Hurricane Protection

Accordion shutters, in my opinion, are one of the best designs of protection on the market. Not only are they extremely easy to deploy but they are both cost effective and non-obstrusive to your home cosmetically. You'll notice, especially in Florida, that accordion shutters are very popular in the coastal areas. Typically one out of three homes on the barrier islands will already have accordion shutters installed.



The accordion shutter design is rather straight forward. It's a combination of vertical aluminum panels linked together with knuckles on each side. They physically slide inside each other so the likelyhood of them ever coming apart is very slim. On the top and bottom of each panel link there are screws and high impact plastic attachments which, when in place, slide from side to side within the horizontal top and bottom tracks. Accordion shutters have been around for decades simply because they are a reliable and long lasting hurricane protection product. There are no mechanical parts other than sliding hardware that can malfunction so you really do get your moneys worth when you purchase accordion shutters. No maintenance nightmares that can sometimes occur with the other styles of hurricane shutters.

As great as the general design is, there are quite a few manufactures out there who are trying to cut corners to allow for better pricing. Make sure you compare the thickness ("mil") of the aluminum in the accordion panels as well as the top and bottom tracks. More times than others you can ask for an upgrade to a heavy duty style track which will offer more strength. After all, with accordion shutters all of the pressure goes straight onto the tracks themselves. You can also request that your installer uses additional anchors/tapcons in the tracks to provide even more strength.