It seems that Hurricane Irene has focused a lot of attention on big storms and the damage they can do. This morning I heard that there is a major, could be a Cat 3 or more forming between here and Africa, and two tropical depressions in the Caribbean, one of which is likely to gain strength and hit somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico. I heard one of the respected weather forecasters for tropical storms, Joe Bastardi, a couple days ago saying the trend this year will be for big storms coming from Africa hitting the Atlantic coast with other storms forming in the Caribbean traveling up into the gulf. Sounds like he is correct again.

You've heard all the things you can and should do if you are in harms way. Food, water, batteries, something to cook with, and communication devices ready and charged. Then protect your home the best you can, most media is talking about and showing plywood to board up your windows and doors. But there are alternatives to plywood. The most popular up until a few years ago were to have storm shutters custom made for your home with various different materials and designs available. They are expensive and most of them must be stored somewhere, or at the least, put in place and fastened down when a storm threatens. Imagine lugging shutters or plywood up a ladder to fasten in place on the second or third floor of your home, and then having to go up and remove them when the storm passes, and doing that several times a year. Also consider that when a storm passes it virtually always knocks the power out. So there you are with your family sitting in your totally dark boarded up home while you wait for the storm to pass and the all clear to finally be allowed to go outside, sometimes days later.

This changed pretty dramatically a few years ago when hurricane windows were developed. These windows are designed to withstand hurricane force wind and water. To the novice they look just like any other windows but they incorporate special glazing materials and frames designed and fastened in to take great amounts of stress from severe weather. They are better than plywood or hurricane shutters in every way, but the biggest difference is they are always protecting your home. No putting up or taking down hurricane protection ever again. No more sitting in the dark. And for many people the benefit of not having to travel to your vacation or rental home to install the protection you need, it's always there.

So if you haven't heard about the new, real STORM WINDOWS - get on line, ask around. There are several manufacturers, but be sure to keep in mind that you want and need energy savings along with your storm protection, don't sacrifice one, your deserve to have both benefits.

Hurricane Windows and Protection

With the imminent threat of Hurricane Irene up and down the East Coast, as homeowners, we may want to look at how well protected our homes are for a hurricane threat. Hurricane protection is the ‘norm’ in the Gulf States and Florida. But because there hasn’t been a hurricane threat along the eastern seaboard for decades, hurricane codes are loose and largely go unenforced. This hurricane season is about to change all of this.

Unfortunately, we are not even to the ‘peak’ of the hurricane season so we may have more threats. Different questions abound about hurricane windows, shutters, and even plywood. For many states, tacking up plywood does not meet the code for hurricane protection, but when you are faced with having nothing, plywood is just that ‘better than nothing.’ Hurricane shutters offer protection against hurricanes, but the aesthetics, the cost, and sometimes the storage, just doesn’t make sense for many of us.

Hurricane Windows have really proven to be the best alternative for many different reasons. Some of the benefits are:

1) Lets natural light in 2) Easy exit if necessary 3) Hurricane Ready all of the time 4) No extra help needed to shutter or board up 5) Energy Efficiency 6) Safety and Security at all time

Why is natural light important? One of the first things to go out in a hurricane is the electricity. If you are all boarded or shuttered up, you can’t see. But if you have hurricane windows, that natural light is allowed to come in. Also, with hurricane windows and doors, you can easily exit your home if needed. On top of this, there is nothing special you need to do to activate your hurricane protection when you have hurricane windows. The protection is always on and always ready. This also means you don’t need to use storm shutters or plywood for protection. Many hurricane windows are Energy Star qualified as well. And finally, many hurricane windows offer increased safety and security. Check out this link, www.hurricane-window.com for more information.

As you may have read in one of our recent blog articles, the latest hurricane predictions from the Colorado State University forecasting team is for 16 named storms, nine hurricanes and five major hurricanes with sustained winds of 111 mph or greater this year. So, if you live in a hurricane-prone zone, you need to be planning for a very serious hurricane season this year.

For homeowners who are unsure what type of protection they need for their area of the country, or who want to explore the possibilities available, Gorell offers a “Hurricane Buyer’s Guide” to help simplify this very important decision. This guide will help homeowners determine how well their home—and family—is currently protected, what type of protection (i.e. shutters, standard windows, custom windows) does and doesn’t work, and what level of protection might be required in specific areas of the country.

To download Gorell Hurricane Buyer’s Guide, visit http://hurricane-window.com/downloads/gorell-hurricane-windows-guide.pdf.

This week is the ‘unofficial’ start of hurricane season. Many homeowners along the coast look to hurricane windows with protective laminated glass to keep them safe and secure.

But laminated glass isn’t just great for hurricanes. Laminated glass has many benefits to offer than just hurricane protection. This super strong glass has five very strong benefits for homeowners. Laminated glass is considered safety glass. When this type of glass breaks, it creates the visual look of a spider web. Although the glass breaks, it stays attached to the PVB interlayer. Here is an example.... http://www.hurricane-window.com/pages/miami-dade-county-approved.htm

Laminated glass is also security glass. With certain types of laminated glass such as Gorell’s Armor Glass Plus, a ‘would be burglar’ can hit the glass over and over with a baseball bat, and after awhile, they just give up. Here is a quick video showing the effectiveness. Click on the baseball video http://www.gorell.com/pages/armor_glass_plus.htm

Laminated glass also is a great UV protector. It blocks up to 99.5 % of the UV rays that fade carpets and upholstery. In fact, laminated glass is so effective at stopping fading, that some of our country’s most important documents are protected by it, including the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution.

This type of glass also offers great sound reduction from outside noises. Because of the laminated glass make up, the glass helps absorb and deaden sound waves. This helps reduce the amount of noise coming into your house.

And finally if you have a laminated glass unit insulated like Armor Glass Plus (http://www.gorell.com/pages/armor_glass_plus.htm), it comes combined with a high performance glass coating, SolarControl Max. This gives you energy savings and comfort.

So, when you are looking at replacing your windows, consider laminated glass as part of your package. Today, laminated glass like Armor Glass Plus, does a lot more than just protect homes from hurricanes!

Hurricane windows should really be called "STORM" windows, but sadly that name is already taken. When someone says storm windows, people think of the aluminum "secondary" exterior window that was very popular twenty plus years ago. But with the rash or strong thunder storms and tornadoes devastating much of the country, STORM (hurricane) windows are what many people need. With the common nomenclature being Hurricane windows, many people only think of these types of windows for hurricane prone areas. They really are quite valuable to homeowners in most of the country. High winds from strong storms create flying debris, that can devastate the average window, and cause extensive damage to your home. Hurricane windows are designed to withstand severe winds and stop most airborne debris in it's tracks. The rigorous testing of these products assures you that they are your best protection from severe storm damage.

Obviously they will not protect a home from a direct hit by a tornado or even a significant hurricane, but many homes are on the periphery of the storms, and many of those homes do experience significant damage from the flying debris from these very strong storms. Hurricane windows are designed to withstand huge amounts of rain and wind, and with the laminated glass, protect the interior of your home from direct hits from flying debris.

Another benefit, but seldom mentioned, is the security aspect of these products. Most burglars enter homes through the doors or windows. Hurricane windows keep all but the most determined burglar from gaining access to your home. The glass is virtually impenetrable, we've tested these windows with a baseball bat, and they've withstood over thirty full swing blows a large adult male still with no ability to access the home. Not many burglars are going to hang around making a lot of noise to hit a window more than this. And if you choose a vinyl framed, low emissivity glass option featuring laminated glass, you get a highly energy efficient product too. Other seldom mentioned benefits are the 99+% blockage of damaging UV radiation that fades your fabrics and floors, and the best sound attenuation (reducing) glass option available.

So if you live in a part of the country that has strong storms, and that seems like just about everywhere these days, you need to consider replacing your existing windows with highly energy efficient high security hurricane windows. You'll get security, energy efficiency, UV protection, and sound protection - quite a package of benefits for your family's peace of mind.

If you live in a hurricane prone zone, which a significant portion of the U.S. population does, you need to be planning for a very serious hurricane season this year. The latest predictions from the Colorado State University forecasting team is for 16 named storms, nine hurricanes and five major hurricanes with sustained winds of 111 mph or greater. See http://www.riskmanagementmonitor.com/2011-hurricane-predictions/ for the detailed predictions.

One of if not the most important actions you can take is to upgrade the protection of your home’s windows. Your alternatives are hurricane shutters or plywood to be applied to the exterior of your home’s windows, or full time protection from certified hurricane tested replacement windows. The problem with the exterior applied solutions is you have to be there when a warning is issued, and have the stamina and ability to fasten the protections devices in place. Many of these devices are quite large and quite heavy, requiring at least two people to install them properly. You also risk personal injury due to the weight and need for ladders etc. to install them on the home. Certified hurricane protection windows offer full time protection to your home, with no mess, no labor and no pre-planning required.

Many of the residences along the shoreline from Maine to Texas are part time, with no one there some of the year. If these homes are not protected with replacement windows, the owners would have to arrange for someone to install, and then remove the exterior protection devices, at each and every storm warning. On the residences that are occupied full time, you still would have to install and then remove the devices for every warning. In addition, most of these devices are totally opaque and do not allow any light into the home. In a hurricane, the power is often lost, and your home would be totally dark inside.

There really is no other decision; highly energy efficient certified hurricane windows are the best solution. With this current forecast, there is no time to waste as the 2011 hurricane season starts June first. With the severe weather we’ve experienced so far this year, it seems likely to me that these forecasters, along with many others, are probably on the conservative side if anything.

Last week I attended an American Architectural Manufacturers Association meeting in Charlotte North Carolina. They offered a field trip to visit the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) in South Carolina. This was a fascinating trip to a very impressive facility. It is less than a year old but they’ve already been able to stage several impressive tests. Their goal is to be able to do up to twelve different tests per year once they are fully functional.

It is far out in the country to keep noise from bothering any neighbors, and is designed with a sound barrier dirt wall near the road with the other three sides of the property heavily forested. It was quite noisy when the fans where turned on, so the logic was valid. The key feature of this large facility is a hundred and forty five foot wide by seventy foot tall wall of 105 giant five and half foot fans. They have the ability to test multiple full size houses for the effect of wind, and rain, and even hail and wild fires. These fans can create up to a one hundred and forty mile an hour sustained wind, equal to a Class Three hurricane (very few hurricanes ever get higher than class three). They then can add rain to simulate a real life man made hurricane.

The facility is fully funded and supported by large insurance companies to learn more about building techniques and materials – no government funding is involved. They showed us several videos of past tests, one showed a wild fire igniting mulch, and siding and roofing materials – predominantly from the wind born sparks. Another showed two houses, one built under the normal standard building code, and the other with a fortified version of construction. The “normal construction” house was completely destroyed in less than five minutes when the sustained winds went just over ninety miles an hour.

I believe this is the kind of private sector facility that will garner great benefits for all of us in the future. With the knowledge they can gain from these kinds of tests in a controlled environment, fully video recorded, will be of great importance to future building codes and construction techniques. The possible innovations in building products that could come from this are unlimited. If you would like to learn more about this facility and their plans go to www.disastersafety.org. You can also see some of the videos of previous tests.

Wow. What crazy weather we’ve had these last few months. From thunderstorms with 50-mile-per-hour winds, to damaging golf ball-sized hail, to the horrible tornadoes that ripped through the southern and mid-western parts of the country and caused so much devastation. I don’t ever remember seeing such extreme weather patterns in my lifetime.

The heartbreaking stories on TV—and the scare of a tornado actually touching down about 20 miles from my home—caused me to do a bit of research. I learned that, although tornado season typically starts in March, it doesn’t reach its peak until May to June. Now that’s a scary thought, considering that killer tornadoes during the first four months of this year have already claimed more lives than all of last year (according to the nation's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma).

So what can homeowners do to protect their families and homes? Making homes stronger and more formidable is one good idea—from strong concrete walls and foundations to windows and doors that can stand up to the toughest weather conditions and offer better protection. People living in coastal areas around the Gulf are certainly familiar with hurricane or impact windows and doors—but those products aren’t just for hurricanes. Windows and doors that are hurricane rated pass rigorous tests and stand up to some of the harshest conditions imaginable—so they’re actually useful for all areas of the country. They include strong laminated glass that cannot be penetrated—which means it keeps deadly flying debris out of homes and away from families. Whether a home is located in hurricane territory, “Tornado Alley,” or an area prone to earthquakes, impact windows and doors can be beneficial.

Hurricane windows. Impact products. Dade County-approved windows. You’ve probably heard at least some of these terms, especially if you live in an area where violent weather is the norm. But what is a hurricane product, really? And how can windows become considered “impact windows”? Perhaps this brief explanation will help you make a more informed decision if you’re researching impact protection.

First, you have to realize that for windows to be considered hurricane or impact products, they need to be impact tested. This testing determines if the windows and laminated glass used in them can withstand violent weather. Laminated glass will crack and shatter, yes, but nothing should ever actually get through the glass and into your home. It’s not easy to have windows pass impact testing. It’s a long, difficult process.

“Standard” window impact testing means that a window with clear, double-pane glass is tested for air, water and structural requirements (per AAMA standards). Three other units— ones with laminated glass—are tested with hits at different places on the window from a single missile (which is actually an eight-foot 2 x 4 weighing about nine pounds) traveling at about 35 mph. Every window tested for impact is also tested with various cyclic wind pressures, both inward and outward (9,000 total cycles). After all this—assuming a window passes—it’s considered Level “D” hurricane protection. That means it’s approved for use in homes up to a mile inland from the coast.

So if that’s “standard” hurricane impact window testing…what’s special about “Dade County” hurricane protection products? The difference is this: the Dade unit that’s tested for air, water and structural requirements is also made with laminated glass—and is subjected to longer sustained wind load testing. Plus, instead of being hit just once, the three laminated impact windows are “impacted” two to three times in several places. When—and if—a product can achieve Dade County approval, it can be used pretty much anywhere, even right on the coast and in Miami-Dade County, FL.

This time of year is a good time for homeowners living in areas of the country prone to severe weather to consider addressing their preparedness for the "next big one." Especially in the event of hurricanes (but not limited to them).

To help in this area, we've prepared a document called "Protecting your family and home from violent weather with Hurricane Windows and Doors."  Obviously, being a manufacturer that makes "impact" windows and doors, we designed this piece to stress the importance of installing hurricane-strength windows and doors that can withstand the tremendous dangers of strong winds and flying debris.

This document addresses much more, however. For example, it includes a checklist of actions to take and items to have in place as part of a plan to be better prepared. It also includes ASCE wind zone maps that show the areas most affected by hurricanes and the level of protection required for that area by the International Building Code.  And, it addresses different types of protection -- from plywood to impact windows -- to keep wind and debris from entering homes and causing serious injury or death and damaging or destroying homes.

To view or download a PDF of this literature, visit http://www.gorell.com/pages/hurricane_windows.htm