Hurricane preparedness for those living inland/not in flood zones (Clearwater: HOA, second mortgage)

[lovesdogz10103]

I've lived in the northern part of the country my entire life and have recently made the plunge and purchased a home in the Fishhawk area. I've been doing some reading about hurricane impact windows and shutters but a lot of what I've been reading has been pertinent to the more coastal areas. Our house was built in 2006, and has double paned glass, but does not indicate anywhere that it is impact resistant.

I've never been in a hurricane or any extreme weather event and I admit it makes me nervous, and I'd like to feel as safe and prepared as possible. Is it worth the cost/trouble of replacing windows and doors with impact resistant ones, or getting hurricane shutters? Or is it generally not something that I should be that worried about, living as far inland as I will be?

[beach43ofus]

Its not worth it to replace the windows on a 2006 home since your current windows are functional, and do meet the 2003 Hurricane codes. I dont think I'd mess with shutters either, but maybe on any large sliding glass doors at the rear of the home might be wise. I'm assuming your garage door is the reinforced kind and wind rated at 70+ mph, but if not, that would be worth replacing with a new one that meets current codes which are likely 100+ mph.

Remove any tree limbs and trees that could fall onto your home if the HOA will allow it. Know your FEMA flood zone rating, and prepare accordingly. Read up on Hurricane preparedness and buy, and do, all the things on those lists.

[MortonR]

First of all, you’re panicking for nothing. I’m not criticizing, it’s just a typical response for someone new to the area. If your home was built in 2006 you’re in better shape than many others.

As for Windows and hurricane protection, if you’re really concerned you can have a 3M film installed that will increase their resistance to impacts, but understand they’re still windows and will break if hit by something going 125 mph. It’s nit cheap, but it’s far less obtrusive than shutters.

We’ve had storms roll through here like Irma a couple of years ago and all was well afterwards. If you want to invest in something that’s worthwhile for hurricane protection, install a standby generator system. I have a whole house unit that can run everything. It was under $10k installed, and has proven its value several times.

While the areas both of us live in have underground utilities, the transmission lines that get the electricity to us are above ground and subject to damage in storms. We’ve had storms here that did minimal damage but affected the power to the point where electricity was out for several days.

During one of the multiple storms that came through in the early 2000s, my power was out for over a day. That meant spoiled food, no AC, etc., etc., had I not had a generator. My neighbors were sweating it out and buying all the ice they could find while my family and I were inside, enjoying the AC, fresh food and cold beverages.

Had the outage lasted longer we would have been fine. I think I have enough fuel for over a week of continuous operation, if not more.

RM

[mrviking]

^^^^ 44 yrs in the Brandon area. Of all the things I would recommend needing to prepare for a hurricane. A generator would be first on my list.

[lovesdogz10103]

Not panicking, just preparing This is all really useful information and I appreciate it!

I am completely ignorant of the real risks of hurricanes, having never been through one. We are in flood zone X so I guess I'm not terribly worried about that, but the windows/doors do concern me. The home does have large sliding glass doors leading to the pool, and another large window overlooking the pool which seem like they would be important to reinforce. I've found roll down shutters which don't seem to be too terribly expensive, so maybe I should have those installed over the back.

I completely agree, a generator is definitely a top priority. I probably wasn't going to go whole house, but was thinking of a smaller generator that could power some minor appliances, like a mini-fridge, window AC unit, etc. How much fuel do you go through using a whole house generator? 10k really isn't a bad price at all.

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by lovesdogz10103

Not panicking, just preparing This is all really useful information and I appreciate it!

I am completely ignorant of the real risks of hurricanes, having never been through one. We are in flood zone X so I guess I'm not terribly worried about that, but the windows/doors do concern me. The home does have large sliding glass doors leading to the pool, and another large window overlooking the pool which seem like they would be important to reinforce. I've found roll down shutters which don't seem to be too terribly expensive, so maybe I should have those installed over the back.

I completely agree, a generator is definitely a top priority. I probably wasn't going to go whole house, but was thinking of a smaller generator that could power some minor appliances, like a mini-fridge, window AC unit, etc. How much fuel do you go through using a whole house generator? 10k really isn't a bad price at all.

For the really big storms I have clear polycarbonate panels for my windows. While they're typically bolted or screwed to the walls, I did mine more like a piece of plywood using plywood clips to anchor them inside the window opening. Light, easy to store and install, and don't make the house like a tomb when they're in place. Under $1,000 for the materials to do my whole single story 2500 SF house.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Storm-Buste...utters/3041437

I bought the 4x8 sheets and cut things up to size for my place. That covered everything but my sliders, but they're somewhat recessed under the roof so I don't bother covering them.

You can drop $500 or more on a decent sized portable generator, but I'm telling you, a whole house or even one that does a portion of the house that's a stationary standby set is money well spent, and once you need it you'll thank me. Maintaining a portable is a PITA and you'll be swapping extension cords all day long keeping stuff powered up. Not to mention the noise and hassle of where to put it while it's running. They typically suck gas, so you'll also have to have plenty of fuel on hand, too.

Since you're going to be making some major modifications to the house (pool?) when you get settled, I'm assuming you'll be getting a second mortgage or some other line of credit tied to the equity of the house. Why not use a portion of that for the generator set? We did this some years back and then later refinanced, essentially wrapping the cost into the mortgage.

Just a suggestion...

RM

[engineman]

Hurricane Irma just brushed Clearwater and stomped the Lakeland area. Hurricanes are extremely unpredictable.

[HWTechGuy]

My new windows came with kevlar hurricane screens. There are threaded studs set in the block around the perimeter of the windows and sliding doors, and the screens are held on with big wingnuts.


We have extra food and such, a second refrigerator in the garage, and a Beyond that, I have a 10K portable dual-fuel generator. Haven't gotten a transfer panel wired in yet, but I can run my refrigerators, a portable AC, lights, etc.

[mrviking]

Having gone through the last hurricane using my generator and running cords through out the house. I decided to install a trasfer switch this year. It's all about making things easier as we get older. It was a much simpler project then i first thought.

[lovesdogz10103]

Before even buying a house in Fishhawk I knew I'd be getting a generator of some variety although I'm still weighing the pros and cons of whole home vs portable.

The windows are what I'm torn over. Is it safe to say that *most* people that live inland are still using some sort of protection over their windows or have impact glass? I'm trying to decide how much of a concern this is going to be.