It is important to get your home prepared for the hurricane before its arrival because there will be lots of strong wind that bring powerful debris that are capable of damaging your house. You should make the weakest areas of your home such as roof, windows, garage door, and the main entrance and back doors. Making improvements in your home does not guarantee that it won’t suffer from any damage when the hurricane hit. You must take heed of the authorities if they ask you to quickly evacuate your home.
To prevent the windows from flying open, you can install boards over them. Alternatively, you can install the storm shutters over the windows and glass structure such as sliding door, and skylights. Sealing the windows with a mask tape won’t help as the tape is not strong enough. You should check with the local building code to see if you need to obtain a permit when installing the shutter.
You can secure all doors that are facing outside with deadbolts. The bolts that come with most doors are not strong enough for protection against the hurricane. It is recommended that you get the reinforcing bolt kits that are supplied by your door manufacturer to strengthen your door. On a double door, there are active and inactive doors. The inactive door is the door that always stay locked. You must make sure that the bolts on top and bottom of the inactive door are strong enough to protect against the hurricane winds.
Double wide garage doors tend to shake and easily crack when the strong wind blow against it. The strong wind can damage your home if it manages to break the garage door. When strengthening the garage door, you can check with the local building code to see if there is any requirement in the area. Retrofit kits can be used to strengthen the garage doors. You can use a retrofit kit to strengthen the garage door with horizontal bracing on the door panels. Heavy duty hinges can be used to reinforce the door. You can inspect the garage door’s track to see if it is loose. If the track is loose, you will have to install a stronger track.
You can install hurricane straps over the roof of the house. Gabled roof are more likely to get damaged during the hurricane because they have weaker structure. Gabled roof is built with trusses that are held together by a plywood. You can install more truss bracing to strengthen the plywood that supports the gabled roof. You can go to your attic to check the roof bracing and see if it is properly installed. You must reinstall the sheathing if the majority of the big nails did not go through the trusses. If there is any loose tile on your roof, you can use the roofing cement to secure the tiles.
