There are many benefits for investing in hurricane protection for your home. Here are just a few.

1. Increases home value

There are those who move to South Florida, with a fear of encountering a hurricane. (Much like Floridians moving to Kansas and expecting to find twisters circulating their neighborhood). They consider hurricane protection (especially rollshutters or accordions) as an extra measure of comfort. This would most certainly give your home the advantage in selling in already difficult market.

2. Adds security to your establishment

Pilfering is often common when a tragedy strikes an area. Hurricane Andrew and Hurricane Katrina are prime examples. Our shutters are equipped with locks that will protect your home when the electricity is down. This is a very important measure, especially if the owners are forced to evacuate.

3. Lowers home insurance rates

Most insurance companies will decrease your insurance premiums if your home is fully protected with shutters. This requires that the installation include the necessary permits and the engineering. Some have testified that in the course of five years, the savings earned paid for their hurricane shutters.

4. Saves time in preparation and removal

Hurricane shutters take only minutes to open and close. This allows homeowners to protect their homes and use any additional time for shopping, assisting other neighbors and family members, or evacuating to a safe zone. When the hurricane warning has cleared, then your home is back to normal. There is no inconvenience of having to drill, patch, and store ply board. Anyone living in South Florida knows the inconvenience of having several hurricane warnings in the course of a season.

5. Peace of mind.

There is much stress involved when hurricane warnings are announced. Having the proper protection on your home gives peace of mind to the homeowner. Not only is it easy to protect your windows, but they also decrease the wind pressure that your openings are going to experience.

There are two things that need to be considered for the condo or town home owner, when it comes to protected the patio with hurricane shutters.

1) What type of hurricane shutter should I use to protect my patio?

We recommend either the roll-down shutters or the accordion shutters. Roll-down shutters are easier to manipulate and they are a lot easier to install. Reason being is that patio floors are not always level. Roll down shutters are installed above the patio opening and are not affected by the slope of the patio floor. Accordions however, will have to be installed parallel to the slope of the wall. This can be especially difficult if there is no wall above the patio opening and it has to be mounted to the ceiling.

2) Should I protect the entire patio or just the doors leading out to the patio?

Although the cost is higher, protecting the patio with hurricane shutters will protect debris and heavy rains from damaging your patio furniture and patio flooring. It will also provide you with a secured area to store outdoor plants and equipment. If that is not a concern for you, than it would be more affordable to protect the patio door (especially a sliding glass door) with either storm panels, accordion shutters, or roll-down shutters.

One of the more difficult windows that we have come across is what is termed a bay window. Bay windows are normally located in the front of the house and has three extruded sides. Installing a hurricane shutter can be a concern for homeowners, because they want to have the window protected, but still enjoy the view throughout the year. So what is a home owner to do?

Most of the time, hurricane shutter installers will not touch these type of windows. It is far to difficult and there are always obstacles with the manner in which the bay window was constructed. However, there is a way to install accordion shutters on a bay window and pass the city inspection.

House Upon Rock Construction is able to provide hurricane protection for bay windows, while still enabling the home owner to enjoy the view throughout the year. How we do this is by custom molding the header and footer to your bay window and install the accordion shutters as one window, instead of three.