Preparing for Severe Storms and Hurricanes

Keep your home safe and secure.

Hurricanes pose both wind and flood damage potential, but there are things you can do to greatly reduce the impact on your home. One of your main goals is to prevent the wind from damaging the home in a way that allows water to enter and do further damage. Make sure your doors and windows are secure. Wind inside your home will push upward against the roof and try to lift it, while winds outside create a suction pressure, almost doubling the roof's load.

Despite the best attempts at protecting your home, damage may still occur. Take a look at your insurance policies to make sure you are adequately covered. Keep lists or video tapes of your belongings as documentation for the insurance company.

• If you have an exterior television antenna or satellite dish, disconnect it and remove it.



• Remove roof turbines and cover the holes where they were installed. Otherwise, high winds could remove them for you, leaving a gaping hole through which heavy rain could enter your home to do damage.



• Check for loose or damaged shingles, and seal around flashings, chimneys or vent pipes. A roof in good repair is much better able to stand the torture inflicted upon it by a storm. For more on roof repair, visit How to Repair Shingled Roofing.



• Check for loose and clogged gutters and downspouts. Backed-up gutters can send water flowing into your home in the event of heavy rains. For detailed information, see How To Maintain Your Gutters.



• If your roof is damaged in a storm, use tarps secured with ropes and nails to cover it as soon as you can. Heavy rains usually occur during and after a hurricane, and water can cause devastating damage to the interior of your home. Any step you can take to minimize water damage will help.

If you live in an area vulnerable to hurricanes, consider installing storm shutters. They are available in several different types, and they will go a long way toward keeping the damaging wind and rain from entering through your home's windows. As a side benefit, they may reduce your homeowner's insurance premium.

If you wish, you can build your own hurricane shutters. The following designs are reprinted with permission from APA — The Engineered Wood Association.

• Design 1: Shutters for Wood-Frame Buildings



• Design 2: Shutters for Masonry Block Structures, Barrel Bolt Latch Supports



• Design 3: Shutters for Masonry Block Structures, Steel or Aluminum Angle and Screw Supports



• Design 4: Shutters for Masonry Block Structures, Shutters Attached to Outside Wall with Permanently Mounted Brackets



• Design 5: Shutters for Masonry Block Structures, For Openings Wider than 8 Feet

According to the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, failed garage doors accounted for 80% of the damage to residences in Hurricane Andrew.  This is often the case since the garage and house share a common roof system in homes with attached garages.  If the garage door fails, then the wind pressure enters the garage and must escape.  It usually finds an escape route by making a hole in the roof or even lifting the roof from the home.

Since the pressure from wind increases with the door's size, wide doors in particular need bracing for stability during high winds.  To give you an example of the pressures involved, a double garage door 16’ wide and 7’high, the most common size, is 112 square feet.  100 mph winds have a pressure equivalent to about 25pounds per square foot (psf) while winds of 140 mph have a pressure equivalent to about 50 psf.  As a result, a double garage door has nearly one a half tons of winds pressure at 100 mph and nearly three tons of wind pressure at 140 mph.  Only the new wind-rated garage doors can withstand these pressures without additional bracing.

As with all hurricane protection, products that have been tested and building code approved are preferred.  Lowe’s sells a Florida Building Code approved garage door brace to retrofit existing garage doors.  This product was tested to a maximum pressure of 83 mph (about 180 mph) and allowing for a safety factor is certified for use to +/- 47.5 psf.  Wind-rated garage doors that are tested and approved are also available at your local Lowe's, along with hurricane panels that can be used in front of the garage door.  Regardless of your choice of protection methods, this opening, usually the largest opening in the home, should be one of the first that you protect.

Steel entry doors provide excellent protection for the smaller entry points to your home.   Double doors and French doors are more vulnerable to high winds because of the larger surface area. Doors that have been tested and certified are available at Lowe’s.  No matter what type of door you have, a hurricane panel is an option to keep damage at a minimum. These galvanized steel, rolled aluminum or polycarbonate panels are available at your local Lowe's. Lowe’s also carries fabric panels that have been tested and certified effective.  You can also secure plywood, preferably ¾” thick, over your doors to help keep out wind and debris as long as plywood fasteners specifically designed to hold in high pressure and suction situations are also sold at your local Lowe's.

If you have double doors that have no structural member in the center between them, you should consider the installation of special hardware to secure the doors where they meet to make the door system even stronger. Bolts that secure the door into the framing at both the top and bottom increase the door's strength.  In addition to hurricane panels, wedging a dowel or a piece of broom handle into the track of sliding glass doors helps prevent them from coming loose in high winds.

Keep loose tree limbs trimmed to avoid flying debris.

Flying tree limbs pose a great danger during high winds. Trim trees to avoid the possibility of large limbs doing damage to your house. In addition, selectively thinning out the branches to allow wind to pass through will reduce the potential for damage to the tree itself. Dead or damaged branches should be removed before they become flying missiles aimed straight for your house.

Lawn furniture, ornaments, toys, grills and exterior potted plants should be taken inside. Anything that cannot be brought inside should be tied down. Sheds, doghouses, playhouses, swing sets, and boat trailers should be secured with tiedowns, turnbuckles and cable or stout rope. Concrete tiedown spaces are a good home improvement in areas susceptible to hurricanes. If you do not have concrete-mounted tiedowns when the weather threatens, screw type tiedowns secured deep in the ground must suffice.

If you live in a mobile home, it is particularly important that you inspect and repair your home's tiedowns.

If you live in a low-lying area, move your car, truck or boat to higher ground, preferably to an enclosed garage or warehouse.

If you must leave a boat behind, do not leave it in the water. If the boat is left outside, anchor the trailer tongue of a trailered boat to a firm spot on the ground. Lash the boat to the trailer; let some air out of the tires. Add water for weight, but make sure you keep it below engine level. Stow all loose gear (outriggers, canvas tops, etc.) and remove electronics and other valuables to avoid damage and theft. Cover the boat to keep additional water and debris out.

Get every member of your household involved in storm preparation. Set aside time for a family meeting to discuss the following:

• An Evacuation Package Think about keepsakes, personal items you would hate to lose, things insurance could never replace. Examples: your children's baby books and photos, an heirloom quilt. Place them in a waterproof and fireproof container. Include important family documents, such as birth certificates and insurance policies. Make sure everyone knows where the package is kept and assign a family member responsibility for it in case you need to evacuate.



• Safety Kit Put together a safety kit. Include first aid supplies and essential medications, a fire extinguisher, packaged or canned non-perishable food and a non-electric can opener, water (no more than 6 months old) in a non-breakable container, protective clothing, rainwear and blankets. Make sure everyone in the household knows where this kit is kept.



• Emergency Contact Pick a friend or family member out of state to call in case a hurricane hits or you need to evacuate. This contact can be the person who lets others know where you are and that you are safe so you will not have to spend precious time doing so.

Make repairs quickly after the storm passes.

Property damage created by storms can be devastating. Structural and electrical damage must be repaired by licensed contractors and building professionals, and should be brought up to the most current standards for storm protection. There are smaller jobs as well, however — jobs that can be done by homeowners while contractors focus on the worst of the storm damage.

Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse can help. Visit our How-To Library for help with those repair and replacement projects you decide to do yourself. Lowe's is committed to providing the building and home improvement products you need at guaranteed every day low prices — both before and after the storm.