Hurricane Panels
Hurricane panels are by far the most cost effective form of hurricane protection. While hurricane panels are cheap, they do require more work to install when a storm is approaching or you are leaving town. Hurricane panels are an excellent way of protecting your home from high winds and impacts, but, once one of your hurricane panels receives an impact they will typically need to be replaced. This is a slight hassle but usually won't cost you very much out of pocket simply because the hurricane panel material costs aren't very high. Most of the money you'll spend on hurricane panels upfront cover the labor for installation of the mounting anchors or track. These anchors generally remain installed and are designed to be very unobtrusive to your homes exterior appearance. Be sure to discuss the different attachment methods for hurricane panels with your installation contractor.
While hurricane panels may seem very straight forward there are still quite a few options involved. Hurricane panels come in a few different types of materials such as clear lexan, aluminum, and galvanized steel. There are also different thickness (or mil) hurricane panels available, obviously the thicker panels are stronger but also have more weight to them. The other options to consider are the anchors or attachment method; permanent tapcon style (sometimes referred to as direct mount or panel mates) or top and bottom tracks. Obviously the track style is slightly more cosmetically obtrusive but some argue it is much stronger. All of these options for your hurricane panels should be discussed ahead of time as you don't want to end up purchasing your hurricane panels twice or changing attachment methods.
While hurricane panels may seem very straight forward there are still quite a few options involved. Hurricane panels come in a few different types of materials such as clear lexan, aluminum, and galvanized steel. There are also different thickness (or mil) hurricane panels available, obviously the thicker panels are stronger but also have more weight to them. The other options to consider are the anchors or attachment method; permanent tapcon style (sometimes referred to as direct mount or panel mates) or top and bottom tracks. Obviously the track style is slightly more cosmetically obtrusive but some argue it is much stronger. All of these options for your hurricane panels should be discussed ahead of time as you don't want to end up purchasing your hurricane panels twice or changing attachment methods.