Hurricane reinforcement

[Lucky Llama]

I see that Florida may have a tropical event this weekend. With that in mind. What do ya'll do to reinforce your garage doors in the event of high wind, if anything. I have wind rated doors for 140 mph. Still, after living through Katrina I'm considering adding something more. I lost all three wind rated doors in Katrina. They were only rated to 110 mph.

 

[Hot Rod Grampa]

We have a friend the has a post with a pin into the concrete floor and a flange/arm that bolts to the header. Goes across the middle of the door to prevent blowing in. Not sure what he does to prevent the door from being sucked out during the low pressure moment.

 

[ransil]

When i was looking at houses in Florida garages had different levels of garage door reinforcements, not sure what 140 looks like but one i saw has at least 6" reinforcement on every joint, some looked like they had the minium requirement.

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[strutaeng]

I don't live in hurricane-prone region, but was going to suggest a heavy angle or channel across each segment(horizontally.) Weld it or use self-tapping screws.

Something like an L3x3x3/16. That's a lot of weight, so get the door re-balanced.

 

[driftpin]

https://www.clopaydoor.com/residential/windcode-residential-information/florida-windcode

Lots of good info here. Drawings and classifications for wind loads included.

 

[DHCrocks]

I bought these for my garage door, two braces for a 16' door. I added additional brackets to the tracks and 3" lagged them into the frame for additional reinforcing. the way my door looks, I don't think I could put 3 braces on.

https://securedoorbraces.com/

Once you do the initial setup of installing the top bracket and drilling for the floor anchors it fast to put up. should be able to get it on in around 15 minutes or so. they seem pretty stout. Luckily I have never had to see them in action, We only had two close calls since I got them and deployed them on the doors but the winds never really came. They claim maximum gust upto 180mph and sustained 140-150mph.

 

[atthebeach]

My garage door is not wind rated, so when a hurricane threat is imminent I install two Secure Door braces on the inside on my 16' door and a Hurricane Fabric panel on the outside to protect the door from flying debris.

https://securedoorbraces.com/

https://www.hurricanefabric.com/

 

[Jinks]

Hurricane fabric or metal/plywood covers the same as windows.

 

[Lucky Llama]

Thanks for the responses. Looking at the clopay website I see they rate my door at 170 mph. I guess I'm just looking for something to worry about. Trouble is, when a storm starts to head your way, it's too late to try and rig up a door reinforcement for the first time.

 

[slow]

for hurricanes of 2004, we uses a 4x4 and pushed our jeep wrangler so the spare tire pushed against the 4x4 that was vertical against the garage door. It didn't cost anything to do, and gave some piece of mind.

 

[Lucky Llama]

That's a great idea.

 

[Bretny]

You could always screw some blocking into the door frame and use 2x4-6 for across the door. A trip to HD or lowes with my honda accord and im sure i could rig something up in a few hours.

Obviously metal would be perfered but at this point your 2 or 3 days out from impact.

If you find your self doing this alot why not just make a metal/plywood frame on the outside of the door taking dammage and it being pushed in totaly out of the equation?

 

[Lucky Llama]

Bretny, thanks for you suggestions. I am in Pass Christian, MS. We will not be impacted by this storm. It just got me to wondering if my doors were strong enough to resist high wind without additional reinforcement.

 

[Jinks]

You probably know this, but in Pass Christian your problem is more storm surge than wind. For wind you could buy some truss hangers to bolt to the header & floor, then bolt a 2 X 4/4 X 4 behind your door. Storm surge will just eat the lumber.

 

[jstroede]

Thanks for the responses. Looking at the clopay website I see they rate my door at 170 mph. I guess I'm just looking for something to worry about. Trouble is, when a storm starts to head your way, it's too late to try and rig up a door reinforcement for the first time.

There is a lot that goes into that "rating". Depending on what version of the building code you are talking about, the same door might be 110 mph rated or 140 mph rating.

Garage doors are not tested to a mph. They are tested to a design pressure, then they are subjected to a 50% safety factor. After that, the door is required to be operational to pass the test. It will most likely require replacing after a storm. It is meant to save the rest of the structure, not necessarily to not be damaged.

That being said, what size are your doors, and what does the sticker say that is on the door now?

John

 

[Lucky Llama]

The doors are 10' wide 8' tall. Pressure rating is +27.3/-30.8.

 

[Lucky Llama]

Oh, I am no longer in a flood zone. 70' of elevation.

 

[jstroede]

The doors are 10' wide 8' tall. Pressure rating is +27.3/-30.8.

Those are some healthy doors. I wouldn't lose any sleep having those on my house. For reference, that door in its tested configuration would have to withstand 3200 lbs of positive load and 3600 lbs of negative load and still be functional.

To put it in perspective, those doors have been tested to roughly 50% more load than your old doors. Those 110 mph doors are sturdier than standard, but for a 10x8 not much (I tested 10x8 commercial insulated doors that would pass that test with no reinforcement).

You have to be careful at MPH ratings. They are figured based on many factors. The design pressures are the important thing. You could have a 110 mph door that has a 20 psf design pressure requirement and another 110 mph door that has a 30 psf design pressure requirement. It all depends on the structure and the site conditions.

John

 

[Lucky Llama]

Thank you