home, and years of wind speed data taken across the country, experts can determine which level of WindCode® door is required for every situation.

Check out the WindCode® Brochure to determine the right door for you. Due to the likelihood of weathering extreme hurricane conditions in Florida, and there being special building codes as a result, there is a separate Florida WindCode® Brochure to better serve that population.

Clopay Garage Doors® has added a WindCode® “W” rating to its doors based on code requirements, with a range of levels to suit every situation. Use the “W” rating guide that best describes your house to get an idea of what you need, but always consult with a professional and have your garage door professionally installed to ensure that you meet local codes and end up with the level of protection you expect.

Protection Without Sacrifice

You might think that anything that promises to protect a home from hurricanes probably wasn’t designed with style in mind. Fashion has fallen to function plenty of times, but what good is a product that doesn’t appeal to all sensibilities?

Clopay Garage Doors® takes design seriously from both of these angles in order to offer numerous door styles that can be reinforced to suit your needs. From the modern Avante™ Collection, to the classic elegance of the Coachman® Collection, to the economical solution provided by the Classic™ Collection, there is a wide variety of doors that can be brought up to WindCode® standards.

These WindCode® garage doors also have several insulation options available to increase their energy efficiency and save you money as well. On top of this, doors that exceed code can sometimes save you money on your homeowners insurance, so you should ask your insurance agent about any deals there might be as you shop for your garage door.

Are you excited thinking about the possibilities? Pick a reinforceable model from the WindCode® Brochure and start creating your perfect door in the Door Imagination System. You can upload a picture of your house and then build—and virtually try on—a door to see how it looks!