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Hurricane Windows

Slide it in and mount it up.
  (+4, -3)
(+4, -3)
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against]

Modern ways of hurricane-proofing your windows are expensive, understandably, and difficult to perform. You can get roll-down aluminum shades that cover your windows but can cost upwards of thousands of dollars, or you can buy hurricane-resistant windows that may not necessarily hold if, say, your neighbor's palm tree makes a bee-line for your living room. And, at any rate, these can be expensive to buy and expensive to install.

You could get plywood and mount it into pre-set mounting holes in your house (many do this, I'm told), but it can take more than a day to perform this task, as you must insert screws into the wood approximately every four microns.

Or, you can get you summa these here jiggers.

Hurricane windows are a sheet of two-inch-thick plexiglass with mounting holes drilled into the top. Slide them into the high-strength metal guides flanking the windows (two on each side, one on the bottom), and bolt the hurricane window into place (three decent-sized bolts per side oughta do it). Then bolt in the top.

The obvious advantage over plywood is that these will never warp or rot, so you will never have to rush to the store the next time a hurricane churns up. Plus, in a busy hurricane summer, you can just leave them up and let natural light stream in.

Compared to super-protective storm windows, this should be cheaper to install, and you don't have to replace your current windows. The sliding frames could be painted to blend in with existing shutters.

The added bonus is that you can watch the storm rage impotently outside, knowing that your windows are safe. Your roof, I suppose, is another matter, but I promise I'm thinking about that.

shapu, Aug 22 2005

Installing plywood http://www.fema.gov/fima/how2017.shtm
From our friends at FEMA [shapu, Aug 22 2005]

Fiberglass http://www.newlooke...ber-glass-sheet.htm
These are light, thin, and strong enough to at least deflect a 2x4 impact. [reensure, Aug 23 2005]

[link]






       You ever price 2 inch plexi (acrylic)? It ain't cheap. And it's hEAVy. You don't want to be putting these on and off twice a year, especially on a 2 or more story house.
oxen crossing, Aug 22 2005
  

       Actually, I did price it. It's 25 bucks a square foot.   

       Presumably, though, it's a one-time-only cost. Pay more up front to save more in the long run, and all that.   

       Anyway, the weight I can see being an issue. Acrylic weighs in at .043 lb/in^3. So my bedroom windows, at 32x54 in, would get 148 lbs of plexiglass (or Lexan, which has the same density but breaks cleaner and has a cooler trade name). I admit that's quite a labor.
shapu, Aug 23 2005
  

       Hmm... the weight is a problem. Perhaps, they can slide vertically up over the window opening at whim, on some sort of pulley device. They would stay at either of two positions throughout the year. Of course, it would look different close up. But, who really cares when you consider flooded homes, ruined walls, keepsakes missing, etc. [+]
daseva, Aug 23 2005
  

       If you wouldn't mind putting a really hard surface on it to stop it scratching so easily, they'd last a whole lot longer. Not sure what to use though; maybe a sheet of glass on the outer surface, replaceable in the event of hurricane damage.
david_scothern, Aug 23 2005
  

       I sense a subtle sardonicism.
shapu, Aug 23 2005
  

       I think by the time you get a system for installing these here jiggers worked out, you're finacially in the ballpark with your roll down alum. shades and other existing solutions. The only thing this offers is transparency, which I'm not convinced I want.
oxen crossing, Aug 23 2005
  

       Hurricane-proof windows at today's state of the art are indistinguishable from existing commercial windows. They are impact resistant and flex damage resistant and offer pretty good protection from storms. However, if you really want to get a look at nature's fury, I'd recommend you sit it out in your automobile -- you'll have mobility, light, a/c, radio or laptop power -- and shatter resistant glass.
reensure, Aug 23 2005
  

       //I admit that's quite a labor.//   

       For ease of installation, the covering could be assembled from several tongue & groove style plexiglass segments.   

       + for see-through protection. My replacement windows (Andersen) can handle the wind speed, and *some* impact. Now that I’m thinking of this, a roll down cage would be my ideal choice (if I needed the protection, which I don’t).
Shz, Aug 23 2005
  

       During the last Hurricane that ended up hitting east of here all plywood & much of everything else was completely sold out.   

       One guy told me he bought cheap carpet to nail over the windows. It seems like the cheapest option to me. It won't stop the palm tree, but it ought to stop most other things. I don't think even the plexiglass would stop the palm tree, though. (actually, 1" thick might - who knows.)
Zimmy, Mar 29 2006
  

       I once saw a house with artificial, decorative storm shutters, boarded over against a coming tornado. I laughed.
Voice, Jun 17 2008
  
      
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