Do All Hurricane Shutters Offer the Same Protection?

There are many aspects to consider when choosing new hurricane shutters – which style matches your home? Which color do you prefer? How much manual labor is involved with using them? Of course, all of these concerns are secondary to ensuring that the shutters provide the level of protection necessary to keep your home safe during a hurricane.

Level of Protection that Hurricane Shutters Provide
The state of Florida has established standards that hurricane shutters must meet to be considered effective for use during a storm. Areas especially prone to hurricanes, like Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, are called High Velocity Hurricane Zones (HVHZ) and have even more stringent standards.
Two of those standards are impact testing and cyclic pressure testing. Impact testing involves propelling 2X4 beams that are different lengths and weights against the shutters at different speeds. If the shutters can withstand a nine-pound 2X4 hitting it at 34 miles per hour without the glass behind it breaking, then it meets the strict Miami-Dade HVHZ impact testing standard.

The second standard, cyclic pressure testing, ensures that the shutters maintain a proper pressure level in your home during a hurricane. If the pressure level is off, that can cause the roof to come off or the walls to buckle, which would compromise both your home as well as the safety of anyone in the home during the storm. The pressure test involves subjecting the shutters to thousands of cycles of positive and negative pressure over a period of approximately four hours.

After these tests are passed, a shutter receives a certificate that it is approved for use in HVHZ areas. All shutters that are approved should have a label on them confirming their approval. At CitiQuiet, all of our hurricane shutters, regardless of style, color, or model meet the Miami-Dade HVHZ standards, so you can feel complete confidence when purchasing your shutters from us.

Proper Installation and Maintenance are Essential
Buying HVHZ-approved shutters is an important first step toward protecting your home during a hurricane. The next step is having a qualified installer put them in for you. This is not a DIY project. Even the best shutters won’t protect your home if they are not installed properly. Next, your local building inspector should come out and double-check to ensure that the installation meets the local building code. At CitiQuiet, we make this process easy for you – we take care of all permitting, installation, working with building inspectors, and anything else that is needed as part of the hurricane-shutter purchase and installation process. You can relax by the pool while our experienced professionals sweat the details.

Are you thinking about purchasing new hurricane shutters for your home? Stop by one of our showrooms or call us at 561-241-9463 today.

CitiQuiet Windows and Doors
Since 2012, CitiQuiet Windows and Doors has been engineering and installing high-quality impact windows, doors, and shutters for residential and commercial buildings throughout Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade Counties.

Based in Boca Raton, CitiQuiet Windows and Doors offers a turnkey service to clients including initial design, engineering, and permitting, installation and finish work. From elegant French doors to hurricane impact-resistant windows and sliding glass doors, CitiQuiet Windows and Doors has your solution.
At CitiQuiet Windows and Doors, we carry only the highest-quality products from the nation’s top manufacturers – and we stand behind everything we sell. For a free estimate, contact CitiQuiet Windows and Doors at 561-241-9463, visit us at citiquiethurricanewindows.com, or stop by the showroom today at 910 Clint Moore Road, Boca Raton, FL 33487.

With an A+ rating from Better Business Bureau (BBB), CitiQuiet Windows and Doors consistently strives to exceed customer expectations.