Huge Decision - Input Needed Please

[dizzyfish]

Here goes...

We have quotes now (and planning to have to work done in the next month to month and a half) through My Safe Florida Home to reinforce our house and are actually doing better than originally thought. We need the gable end vents covered, front door and back door shuttered and the windows/shutters.

We are really leaning towards the high impact windows as opposed to the shutters. Lived in a cave in 2004 - really, really hated it!!!

*note - we have an old house and really need new windows so we could get new "so-so" windows and shutters or the high impact. We can't afford both high impact and shutters.

What we have been quoted on is the high impact low E windows. (we requested the low E on purpose - after all - it is Florida )

Question is: are the high impact windows really worth it? Will they stand up to a TS or a cat 1 or 2?

I need input and thoughts please.

Thanks for your time and help!

If you have any questions please ask! I will check back throughout the weekend.

*edit - from hubby
The windows quoted are silver star by Anderson Windows

[Frank P]

Not sure what you mean by high impact... do these windows have the laminate material in between the two sheets of glass??

I have Gorrell armor plus windows... typical laminate type high impact windows...
Two of the six of my southern facing windows leak at the bottom sill, even below a covered 10 foot porch, when the winds are blowing put of the south above 60 mph.. that is why I have installed roll down shutters in the front of my house, to stop the wind driven rain, and also prevent them from getting a direct hit from my Oak limbs in the front yard..... I plan on duct taping the remainder of my windows that do not have roll down shutters at the sealing joints during a hurricane, just to help prevent them from leaking, it is really hard to prevent any window that opens from leaking when it is being direclty blasted by 100+ mph wind driven rain ... regardless, if they are hit with a projectile during a storm they might crack or shatter, but the are NOT supposed to break, that's where the laminate material comes in to play, to keep the glass bound together, cracks and all.... sorta like a car windshield.. you will still have to get them replaced after the storm, hopefully insurance will cover this... I think it was a good investiment overall, they are energy efficient and quiet.. and also add to enhancing your home security.. thieves would have a really hard time breaking them to get into your house.. buy more piece of mind as well... If they are not laminate type windows then I would expect you would need to install shutters... I plan to eventually build decorative but functioning storm shutter for all my windows, but that might take me a couple of more years.. meanwhile I feel very protected with the laminate windows..

My front doors are Anderson impact resistant glass (this door is really well built I might add) but in all likelyhood the glass might break if struck by a 75-80 mph wind driven Oak limb... thus I also put roll down shutters to protect my 6 foot wide glass front doors.. I think the manual mechanical roll down shutter for the front door was about 1800 dollars, motorized would add anothe 600 bucks... but if I lost the front door to my house it would be really ugly.. also the doors open outward so the harder the wind blows the tigher they seal... they have not leaked a drop thus far, Anderson makes great products, two of the six Gorrel windows I have in the front have had very minor leaks at the sill during a severe thunderstorm event, but none of the water actually made it to the flooring..

[Recurve]

A few things to consider:
Impact windows cost up to 3x what regular windows cost. You can get nice shutters with the money you save.
Impact windows won't be blown out, but if they get cracked by flying debris, you have to replace them.
You may not be eligible for windstorm discount if you don't have shutters, even with impact windows.

Impact windows make the most sense for areas that are very hard to shutter, IMHO. Otherwise, I think shutters are still the best protection. Spend the money on nice accordion shutters and you won't have to be in the dark for long.

[dizzyfish]

Not sure what you mean by high impact... do these windows have the laminate material in between the two sheets of glass??

I have Gorrell armor plus windows... typical laminate type high impact windows...
Two of the six of my southern facing windows leak at the bottom sill, even below a covered 10 foot porch, when the winds are blowing put of the south above 60 mph.. that is why I have installed roll down shutters in the front of my house, to stop the wind driven rain, and also prevent them from getting a direct hit from my Oak limbs in the front yard..... I plan on duct taping the remainder of my windows that do not have roll down shutters at the sealing joints during a hurricane, just to help prevent them from leaking, it is really hard to prevent any window that opens from leaking when it is being direclty blasted by 100+ mph wind driven rain ... regardless, if they are hit with a projectile during a storm they might crack or shatter, but the are NOT supposed to break, that's where the laminate material comes in to play, to keep the glass bound together, cracks and all.... sorta like a car windshield.. you will still have to get them replaced after the storm, hopefully insurance will cover this... I think it was a good investiment overall, they are energy efficient and quiet.. and also add to enhancing your home security.. thieves would have a really hard time breaking them to get into your house.. buy more piece of mind as well... If they are not laminate type windows then I would expect you would need to install shutters... I plan to eventually build decorative but functioning storm shutter for all my windows, but that might take me a couple of more years.. meanwhile I feel very protected with the laminate windows..

My front doors are Anderson impact resistant glass (this door is really well built I might add) but in all likelyhood the glass might break if struck by a 75-80 mph wind driven Oak limb... thus I also put roll down shutters to protect my 6 foot wide glass front doors.. I think the manual mechanical roll down shutter for the front door was about 1800 dollars, motorized would add anothe 600 bucks... but if I lost the front door to my house it would be really ugly.. also the doors open outward so the harder the wind blows the tigher they seal... they have not leaked a drop thus far, Anderson makes great products, two of the six Gorrel windows I have in the front have had very minor leaks at the sill during a severe thunderstorm event, but none of the water actually made it to the flooring..

Thank you for the response and yes, they are the laminate kind. Vinyl frame.

We are shuttering the front door because of the side lights. I love my door and just can't part with it. That sounds strange but it really fits the house so to speak.

We are also keeping the plylox and plywood for the windows. "Just in case"

I like your idea about duct taping the windows to prevent leakage. Have you done that before? Just wondering if the tape messes up the finish on the window?

[dizzyfish]

A few things to consider:
Impact windows cost up to 3x what regular windows cost. You can get nice shutters with the money you save.
Impact windows won't be blown out, but if they get cracked by flying debris, you have to replace them.
You may not be eligible for windstorm discount if you don't have shutters, even with impact windows.

Impact windows make the most sense for areas that are very hard to shutter, IMHO. Otherwise, I think shutters are still the best protection. Spend the money on nice accordion shutters and you won't have to be in the dark for long.

Thanks for the info. We were weighing the cost of the impact versus the shutters. We really, really need new windows the house was built in 1967 and still has the old windows except for two. Not energy efficient in the least and ugly to boot!

[Frank P]

you won't have any problems getting the duct tape off provided you don't let them stay on to long after the storm..

[DanKellFla]

Think about it this way. If a window gets damaged durring a storm, can you afford to replace it? Because, impact windows still break. They don't allow any wind or water intrusion, but you still have to replace them once they have been shattered. If it was me, I would get nice energy efficient windows and accordians. Like someone said earlier, if you have windows that are difficult to protect, those might be a likely place for the impact window.

[Dionne]

There are still carpenters around that know how to build storm shutters. Good old fashioned full dimension lumber used to build functioning shutters that secure from the inside. Consider using an affordable energy efficient double hung metal frame window and have real shutters built.

[Frank P]

Yeah Donnie, that's the approach I took with my last house.... when we found the second floor one block up the street two of the windows still had the home made storm shutters that I built still secured to the window frame.. both window we still protected and NOT even broken. now this is on the second floor of my house that is bouncing off Oak trees and other homes as it floated about 200 yards inland.. the other two windows on the second floor must have been impacted with some serious surge debris as they were completely destroyed; shutters, windows and even parts of the wall.. bottom line... Katrina's winds would have had absolutely NO affect on my shutters and my house would at worst only lost some shingles... now surge water is a much different beast..

[Dionne]

Yeah Frank, I'm aware of what happened to you. In some situations shutters mean nothing. But, I liked reading that while the windows were no longer part of the home the shutters worked just fine!! Interesting that you found them.....did you save those shutters?

[Frank P]

Yeah Donnie, I found 17 of the 30 that I built scatter all over the neighborhood.. beat up a little but still could be put back on my house... I found a complete wall with one one shutter still attached.. the east wall of my first floor laying in the middle of the street behind by house... right now I have them just kinda stack up on the side of the house .. not sure what I'm going to do with them.. but I'll make some kind of project with them... maybe a doggie deck or something... next ones I build will be with 3/4 inch wood.. I used 5/4 wood on these and they were quite heavy... at least that's the thought I have at the moment..

[Dionne]

I would suggest either cedar or cypress. They would be both decorative and functional.

[dizzyfish]

There are still carpenters around that know how to build storm shutters. Good old fashioned full dimension lumber used to build functioning shutters that secure from the inside. Consider using an affordable energy efficient double hung metal frame window and have real shutters built.

Two questions...

How do you secure shutters from the inside?

We have three double wide windows - would the shutters you speak of work for those too?

[Dionne]

The shutter does not secure from the inside of the window, but from the inside of the shutter. This is why you need double hung windows, so that you can fit the shutter with latches at the top and bottom. You need an offset reveal line where your window sits in configuration with the outside of your wall. If this doesn't exist it can be accomplished with the frame of the shutter. Numerous latches are available. Everything from a simple screen door latch (which was common on older homes) to a latch that actually pulls the shutter in tight with a spring load. Regarding the double wide windows.....how wide? You might be able to fit a hinged shutter system to accomplish the extra distance.

[dizzyfish]

The shutter does not secure from the inside of the window, but from the inside of the shutter. This is why you need double hung windows, so that you can fit the shutter with latches at the top and bottom. You need an offset reveal line where your window sits in configuration with the outside of your wall. If this doesn't exist it can be accomplished with the frame of the shutter. Numerous latches are available. Everything from a simple screen door latch (which was common on older homes) to a latch that actually pulls the shutter in tight with a spring load. Regarding the double wide windows.....how wide? You might be able to fit a hinged shutter system to accomplish the extra distance.

I feel like I am in over my head with this. lol
I think I undertand most of what you are saying though. The narrowest of the wide windows is 5 ft the widest is close to 6 ft. All of our windows are inset 3 - 4". The inset isn't straight in - it's at an angle if you know what I mean.

[Dionne]

Hey dizzyfish.....at 6 ft width.....that would give you two panels/shutters at 36 inches which could be hinged at 18 inches each. It would work and still look good. Your reveal/inset coming in at a slight angle isn't a problem as your latches would be centered on the hinged panels/shutters. A 36 inch shutter would require 4 latches......2 at mid span and 2 on the ends.