I need to buy hurricane shutters to retrofit a 10 year old house. Anybody with pros and cons of different types of shutters? Any recommendations? Any things to watch out for?
You'll need tsunami/earthquake shutters on the left coast! Those cost more! Are you thinking the wooden ones Euro? Like the houses in Galveston? Worked in 1900....(for some). Or the roll down metal ones....WILLIAMH has those in Miami, ask him!
I had some of those wooden ones in Galveston (Trout Ave near the Ferry landing). They were mighty depressing with the darkness. I need roll downs and likely cute little awnings to camoflage them. I have a buddy that did the roll down thing in Florida, all electric etc, $60k total bill. I'm looking for hand crank for 1/3 that.
The metal rolldown ones in Germany were called Rolladin (said ro-la-den), don't know if that's the spelling or not. They were great, I always wondered why they never sold those in the SE Coast US states. Could be a fortune if they caught on.
I would say depends in the house (# of windows, 1 level or 2+ story house) around my neighborhood some of the 2 story houses have a type of automatic shutters, but erhmm they look fragile from the distance im not sure how strong they really are and probably they are not top of the line either. What i dislike the most about this kind of shutters is that since they are automatic the frame/motor is always there and it doesnt look nice at all. On the other hand it would take almost no time for the house to be ready for a storm. We have the regular metal shutters (1 level house) and to cover 10 windows (around 50 shutters) takes 15 minutes, two persons and 2 electric screw driver. I dont think i helped at all, but again it would depend on what you are looking for...
We were so poor we kept precut plywood panels and a big box of nails on hand.......... The water was only 24" in the living room, but since I was three it was over my head! I was always a good swimmer, thankfully!
Doc, if you get the automatic ones, you can flip a switch every night and keep Ryan from climbing in your daughter's window.
OK. Got the quotes. One company did not seem very solid. The better company quoted $33,000 including 2 electric ones for big windows (manual over-ride). All roll-up type. http://www.muhler.com/hurr/hurr_rolling.htm This would be on a house on an island (Seabrook) just south of Charleston, SC. the house is 1/2 mile from the beach. Hurricanes more often hit NC, but do hit Charleston on occasion. The house is wood stud construction, built in 1994, 2100 sq ft, current value about $450k. No mortgage. Aesthetics a side; does spending ~7% of the value of the house on shutters make sense? $33K is a lot of moola. What do you think? BTW, there is no way for me to get there (6 hours each way) every time a hurricane threatens to put plywood up. Not to mention the windows are high, would be difficult to get plywood up there. So, its permanent shutters or nothing.
Sounds to me like you've already sold yourself on the idea and you are just looking for confirmation. If you can swing it for cash, go for it. For an island house I think you would gain most of the money back in resale value. I guess this is a vacation home for you? Probably worth the piece of mind when a storm is working it's way up the coast. You've got enough to worry about without having to worry if the windows are blown out on your other house and it will take you 6 hours of driving to find out. I was also thinking that the shutters might be good for security purposes for an unoccupied house but then I got to thinking that a shuttered up vacation home on a beautiful wednesday afternoon does let thieves know that nobody's home. I guess that would be your call. Have the house wired in to a security company.
After seeing what Ivan did to my mother's home in Pensacola, I'd say do it if you care about the house. Ivan was barely a Cat 3 storm, but the damage was stunning. Dale
Wouldn't it increase the house's value by at least a portion of that cost? Can you deduct part of it as a preventative/capital security measure?
Fortunately it is a gated community with actual guards, not just an electonic box. Really hard to bluff your way on the island, so break ins are really rare. Not much to steal anyway, 2 tvs and a DVD player. I guess I'll go for it unless someone can suggest a better systen than these ugly rooll down boxes.
It doesn't sound like too bad of an idea but take it from me. If it's a bad hurricane there really isn't much you can do.
Agreed. Might help in class 2,3 and peripheral 4s. Not likely to help if a 5 is within 100 miles. I guess the limiting factor would be storm surge and loosing the roof. ****I guess the real question is this: How often would good shutters prevent serious trouble? How often do people have huge damage due to window breakage as opposed to flood, storm surge or loosing the roof?**** If 95% of the houses lost are to the other mechanisms, than the shutters are a waste of money. I would think that the insurance industry would be the most likely to know the answer, or maybe FEMA. Farmer Dave, any handy stats?????
This is used by some fire stations, hospitals, airports, and schools here in Florida: http://www.hurricaneproducts.com/hurricane-screens/index.html
For that kind of money I would suggest that you buy an older Ferrari and not be home when the storm comes.
Hurricane Punch The signature drink at Pat OBrians in New Orleans. Ingredients: 1 oz White rum 1 oz Jamaican Rum Jamaican 1 oz Bacardi 151 proof rum 3 oz Orange juice with pulp 3 oz unsweetened Pineapple juice 1/2 oz Grenadine Crushed Ice Mixing instructions: Combine all ingredients, mix well (shake or stir). Pour over crushed ice in Hurricane glass. Best enjoyed through small straw. Garnish with fruit wedge if desired. Half dozen of these and you won't care about the shutters.
