{"id":298,"date":"2002-05-01T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2002-05-01T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=298"},"modified":"2024-11-25T13:22:00","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T18:22:00","slug":"hurricane-storm-shutters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/hurricane-storm-shutters\/","title":{"rendered":"Hurricane Resistance: Retrofitting, Storm Shutters Increase Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
When the next warning goes out for a hurricane in Wilmington, Spencer Rogers won’t have to worry about boarding up his windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His new plywood storm shutters will keep flying debris from shattering his windows \u2014 and the shutters are easy to install.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Plywood storm shutters that protect windows during hurricanes have been in use for many years and are one of the most cost-effective ways to build shutters,” says Rogers, North Carolina Sea Grant’s coastal construction and erosion specialist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Storm shutters may not be the highest priority for hurricane retrofitting. But as the wind-resistance of a building is improved, shutters become a top priority in high-wind zones. For some homes, threatening sources of debris may make shutters the first priority.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rogers says shutters prevent wind-blown rain from going through a broken window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They also prevent the “increased internal pressure on the building that results from any large opening, such as a broken window on an upwind wall,” he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rogers worked with South Carolina Sea Grant, Clemson University and Blue Sky Foundation in Raleigh to test the new shutter design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rogers’ shutters are a prototype of a design that, after prefitting, can be installed from the inside of the home without a ladder \u2014 even on a second story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For easier installation before a storm hits, Rogers recommends precutting the panels to size, attaching permanent fasteners on the house and storing the panels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even if the plywood shutters are preinstalled, it can be hard work to put them in before the storm, says Rogers. “It is particularly difficult when a ladder is needed for installation,” he adds. “Gusty winds and heavy rains can make ladder work even more dangerous.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plywood shutters, which are relatively inexpensive and easy to construct, aren’t the only type of retrofitting that Rogers has done at his home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the years, he has elevated water pumps and other equipment under the house as high as possible and dismantled wiring in a low-elevation room. To better connect the roof to walls, he installed better wind-resistant asphalt shingles and hurricane clips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rogers says dismantling the room under his house, which is still used for storage, has prevented extensive flooding. “In our recent binge of hurricanes, the room has been flooded three times. It has required nothing more than a cleanup with a broom and hose,” he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More recently, Rogers built a strong room \u2014 a small interior room offering protection from high hurricane-force winds \u2014 on the main floor of his home. The room is a rebuilt closet under the stairs in the center of the house. Rogers added three layers of plywood to the walls and ceiling and two layers to the door. He also reinforced the door hinges and latches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“During the worst winds of the five most recent hurricanes that hit Wilmington, my family huddled in a central hallway of my home,” says Rogers. “Although I never felt that our lives were threatened or that we should have evacuated to another building, it became apparent that the added assurance of a strong room would add peace of mind should we get hit again.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wilmington’s wind risk from hurricanes is significantly lower than the extreme tornado winds \u2014 more than 200 mph \u2014 used for national “safe” standards. Thus, Rogers chose a strong room design developed and tested at Clemson. The room has an estimated capacity of about 60 percent of the national standard for safe rooms designed for the worst tornados.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rogers emphasizes that no single technique is right for making everyone’s home safer during a hurricane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The hurricane resistance of many homes can be substantially improved using a variety of techniques to reduce the chance of structural damage and damage from wind-blown water or flood water,” says Rogers. “Each house is different. What matters is finding the weakest components and looking for the most cost-effective priorities for each house.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The best \u2014 and least expensive \u2014 way to make a building storm-resistant is to modify it while it is under construction, says Rogers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It is much easier and more reliable to do a brand new house if you want a higher standard for wind resistance than retrofitting an old house,” he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n