Why boarding up your windows is essential during a hurricane.
Hurricanes are some of the most dangerous and most damaging weather events in the US. Some hurricanes such as Harvey and Katrina can cause up to $125 billion in damage. With that, it’s essential to protect you and your home.
But how do you protect from 100mph winds? While you might not protect everything, you can start with your windows.
Ideally, you’d want to have hurricane-rated windows installed. They can come in various sizes, quality, and energy-efficient options. However, that can be a costly endeavor. You might not have the budget for those, but that’s fine. Another option is boarding up your windows in preparation for a hurricane.
Boarding up your windows is one of the most important and effective ways to protect your home from damage in a hurricane. By boarding up your windows, you can help keep the wind and rain out, as well as debris. Before hurricane landfall, it’s essential to do this so you’re not scrambling at the last minute.
When should you board up your windows?
The best time to board up your windows is before a hurricane watch or warning is issued. This gives you enough time to prepare your home and make sure everything is ready.
How long it takes for your hurricane preparations depends on how many windows you have, how much help you have, and the materials on hand. We’ll discuss the materials later in this post.
You’ll want to ensure you have several hours and a few extra hands to help because posting up the boards is not a quick and easy task. From our experience, it usually takes around 20-30 minutes for each window, but that depends on whether you have pre-cut wood or not.
You need some materials, but act fast!
If you live in a hurricane-prone area such as Corpus Christi, TX, you should have all of the materials on-hand before hurricane warnings are issued. Chances are, by the time the notices are given, the local hardware stores won’t have the materials in stock. Everyone else in your area is probably thinking the same thing, so it’s best to have the materials stored away, so you always have them ready.
Take an inventory of how many windows you have and get accurate measurements of each.
You’ll need the following materials to board up your windows properly:
- Plywood. Be sure to measure your windows thoroughly so you have enough solid plywood pieces to cover all of your windows.
- Washers. The lag screws will go through these. They prevent the boards from pulling through the lag screws in the high winds.
- Lag screws. With the heavy winds, you’re going to want heavy-duty lag screws to ensure they hold up to the wind gusts.
In addition to the listed materials, you’ll also need some tools on hand.
- Circular saw. You’ll need to cut the pieces of plywood to the sizes of your windows.
- Power drill. While you can mount the boards by hand, a power drill helps drive the lag screws.
- Level. This isn’t completely necessary as you’re not going for perfection but instead making sure all of the glass is completely covered.
- Drill bits. You’ll need these to drill the pilot holes for the lag screws.
How to board up your windows.
With a little bit of time and effort, you can board up your windows on your own. If you’re not up to the task, don’t worry, there are plenty of people that will gladly board them up for a small fee; however, if you have a little bit of help, you can do the job on your own.
As we mentioned, you need to measure out each window. It doesn’t matter if it’s a picture window, casement window, or a single hung window; measure out the width and height of the window. Once you have those dimensions, add 2″ to each dimension. That will be how big of a board you need to cut.
Cut the plywood to size you measured out using the circular saw. Don’t forget to include those two additional inches, as that is what you’ll drive the lag screws into.
With some help, have someone hold the piece of plywood up to the window. If you have a level on hand, make sure the wood is level; however, if you don’t, make sure that all of the glass is covered. While the wood is covering the window, use the drill to create pilot holes for where the lag screws will go. This will allow the lag screws to enter through the plywood and into the framing of your home in a straight manner, and it also prevents splitting wood. It’s essential to drill these holes into the structure around the window and not the window frame itself.
Once you have the pilot holes drilled, put a washer on a lag screw and drive it into the hole you just created. Do that for all of the holes you drilled. Generally, for a standard 3′ by 5′ (aka, the 3050) window, you’ll need around eight lag screws evenly spaced around the window.
Are your windows ready for the next hurricane?
Hurricane windows boarding is one of the most important things that you can do to prepare for a storm. After all, if your windows break during a hurricane, it could be disastrous for your home and family.
If impact-resistant windows aren’t in the budget, at the very least, you can still prepare your home and minimize damage.