Facts About Wind Damage
There is a common misconception that by shielding windows and doors with hard coverings such as storm panels, plywood or other barriers that those openings are secure. WRONG! The real objective is to prevent wind pressure from entering the structure. Preserving the openings will work to prevent pressurizing the structure and potentially lifting the roof off. Here is how this works:
As hurricane force winds strike the side of a building and are redirected over the roof, the wind speed can accelerate by as much as 30% going over the top. This vacuum puts a tremendous upward strain on the roof, much like the lift of an airplane wing. Any sudden positive pressure change created by a window or door blowing in will force the roof to yield to this pressure and fly off, creating the maximum breach of safety for the inhabitants and the ultimate property damage. With the primary structural component of a building gone, the building is declared a total loss and must be rebuilt from the ground up.
Why is our geotextile fabric better?
Other commercial geo textile fabrics use grommets to attached to openings. A grommet mounted screen is actually a much weaker system as the grommet tears into the fabric. Once the fabric is torn, it is significantly weakened. Grommets are also static anchor points and do not flex. This explains why many screen manufacturers only test large opening hurricane screens. Its is a fact that smaller screens may not pass the impact tests. Hard to believe? "Hurricane Screens actually get stronger from an impact standpoint as they get larger". This is just the opposite of a metal accordion system.
Our flexible fabric membrane installed across the opening outside each window or door actually catches and abates the major force of the wind, allowing only about 3% of the wind to penetrate the fabric. In other words, with a 100 MPH wind hitting the fabric dead on, the wind force between the fabric barrier and the opening is a mere 3 MPH, not enough to create anywhere near the sudden pressure change required to lift the roof. Even in the event of a hit by debris and possible glass breakage, which can happen even with hard coverings, there would still be no major pressure change from the outside to the inside that could cause the demise of the roof and structure.
Unlike hard coverings such as metal or plastic storm panels or plywood coverings which often are pulled off and turned into missiles themselves, the fabric wind abatement system is normally installed as one piece per opening, is very light and almost impossible to dislodge once deployed properly.
Huge areas may be protected by the one-piece fabric wind abatement system such as large storefronts, lanais and covered sidewalks, and since the system is translucent, while it is deployed business can remain fully open with all the benefits of natural light until right up to the storm.
Fabric hurricane protection screens are by far the superior choice for storm protection.
The wind test is higher than any other material, impact tests with very little or no damage to the Fabric Screen System and when the fabric panels get torn or punctured they can simply be patched using a patch kit. All other forms of protection need to be replaced when damaged. The first areas of storm screen degradation occur along the sewn hem of the screen which can easily be combated with a U.V. protector—but this must bond to the material. This is the main reason our hurricane storm protection system is less costly than other comparable storm fabric systems.