There is always talk about sun and rain. But, what about the wind? Did you know that wind speeds can affect your garage door?
Be it strong winds or occasional hurricanes, all types of wind events can cause structural damage to your garage door. Even a three-second gust can bring a body of water and lots of wind-borne debris into your home if your garage door is not wind-protected.
When heavy winds blow at a rate of 40 to 57 miles per hour in areas like South Florida, your garage door gets battering like never before. Such severe weather can cause minor damage like cracks or major damage like both your garage door and your roof falling off! This could even affect your building structure and cause heavy losses.
How to prevent such wind damage to garage doors? The right solution is to call a professional garage door expert and ask him to fit an impact-resistant garage door.
The expert can assess the amounts of winds your current door can take and strengthen it. This is called hurricane-proofing and is possible only if your retrofit door is in good condition and the wind speeds are not so high.
In areas like Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, the wind speed is as high as 140 mph. Here, you have no option to but to install new wind-resistant garage doors.
The best thing to do to combat such heavy wind damage is to know how much wind speed your garage door can take and then install it.
Wind Pressure and Garage Doors
If you want to protect your garage door from wind damage, you must know the types of winds that blow in your geographic region. You must also know the wind rating, wind load, wind resistance, etc of your garage door. These factors will cumulatively tell you the minimum wind speed your garage door can face.
Winds are usually classified under 5 categories depending on their speed ranging from 74 mph to 157 winds. Hurricane-force winds can have 20-25% more speed and gust than the above-mentioned categories.
Knowing these facts can help you understand the wind exposure classification of your door better. This will help you in selecting the right wind-rated doors for your garage.
Choosing the Right Hurricane-Rated Garage Door
When choosing wind-rated garage doors, the first thing to know is your door’s Wind code rating. To arrive at this rating, first check with the building department about the wind code requirements of your location. Next, learn what wind speed rating your door should have from building officials. Try to determine whether the structured exposure is B or C. Exposure B means urban or semi-urban areas with closely spaced obstructions. Exposure C means open ground with scattered obstructions. Exposure B and C gives the wind code for one and two-story structures exposed to a wind speed from 90 mph-150 mph.
Understanding all this can be complex and the wind resistance requirements of your door must be calculated with precision. Only an expert garage door technician can calculate the wind load ratings with accuracy. It is better to get the impact-resistant door fitted by a garage professional.
Ask your trusted garage door company to give a wind code-rated garage door estimate. Compare it with others and while doing so, check if the door complies with building code requirements. See if the local Fort Lauderdale garage door repair professional can give an add-on reinforcement against bad storms. The garage should be protected from window breaks and door damage. Additional protection must be given for cable breaks and garage door opener damage due to storm surges. Check if all these are covered by your insurance premiums.
A good wind-resistant door for your garage can even protect your entire house from bad weather.
If you are living in a hurricane-prone region with violent wind and extreme weather conditions, do not take chances with your garage door safety. Call a garage door expert and install a wind rated door which will not lose its strength or curb appeal even during a severe thunderstorm.