Use Hurricane-Resistant Entry Doors To Keep Your House Safer
Posted on: 12 October 2022
Hurricane season has once again descended upon the world. Each year seems to bring more and stronger storms. If you live in a hurricane-prone area, especially on the coast, that means you need to do what you can to make your house more hurricane resistant. Nothing can ever be truly hurricane-proof, but you can definitely make it hurricane-resistant. When installing things to make your home safer, the higher the impact or strength rating, the more resistant your house will be. One of the things that you can add to your house to help is a hurricane-resistant entry door.
WBD and HVHZ
WBD stands for windborne debris regions. HVHZ stands for high-velocity hurricane zone. These areas are designed to mark certain regions in hurricane-prone areas. A hurricane-prone area is defined as an area that is particularly vulnerable to hurricanes and where the wind can be 115 MPH or higher. In general, this is along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts.
Within those areas, there are WBD zones and HVHZ places. HVHZ is specifically a Florida code defined in the state's building codes with winds higher than 140 MPH. The entry doors for that area undergo more rigorous testing than the entry doors for WBD zones. A WBD is defined as an area within one mile of an oceanic coastline where the wind speeds reach at least 130 MPH. WBDs run primarily from Texas to Virginia, but there are also areas in the Northeast, including Staten Island.
Testing
Hurricane- and impact-resistant doors go through all kinds of testing to ensure that they meet the WBD and HVHZ requirements. One of these tests is a water infiltration test. Hurricanes generate a lot of water through rain, storm surges, and flooding. Water infiltration tests check how long it takes the water to get through the door and into the house. Impact tests are another test that these entry doors go through. Impact tests examine how much force the doors can take. This is tested by shooting 2x4s at the door in several places at a high wind speed.
If you live in a hurricane-prone area, you want to keep your home and family as safe as possible. One way to do that is to add as many hurricane-resistant features as possible. One way to do that is to look for hurricane-resistant or impact-resistant entry doors.
Contact a local door company, such as Shank Door, to learn more.
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