If your home has an attached garage, think of it as a welcome mat for destruction if you don’t have a properly reinforced garage door installed when a hurricane rolls in.

When 100 MPH winds hit a non-reinforced garage door, the door can buckle, fail, and be pulled off its hinges, allowing pressure to build up inside the house until it blows apart.

Property damage analysis from past hurricanes shows that the garage door is often the first thing to go in a storm. The good news is that the largest moving part on your home can be one of the easiest to reinforce.

Replace your garage door with a storm-rated model approved by your local building code authority. For garage doors, that means braced steel construction with heavy-duty rollers, hinges, and tracks, and additional track-attachment points.

Two kinds of reinforced garage doors are available. An “add-on” system requires homeowners to install floor to ceiling posts behind the garage door to reinforce it before the storm hits, and then remove them again afterwards to resume normal operation.

Clopay WindCode^® garage doors are Storm-Ready^®, meaning there is no need to add posts or additional reinforcement to secure the door. Reinforcement is built into the structure of the door and is engaged by simply locking it, a timesaving convenience in the event of a sudden evacuation notice.

This type of door is particularly beneficial to vacation home and rental property owners because they have peace of mind knowing that the garage door is secure as long as it’s locked.

Reinforced garage doors are available in many different styles including traditional, carriage house, and contemporary designs.

Impact-rated windows are also approved for use on garage doors in many areas.

Check with your local garage door dealer to find the right door to protect your home. Ask your insurance agent about potential homeowner discounts that may be available when you upgrade your garage door.

Clopay has 33 Miami-Dade County garage door product approvals, 60 TDI (Texas) approvals, and over 400 Florida product approvals.

Learn more about Clopay WindCode garage doors with built-in reinforcement.

Find out about other products to protect your home against hurricane damage.