Many people have no idea that their home is at risk from a poorly designed or installed garage door. Hundreds of homes are destroyed each year by extreme weather events including hurricanes, tornadoes, and strong straight-line winds. The most common cause is the loss of structural integrity when the garage door fails and allows winds to enter the structure. Once strong winds come through the garage door opening, it is a very short time before the home loses its roof. Once a structure loses its roof, it will be quickly destroyed.
One night, while watching the Weather Channel, meteorologist Jim Cantori was standing in front of a house whose garage door had failed. You correctly said that when you lose your garage door, the roof is next and the house is doomed to be destroyed. After Hurricane Charlie hit Port Charlotte Florida, it was very apparent that homes with conventional garage doors lost their roofs and were destroyed as a result of a weak or no hurricane code door.
In many cases, home building contractors will install the cheapest door that local building codes allow. In terms of garage door prices, this is a dime a dozen. In Florida, where everyone is focused on hurricane preparedness, current building codes require garage doors that can withstand wind loads of up to 140 mph. This makes sense not only in terms of protecting your home from hurricanes, but tornadoes as well.
In terms of garage door prices, buying a cheap garage door not only threatens the safety of your home but also your family. In many cases, if you are unable to evacuate your home before a storm causes the ground to fall or in the event that a tornado strikes without warning, you will most likely weather the storm at your home. Many people will spend a good deal of money buying hurricane shutters, but they won’t even consider installing a high wind door. This can have deadly consequences for you and your family.
Buying and installing a quality high wind door is a great investment for your home and family. Also, buying a door with an automatic door opener that will work when power is lost is another great investment. If you check out the prices for high-quality wind gate garage doors at home improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s, you will find that you can afford to upgrade your home with a strong wind code door. Don’t wait until you hear the roof fall off your home during a storm before you realize that you should have secured your home with a proper garage door.