Hurricane season is upon us and home owners are out in force securing and preparing their homes against the worst, but one of the most important items is also usually the most overlooked: The garage door. After the devastation caused by Hurricane Andrew back in 1992 the Red Cross and FEMA conducted a study that revealed the loss of the garage door was one of four critical reasons that caused a home to be damaged or destroyed. Once that door is gone, the full force of the hurricane is able to enter the home. The result is usually the roof being blown off or walls knocked down.
Garage doors are rather fragile when you think about it. They are held in place simply by two steel tracks on either side with ball bearings. An average size person could seriously damage a door simply by running into it or kicking it hard. Hurricanes are so much more powerful and apply both inward pressure and suction pulling out, which can easily overcome a door unless it was reinforced.
So how do you know if your door is hurricane ready? It is pretty simple actually. Simply go to your garage when the door is down and look to see if there are any extra reinforcement beams running across the length of the door. If you do not steel straps of steal, then your door is not reinforced.
If it is not reinforced do not worry. You can easily install one yourself by picking up a kit at a home supply store. Alternatively you can search for Hurricane Garage Doors Delaware or whatever town you live in and find a number of companies that sell and install garage openers and doors in your area. Many of these also sell kits and can even install the hurricane kits if you wish to have them do so.
It is important to secure your garage door with these kits but at the same time you want to make sure that you install them properly. These add extra weight to your door and do have the potential of throwing off the balance which can cause your opener to burn out and become inoperable.
One last thing to consider is that while kits do help reinforce against strong winds they do nothing to protect your door against missile impacts; tree branches, signs, planks... So if you are in a hurricane zone you should consider purchasing an entirely new garage door built specifically to withstand hurricane damage.
Jim Flick provides tips and tricks for getting the most out of your garage door service. If you run into trouble with your door and can't seem to fix it yourself, give Garage Door Delaware a call.
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