Up Against the Wind: Hurricane Impact Doors and Windows

Hurricane Resistant Design

Accidents happen and your home shouldn’t have to be the victim to that. You can’t control the weather, but what you can control is how you stand up to it. From your entry doors, to your impact resistant glass windows, the materials outside and inside your home can make a world of difference for you and your family’s safety.

In September 1989, Hurricane Hugo devastated the U.S. Virgin Islands and South Carolina, causing 86 fatalities and $8 to 10 billion in damage. In the tragedy’s aftermath, plans became engineered to create more hurricane impact resistant architecture. This included designs for windows and doors that utilized bendable glass which could stand up to high winds and flying debris.

What Makes a Door Impact Resistant?

Hurricane impact doors are designed for locations that are prone to tempestuous weather, high winds, flooding and disaster. This includes regions like Florida, Louisiana and the Carolinas, to name a few. The doors take into consideration the glass, frame and building codes. Typical glass breaks and shatters with flying debris hitting it during high wind speeds. Impact resistant glass or laminated glass has a slight bendability to it, providing continuous protection for your home.

Hurricane impact doors are made from materials like vinyl and aluminum, to stand up to flying debris and hurricane pressures. The doorframe as well as the hardware and glass used in these impact doors all contribute to their hurricane impact rating.

When choosing a hurricane impact door, it is important to understand your local building codes. High Velocity Hurricane Zones such as Miami-Dade and Broward County tend to have much stricter requirements for such components as your home’s entry doors and windows.

Panda’s Weather Resistant Systems

At Panda Windows and Doors, we value innovation, top performance and energy efficiency. With our all aluminum thermally broken line of doors, you can save on your home’s energy cost, by allowing our systems to help regulate the temperature in your home by creating a barrier between inside and outside. The thermally broken systems prevent the flow of thermal energy and provides protection against the elements allowing you to save energy. Additional benefits available are our impact resistant systems. Panda offers a select few Hurricane-rated impact systems, engineered to stand up to high winds, and flying debris in Hurricane prone territories like Florida and the coasts.

Multi-Slide Door

These glass sliding doors blur the lines of interior and exterior spaces and are ideal for opening up large expanses – perfect for parties and entertainment. Then, when it’s time to close up for the night, our contemporary door systems provide protection from burglary, theft and the elements outdoors. Our slim profile systems are durable and made of 6063-T5 extruded aluminum. These glass walls protect home’s energy efficiency from inclement weather and corrosion even with day-to-day use. Our S.81 and TS.X0 systems are available in hurricane-rated impact configurations, to protect against flying debris during high winds and storms.

Lift & Slide Door

The Panda Lift & Slide style sliding doors are one of the best options when looking to maximize weather resistance in the coldest or warmest climates. With a unique system of levers and wheels, this mechanism creates an airtight seal to keep your home at a comfortable climate regardless of the elements outside. With this temperature regulated addition to your home, you can spend less money on heating or cooling cost and more time enjoying your ideal indoor environment. With All-aluminum and wood-clad styles, this system offers hurricane-rated options, providing you with well-designed and functional safety measures for the most tumultuous environments. Our S.10 and IS.14 Lift & Slide systems are available as hurricane doors.

Thermally Broken Systems

For those not in a High Velocity Hurricane Zone, Panda offers an even more expansive line of thermally broken doors to provide your home an energy efficient solution for whatever weather may come your way. Some of our systems with thermally broken configurations include our Multi-Slide Doors, Lift & Slide doors, Horizontal Sliding Walls and French Door systems—which can come as single or double doors. These systems help regulate the climate inside of your home no matter what weather may be outside and lowers your heating and cooling cost.

Q/A

 

• How much do hurricane doors cost?

Each of our custom doors is crafted to your dimensions and ideas. You may contact your regional sales manager for a price inquiry. Even still, you can’t put a price on impact resistance when it comes to your safety at home.

• What makes a door hurricane proof?

While entirely hurricane proof doors do not exist, impact-resistant windows and doors are the way to go for added security against the powerful forces of nature and some piece of mind knowing you’ve got some hurricane protection in your home or commercial space. Hurricane Doors receive their hurricane rating based on how much wind force a door, its frame and hardware can withstand. Usually measured by pounds of pressure per inch, hurricane impact doors are structurally engineered and tested to withstand maximum weather conditions.

• What is laminated glass?

When normal glass is hit by debris or forceful winds, it shatters. Laminated glass increases your windows’ impact resistance with a thin protective layer that holds the shards in place if they are struck by these objects or elements. Laminated glass also offers superior noise reduction as opposed to tempered and normal glass used in windows.

• How do hurricane doors work?

A hurricane door is designed with wind locks, weather seals, heavy duty guide assemblies and other components to increase the structural integrity of your entry doors against strong winds and other inclement weather.

• How to Choose Hurricane-Impact Doors

Panda offers a selection of specifically hurricane-rated doors including our Lift & Slide S.10, IS.14 all-aluminum and aluminum/wood clad doors; as well as our S.81 and TS.X0 Multi-Slide doors.

• Are Multi-slide doors available as Hurricane Impact Doors?

Panda’s S.81 Multi-Slide doors are available as Hurricane-impacted systems when ordered in large quantities, rather than a single door. Great for entry doors on commercial projects.

Contact us today to learn more about how we can help protect your home or business with our hurricane-rated sliding glass doors and other products.