My wife is freaking out because I haven’t put plywood over our windows. Our house is fairly well sheltered between trees, fences, and neighboring buildings, and I’m not very good at attaching things to other things, so I didn’t bother. Are you?
I have friend with a brother in St Croix, she posted a picture of his house boarded up before he left it (to apparently take cover in some kind of concrete cave).
If you have the ability to get to a hardware store and back with the plywood, if they still have plywood, and still have time to do this safely (btw, plywood is heavy), I’d still make a go of it if you think you’re going to get any kind of nasty weather where you are.
Some plywood and a couple of long screws right into the house are going to be better than nothing. As long as it’s not masonry, stay within an inch of the window and you should hit wood in most spots. You’re just trying to keep crap from hitting the window and breaking it.
If not, and I don’t blame you, at least don’t stare out the windows when the trees look like they’re about to snap.
As Joey said, you are trying to prevent your windows breaking from flying debris. If one window breaks the sudden increase in pressure from the wind can cause catastrophic damage to rest of the structure.
Where in Florida are you located? If the local hardware store is out of plywood, and you think you need to protect the windows, buy some long wood screws and attach the planks from your fence to the house. This is assuming that your fence is made up of large planks and not chain link.
Good luck.
Dude, board your windows! And stay safe.
If he can’t find plywood, would taping the windows offer any help at all?
RNATB all those things that you list as protecting your house are the things that the hurricane wind is going to turn into projectiles that break your windows. Board your windows up if you can.
My folks have hurricane shutters. People without them have boarded their windows. Trees, fences, and neighboring buildings become projectiles in a storm like this.
I agree with your wife.
My wife is from the Dominican Republic and a veteran of hurricanes; she was at ground zero for David in 1979. She says that the key is handling sudden changes of pressure. The house in which she grew up has strong shutters with flats that can be canted open to both shield windows and relieve pressure.
The “well sheltered” to me just sounds like saying your house is in the middle of a bunch of things that can become airborne easily.
I get that you’re not a DIYer or natural born handyman, but this would be a time to learn. And in all fairness, it’s not making a mortise-and-tenon joint or fluxxing a joint before brazing. It’s putting wood sheets up. It might sound daunting, but it’s not conceptually tough.
In - or indeed anywhere near - a hurricane, the definition of “well sheltered” tends to change.
The advice about taping windows was changed in the 1980s. The current advice according to the National Hurricane Center and according to the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes is NOT to tape your windows.
Apparently when a taped window breaks, the glass flies in larger shards and causes more damage to property and bodily injury.
Hurricane experts: Stop taping windows for storms
7 stupid things we do during a hurricane that can get us killed
I used to own a condo in Miami Beach. I no longer do.
Seriously, cover up if you possibly can.
And when this is all over, go get permanent metal storm shutters installed. This isn’t the first hurricane and it won’t be the last. I don’t see how people live without them.
Good luck to you.
IIRC, you are in the Orlando area. If you aren’t in a flood zone, your homeowner’s insurance policy will probably cover any damage that may occur (less your deductible). Make sure you know your coverage.
I’ve lived through Eloise ( a minor storm in the 70’s); Eloise passed directly over us. We kids had to hold down the roof while the adults attached it.
I’ve lived through Ivan----thinking all along, “are those trees gonna fall in this relentless wind and rain?” It wasn’t a few seconds of wind. It was hours upon hours of wondering if those trees would fall.
If you don’t have the skill set to board your windows, you probably aren’t going to acquire it in time to make a difference. Don’t worry. You can’t plan for every contingency.
My guess, is that there will be a lot of damage in Orlando if the current forecast is correct. The nation will see much destruction on network TV. But Orlando, will be mostly whole. We won’t see that the vast majority of Orlando made it through intact. We will be presented with destruction.
You are probably covered via your insurance. Good luck!
Hurricane Andrew survivor here, now celebrating 25 years by waiting for Irma. All the advice above is cogent. You’ll have a couple of hours tomorrow morning, use it if you can get anything to cover your windows. You’re not trying to block the wind, but to stop penetration by flying debris. So plywood, or fence planking, or sheets of corrugated metal. Anything! Story – the afternoon before Andrew I took the sheet metal roof off my screen patio, then used a ram-set (nail gun that uses gunpowder cartridges) to nail them to my CBS house, covering most of the windows. Short reveal, they saved my house. So do what you can, you’re likely to see Cat 3 winds. Afterward, spend the money for a permanent solution.
Paraphrasing the words from an official in Texas before Hurricane Harvey hit:
“If you’re not going to listen to the experts, take a Sharpie and write your name and social security number on your arm so we can identify you later.”
Hurricane Irma is going to be worse. Board up your windows now. And use the Sharpie. Please. We all want to have you make it through alive, and well.
We lived through the 1996 Typhoon Tour on Saipan. We were spared the worst (Guam got pounded) but what I learned is that plywood helps, but if you live in an area frequently hit by tropical cyclones (whatever you call them) putting up metal hurricane shutters was the best possible thing you can do to protect your house. If we ever do relocate to a storm target, I will insist we will protect our house, but evacuate.
Did you mean to be an asshole? Really? The OP is probably still dealing with the storm. It’s coming my way. SSN? really? Where are you that you can be so coy? Minnesota?
RNATB, I’m guessing you’re through the worst of it. We hope you are OK.
RNATB, you’re probably fine. It doesn’t seem like the storm was terrible for Orlando. I want you to be fine. Please let us know that you are OK.
Wish me luck as the storm approaches.
Many years ago, I was renting an apartment right on the beach, on the southern shore of Long Island. My apartment actually faced the adjacent building. A hurricane was coming, and most people covered their windows with plywood. But one apartment, in the adjacent building, had a tiny “X” of masking tape in the middle of each window… like a little amulet to scare away the wind. It actually worked. there were no broken windows in either building.
it could’ve been bad . but i made it
We are fine, thank you! Didn’t even lose power. Our fence was blown down but it’s a plastic one that snaps back together, so that was no big deal. We also lost some tree branches, which are already piled on the curb.
I typed the OP on my phone and I was a bit facetious about why we didn’t board up. We have a shed attached to the side of the house that has pre-cut plywood in it, but we’ve been locked out of it for a while. I couldn’t just jimmy the door because it’s only held shut by a deadbolt and I didn’t want it flapping open in the storm. I got a locksmith to come and open it, but when we got in we discovered all the pre-cut sections had rotted away.
By then it was too late to board - every hardware store for miles sold out of plywood at the beginning of the week.
Is one supposed to have the windows open a bit to equalize pressure inside and outside the house?