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There’s no doubt that Florida faces some of the nastiest weather throughout the hurricane season. As a homeowner, ensuring you’re doing everything within reason to protect your home from adverse weather conditions is vital. One thing that you may want to consider is investing in impact doors.
What Are Impact Doors?
Known as impact-rated or hurricane doors, impact doors are exterior doors specifically designed to withstand hurricane-force winds. Each impact door has passed the rigorous high-velocity hurricane zone (HVHZ) test. With Florida experiencing a plethora of category 4 hurricanes over recent decades, with wind gusts up to 156 miles per hour lasting for over 15 minutes, there’s no doubt that these doors must be strong.
Impact doors are constructed of impact-resistant materials like fiberglass and aluminum. One important notation about impact doors is that they can have specialized impact window glass that helps to prevent shattering from impacts. Standard glass and even tempered glass can easily be damaged when impact occurs during a hurricane.
Impact window glass is specifically designed out of various layers to ensure its resistance. Typically, two sheets of glass are on the exterior, and an internal polymer is on the innermost layer. All these sheets are pressed and laminated together into one impact-resistant sheet of glass. Another fact to note about impact glass is that it can fracture under overly intense impact conditions. However, it will never break apart because its inner polymer layer holds the entire structure together.
Are Impact Doors a Building Requirement?
The Florida Building Code, or FBC for short, outlines specific requirements all Florida homes must implement to be up-to-code within the state. The FBC outlines particular areas where homes must have impact doors, such as near the coastline and in the southern part of the state. These codes are in place to help protect the safety of residents and their homes alike.
The Benefits of Installing Impact Doors on Your Home
If you live in the Florida region, impact doors are something you should consider when building a new home or replacing your existing exterior doors. There are many incredible benefits that they can provide you with, including all of the following that we’re going to discuss below.
Hurricane Protection
With Florida experiencing over 24 category 4 hurricanes in the last couple of decades, there’s no doubt that there will be more. As a homeowner, investing in impact doors is a great way to protect your home against hurricane-force winds and flying debris. Doors can be one of the more vulnerable parts of a home, and it only makes sense to do your best to help make them as strong and impact-resistant as possible.
Lower Homeowner’s Insurance Premium
Florida insurance companies know that hurricanes can have a very significant impact on homes. From ripping off siding to shattered doors and allowing flood waters to enter, there are many things that your insurance provider may be stuck covering in the event of a hurricane passing through your area. For this reason, many insurance providers will reward homeowners with a reduced premium rate when they invest in items that better protect their homes, like impact doors.
Extremely Convenient
Another advantage of adding impact doors to your home is that they’re super convenient. Instead of boarding up your home before a major hurricane arrives, you can spend your time moving your family to a safe location. Once impact doors are installed in your home, you don’t need to do anything else for them to work properly. This can be exceedingly great when you’re out of town when a storm wreaks havoc on your home.
Enhance Home Value
As insurance companies know the tremendous benefits of impact doors, so do home buyers. Most home buyers will pay more for a home with impact doors than one without. That means you can get a higher resale value for your home if you sell it at any point.
Boost Curb Appeal
Impact doors look just like standard exterior doors and come in a variety of styles, designs, and colors. You can get them with windows to allow natural light into your home or opt for no windows. Either way, impact doors are a great way to enhance your home’s overall curb appeal.
Added Safety From Theft
Impact doors are much stronger than traditional doors. Their glass inserts are constructed to prevent any breaking. This means thieves will find breaking through any glass panels on your door impossible. This dramatically reduces their risk of getting into your home and increases your family’s safety.
Great Insulating Feature
With your exterior doors being one the most common areas where outdoor air can seep into your home, it only makes sense to invest in insulated doors that can reduce heat transfer. Impact doors are made with insulated cores and windows to prevent heat from entering your home in the summer and out of your home in the winter. This can go a long way in lowering your utility bills throughout the year, as your home will stay at a more comfortable temperature.
Excellent Noise Control
Due to their design and insulation, impact doors tend to offer a great barrier to outside noises. Whether it’s a motorcycle going by or a nasty rainstorm, impact doors have minimal sound transfer. This can be great for creating a quiet and comfortable environment for your family to relax in.
UV-Resistance
While windows are great for letting in natural light, UV rays can damage your home and quickly fade your carpet and furniture over time. Fortunately, impact doors are well-known to have UV-resistant glass, some even blocking up to 99% of the sun’s UV rays. Finally, you can enjoy all the natural lighting that the sun offers without its harmful UV effects on the surfaces throughout your home.
Are There Any Drawbacks?
It’s always advisable to look at the benefits and drawbacks of any product before spending your hard-earned money on it. When it comes to impact doors, one of their most notable drawbacks is their price tag. They’re going to be more expensive than your standard exterior home door. They can also be heavier and require more robust hardware to install in your openings.
After learning more about impact doors, it becomes clear that their benefits outweigh any notable drawbacks. When protecting your home from hurricanes and other potential problems, impact doors are the way to go. It’s even been estimated that for every dollar you invest in protecting your home from storm damage, you save yourself from paying four dollars for damage control after the storm.
Reliable Impact Door Service
Sunset View Windows and Doors is the expert to turn to for impact door services for the Melbourne, FL, region. We can even help with all your entry door, sliding glass door, french door, and window needs. Simply call our friendly staff today to book your next door service consultation.
