No one can truly control or challenge the weather, and “nature’s fury” is simply a fact of life. All the same, even if no one can prevent a hurricane from forming (such as near the Florida coast), many measures can be taken to help protect buildings and infrastructure from the power of these storms. Communities in Florida, Texas’ eastern coast, and the rest of the East Coast may make measures against seasonal hurricanes, and contractors can build highly resistant buildings to prevent their damaging effects to property and people. In particular, this may be done with construction for larger buildings such as office buildings, large hotels, and condos, and other high-rise structures. The windows and doors of any building are often a weak point, including sliding glass door systems. For this reason, high impact windows and doors may be installed in newer Florida buildings, and these high impact windows and doors may also be installed in an older building that has suffered hurricane damage. Hurricane resistant windows can prevent a loss to property and life alike, and choosing hurricane proof windows may be done by larger contractors. When is it time for high impact windows and doors, and why?
The Power of Storms
To see why high impact windows and doors are often manufactured and sold across Florida’s coast, one may first consider the storms themselves, and the power that they bring to bear. Officially, the Atlantic Ocean’s hurricane season spans June 1 through November 30 each year, and in that time, powerful hurricanes may form and strike the American coast. Just one such hurricane may whip up millions of miles of air and deposit over 2.4 trillion gallons of rain in a single day, and some hurricanes are known to spawn tornadoes as well. One example of this was Hurricane Andrew, which struck in 1992. This hurricane created some 62 tornadoes, and these tornadoes may occur a few days after the hurricane has made landfall. And throughout the 20th century, a total of 158 hurricanes struck the United States, with Florida receiving more of them than any other state (57). Texas had the second-highest total of hurricanes, at 26.
Hurricanes are known for their sheer power, and these storms have winds, flooding, storm surges, and the aforementioned tornadoes to bring to bear. It is sometimes argued that hurricanes are becoming even more numerous and powerful in the 2010s, and in 2017 alone, an astounding 10 storms in a row became hurricanes. This has not happened since 1893, over a century earlier. It is little wonder, then, that Floridan contractors are buying and installing high impact windows and doors for larger clients such as hotels and office buildings throughout the state.
Buildings Resist Hurricanes
No one can stop a hurricane from flooding an area or blasting it with powerful winds, but the buildings there may be constructed to endure these storms and stay standing afterwards. What is more, today’s contractors have building technology to ensure that not only do those buildings stay standing, but they are largely intact as well. Even if a condo or skyscraper is not knocked over during a hurricane, a lot of property damage may occur, and human life may be lost, if the windows and doors are blasted apart (this is also a common issue for tornadoes). For hurricanes in particular, winds and floods alike are the main issue, and large Floridan buildings may be designed to anticipate that.
Windows are a fine place to start. Nearly all buildings have windows in them, which may be blasted apart during a hurricane due to strong winds and wind-blown debris alike. Broken glass can damage people and property inside the building, and open window holes allow winds to further buffet everything inside. So, impact and wind-resistant glass can be installed, and large clients may hire contractors to install them professionally. These windows will have an impact-resistant glaze on them with a glazing system of +105/-130, allowing them to survive hurricane winds over 100 MPH in strength. These windows may also resist flying debris, and smaller debris with less momentum can bounce right off. Glass doors, too, can be built like this to keep a building and its occupants safe in a storm.