Hurricane Shutters
 

Hey All,
I used plywood to protect my home during the last few hurricanes we have
had here in Tampa, Fl. This works well enough. I'm considering installing
some hurricane shutters. I want them to protect my house and look good.
So, roll downs, those aluminum monstrosities, etc are out.
Any suggestions? I've been looking around on the net, and I see several
styles that look good and would work. I mean if one can believe the
manufacturer.
Thanks,
John
P.S. Plywood worked well enough and didn't spoil the looks of my house. I
may stay with that.

Similar question, once the shutters/plywoods on then the house became
very dark & gloomy. Are there any transparent/translucent material
that's strong enough to do the job?

FC

"FC" wrote in message
...
Similar question, once the shutters/plywoods on then the house became very
dark & gloomy. Are there any transparent/translucent material that's
strong enough to do the job?



Home Depot sells plastic translucent shutters. Not cheap and you would have
to get the specs from them as to how high the wind coverage goes with them.

FC wrote:

Similar question, once the shutters/plywoods on then the house became
very dark & gloomy. Are there any transparent/translucent material
that's strong enough to do the job?

FC

Polycarbonate (Lexan) is the stuff to use. Obviously, the thicker the
better. But regarding storm shutters that are actually functional and
don't look like Hell, I think you'd do best to get a welder to put
together something from sheet steel that looks like a panelled or a
louvered set, with a dead bolt bar on the back of each, and paint it all
up real nice. Hmmm -- I'm an engineer . . . I'll bet after this
hurricane season there'll be a ripe market for such stuff down there in
the Sunshine State. Gee, I could put together a welding shop myself
pretty easily. Hmmmm. And buy a powder-coat setup, too. Hmmmmmmmm.
Problem is, I would NOT want to live in Florida.

Mark 'Sporky' Stapleton
Watermark Design, LLC
Charlotte, NC
www.h2omarkdesign.com

I think you'd do best to get a welder to put
together something from sheet steel that looks
like a panelled or a louvered set, with a dead
bolt bar on the back of each, and paint it all
up real nice. Hmmm -- I'm an engineer . . .
I'll bet after this hurricane season there'll
be a ripe market for such stuff down there in
the Sunshine State.

Houses in Florida owned by natives 60 years of age and older almost
always have exactly the the type of shutter you describe. They tend to
have walls made of poured concrete as well. Wonder if anything happened
in the 30s and 50s to make them think they need those? Hmmmmm.....

sPh

sPh wrote:
Houses in Florida owned by natives 60 years of age and older almost
always have exactly the the type of shutter you describe. They tend to
have walls made of poured concrete as well. Wonder if anything happened
in the 30s and 50s to make them think they need those? Hmmmmm.....

sPh

Funny!!
I think they should pass laws to require builders and developers to
spend time in their cheap-ass housing during hurricanes. That would
result in some big changes real quick.

"Bert Hyman" wrote in message
...
(John Anderson) wrote in
:

I used plywood to protect my home during the last few hurricanes
we have had here in Tampa, Fl.

How, exactly, do you do that?

Do you save the plywood for reuse for a single season or multiple
seasons? Do you have permanent threaded mounting points around the
window frames or are you making fresh holes each time? How many times
can you get away with that?

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN |
Bert,
Well, you get plywood 4 x 8 x 1/2 or 5/8 etc. You then cut it to fit over
the window. I have a stucco-over-concrete block house in the Florida Living
style. I then place the plywood into the recess for the windows (I don't
know what this is actually called.) I then used tap-cons to screw them down
into the concrete. When it is all over, I take them off and put them
against the wall in the garage for next storm.

Notice I didn't say next year ;). You don't make fresh holes every year.
You can reuse the old ones. I have a tube of stuff that patches the
concrete, a little touch up paint, and voila! A little sun to blend the
paint and you'd never know the difference. My problem with this is that
these are good to only so much wind and crap hitting the house. I'm from
Louisiana, and I have been in some VERY scarey hurricanes -Betsy and Camille
to name a few. I will not live anywhere else but here in Florida or back in
Louisiana. I will also never live too close to the water. You can get
killed doing that.
John

Notice I didn't say next year ;). You don't make fresh holes every year.
You can reuse the old ones. I have a tube of stuff that patches the
concrete, a little touch up paint, and voila! A little sun to blend the
paint and you'd never know the difference. My problem with this is that
these are good to only so much wind and crap hitting the house. I'm from
Louisiana, and I have been in some VERY scarey hurricanes -Betsy and Camille
to name a few. I will not live anywhere else but here in Florida or back in
Louisiana. I will also never live too close to the water. You can get
killed doing that.

Im curious..... why isn't it a requirement that all new
homes have built in storm shutters?

Seems the sensible thing to do. No?

In wrote:


Im curious..... why isn't it a requirement that all new
homes have built in storm shutters?

Seems the sensible thing to do. No?

Just because something is a good idea shouldn't be enough reason to make
it a legal requirement.

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN

Bert Hyman wrote:

Im curious..... why isn't it a requirement that all new
homes have built in storm shutters?

Seems the sensible thing to do. No?

Just because something is a good idea shouldn't be enough reason to make
it a legal requirement.

Considering that owners homes in a declared disaster area can become
eligible for Federal assistance (meaning you up there in St. Paul,
Minnesota can end up helping to pay for it), and considering that
insurance rates across the board can be affected by disasters in
specific areas (meaning you up there in St. Paul, Minnesota can end up
helping to pay for it), I'd have to say your argument is a bit
short-sighted.

In Sporkman
wrote:

Bert Hyman wrote:

Im curious..... why isn't it a requirement that all new
homes have built in storm shutters?

Seems the sensible thing to do. No?

Just because something is a good idea shouldn't be enough reason to
make it a legal requirement.

Considering that owners homes in a declared disaster area can become
eligible for Federal assistance (meaning you up there in St. Paul,
Minnesota can end up helping to pay for it), and considering that
insurance rates across the board can be affected by disasters in
specific areas (meaning you up there in St. Paul, Minnesota can end up
helping to pay for it), I'd have to say your argument is a bit
short-sighted.

Ignoring for a moment the bit about the Fed's involvement which is worthy
of a thread of its own, I'm not so short sighted as to be willing to
impose more government regulations on strangers just so I might save a few
bucks.

What's -your freedom worth?

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN