SCFD rtrd. Posted September 25, 2017 Report Share Posted September 25, 2017 Does anyone have an experience with hurricane shutters? I have a condo in S/W Fl. (Englewood) and although we did not have any structural damage, all units had water damage. The water was pushed between the sliding glass doors and the door track. We have five sliding glass doors per condo unit. So, wind pushing on one side and wind pulling on the other side just sucked the water right under the sliding glass doors. Under normal circumstances (average afternoon thunderstorms with wind) these doors don't leak. Upgrading the sliding glass doors is really expensive and still no guarantee that they won't leak in a hurricane. So, I thought hurricane shutters might be a better alternative and much cheaper. I'm leaning toward accordion shutters, but would like some guidance or examples from anyone who has experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdemott Posted September 25, 2017 Report Share Posted September 25, 2017 I had accordion shutters installed on the house which made it easier for my wife if I was out of town traveling. I had changed from sliders to French doors which sealed completely. I can't say that the shutters made a difference in preventing water intrusion. They rattle some in storms and are mainly for debris protection. The replacement to French doors helped us the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fin-addict Posted September 26, 2017 Report Share Posted September 26, 2017 I too have accordion shutters. they will not keep water out, may slow it down a bit. as stated above, for debris and wind protection. even sliding glass doors, hurricane proof and rated will not keep the water out. also live in condo and wife looked into this very much as she was president of assoc. at time of Charlie and after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imsnookyrd Posted September 26, 2017 Report Share Posted September 26, 2017 All I can say is change doors to french doors or seal with duct tape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polliwog Posted September 26, 2017 Report Share Posted September 26, 2017 i leave my FL house for the summer and install steel shutters in steel tracks with wing bolts. nothing goes through those,but they get put up once and taken down in fall. I would get electric shutters on tracks if I lived in Fl 24/7. Make sure whatever you use for glass doors are rated 140mph or higher. All it takes is one flying object to open the house up. we survived 140+ winds in Naples eye of Irma,no structural damage or water,we were lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redrum Posted September 26, 2017 Report Share Posted September 26, 2017 We are in the process of building a new home in North Port Fl and we opted for impact windows and French doors. They are suppose to keep everything out, or so they say. We are getting older now and steel shutters are a big hassle to put up and down every time a storm nears. We are also opting for a 22k Generac generator with buried 500 gallon tank. Hopefully we won't have anymore storms for a while, but in the event that we do, we thought that this is the best way to prepare. This last storm we put up the shutters and ran to Panama City beach to hide. My thought was that if the storm changed course, we could always head further west and or North. The winds only reach about 45 in PCB and our home in North Port and zero damage....lost power for about 12 hours. We were very lucky this time. Thank God Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeSTJC Posted September 26, 2017 Report Share Posted September 26, 2017 After Charlie, we replaced our smaller windows with 150 mph proof windows. We installed electric hurricane shutters on our large windows. They are quiet, energy efficient, provide for night time privacy and we had zero damage from Irma... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCFD rtrd. Posted September 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2017 Can't change the sliding glass doors to French because it's a condo. All windows have to look the same and I don't think they make a series of French doors that are 12 ft. wide. Anyone have experience with the roll-down type shutters. Seems like they would have a better seal at the bottom, but they are about 50% more expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justfish Posted September 26, 2017 Report Share Posted September 26, 2017 As mentioned I doubt shutters will do anything for keeping water out. Honestly easiest solution that would actually work would be tape. A lot of people in my area learned from Matthew and kept from flooding from Irma due to taping doors and windows. If it kept out flood water it will keep out wind driven water no doubt. Gorilla and 3m "duct" tape seemed most popular. A lot of folks also used zip tape intended for zip boards All of em are easy to put on, the cleanup is a bit of work tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCFD rtrd. Posted September 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2017 Yep, that would work, but all sliding glass doors lead to balconies or lanais on my second and third floors. I have a townhouse (3 floors), so there is no way to get back in the condo after taping unless I repel off the balcony railing. Going to visit the only storm shutter retailer I could find in the Orlando area. Will try to determine which shutter would stop wind driven rain. Another thing I'm considering is to install Polycarbonate (Lexan) panels available at Home Depot. They would bolt tight to the walls and sit tight on the floor. The only thing I can't figure out is how to get back in the condo after bolting the panels to the wall. Maybe I could cut a small door to crawl through, but can't figure how to secure that piece back in place. http://www.homedepot.com/p/48-in-x-96-in-Multiwall-Hurricane-Panel-GEMW96/202482761 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justfish Posted September 27, 2017 Report Share Posted September 27, 2017 Oh that's easy then. Tape off the top one and shimmy down your pompier ladder to the next balcony, tape that one and so on and so forth. 😬 Youd be the stud of the condo association, that's for sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imsnookyrd Posted September 27, 2017 Report Share Posted September 27, 2017 Or you could apply the tape on the inside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCFD rtrd. Posted September 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2017 That's some funny stuff, right there. Haven't seen or used a Pompier ladder since 1976. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justfish Posted September 27, 2017 Report Share Posted September 27, 2017 Haha glad you got it before some of these guys thought I was crazy. I haven't seen one since fire school and thank goodness never used one! What about visqueen taped up a few feet on glass and and sandbags on the visqueen on bottom? Seems you could do most of it outside leaving a flap of visqueen to be taped up once you got inside. Then close the door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Headhunter Posted September 27, 2017 Report Share Posted September 27, 2017 We have impact glass sliding doors and even taped with duct tape we got a ft of water in the house from Irma. Probably Fishes idea has the most merit based on our experience. Oh, taping the inside doesn't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue dolphin Posted September 30, 2017 Report Share Posted September 30, 2017 During Dolly in Texas I had water driven around casement window seals, those windows were protected by roll up plastic hurricane shutters. Occurred with gusts to 125. The windows were flexing in and out with the gusts and after the eye passed. my house in Key West has impact windows and doors with FAA sound proof rating due to proximity to airport. Windows and French doors are covered by aluminum accordion shutters. I duct taped the lower half of the door for flood protection. After the storm I found water droplets at the top of the door frame above the seal and cracking of the seam where the door frame abuts the cbs opening presumably reflecting a suction effect on the door frame allowing water entry. This house was rebuilt to cat5 in 2009. No water penetrated the door or window seals. I remain amazed at the difference in damage sustained between Key West and Cudjoe versus the flooding experienced to the east of the storm. The Comcast office in Marathon had a water line inside 9ft off the floor. My canal in Key West saw water at the top of the sea wall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B2TB Posted September 30, 2017 Report Share Posted September 30, 2017 Just came back from checking my townhouse in Marathon. We have shutters over the windows and French doors and not a drop of water got in. The shutters extend several inches beyond the doors and windows so nothing gets in. Our front door is solid wood so no shutters, and some dirt and debris got in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnd Posted October 1, 2017 Report Share Posted October 1, 2017 Just a thought: have French doors on back patio. Rain (and pool) pushed 2-3" of water to patio and during Irma water did come under door frame (not much but PIA). Previously I had put plastic sheet up 3', taped to floor and a couple sandbags and that kept out water. my son's house is low and during Mathew water came into garage (faces NE). Sandbags didn't help. This time we put a sheet of plastic over door & about 3' into drive. Instead of sandbags (time & work) we filled big black plastic bags with water and made a ***. Worked great! Plus each bag could do 3 toilet flushes after storm & no power or water. Idea came from "water ***" we saw on tv. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdemott Posted October 1, 2017 Report Share Posted October 1, 2017 1 hour ago, johnd said: Just a thought: have French doors on back patio. Rain (and pool) pushed 2-3" of water to patio and during Irma water did come under door frame (not much but PIA). Previously I had put plastic sheet up 3', taped to floor and a couple sandbags and that kept out water. my son's house is low and during Mathew water came into garage (faces NE). Sandbags didn't help. This time we put a sheet of plastic over door & about 3' into drive. Instead of sandbags (time & work) we filled big black plastic bags with water and made a ***. Worked great! Plus each bag could do 3 toilet flushes after storm & no power or water. Idea came from "water ***" we saw on tv. Interesting idea. Wonder what bags you used and how you prevented them from leaking. Previously I have bought top soil in bags, put garbage over them and used them as sandbags in front of garage. After the season I use the soil around the yard to fill in low areas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnd Posted October 1, 2017 Report Share Posted October 1, 2017 Bought the thickest black yard trash bags at BJ's. Kind you use for grass & yard trash or construction waste. Didn't put too much water in. I'll ask my son, but think he just twisted really tight. I'm going to try and find the commercially made one that looks like a hot dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce J Posted October 2, 2017 Report Share Posted October 2, 2017 It's interesting to read how many of you prefer French doors to sliders. During Harvey in Rockport our sliders (4 of them) didn't let in a drop, but the French doors were a problem for us and many others I talked to after the storm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCFD rtrd. Posted October 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2017 On 9/30/2017 at 6:10 PM, B2TB said: Just came back from checking my townhouse in Marathon. We have shutters over the windows and French doors and not a drop of water got in. The shutters extend several inches beyond the doors and windows so nothing gets in. Our front door is solid wood so no shutters, and some dirt and debris got in. What type of shutters do you have? Roll-down or accordion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B2TB Posted October 2, 2017 Report Share Posted October 2, 2017 Accordion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCFD rtrd. Posted October 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2017 2 hours ago, B2TB said: Accordion Thank you!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdemott Posted October 3, 2017 Report Share Posted October 3, 2017 On 10/1/2017 at 5:59 PM, johnd said: Bought the thickest black yard trash bags at BJ's. Kind you use for grass & yard trash or construction waste. Didn't put too much water in. I'll ask my son, but think he just twisted really tight. I'm going to try and find the commercially made one that looks like a hot dog. Please pm me or post if you find the bags. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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