Plywood for Hurricane protection?

[closer2fine]

Has anyone contracted a service to cover windows and doors prior to hurricanes? If so, what kind of costs are we looking at? And how reliable are they? (do they show up?)

Any recommendations?

[Smiling JOe]

Check out the Wayne Dalton Hurricane Fabric, designed to cover your windows and doors. Much easier to install, than plywood, especially for anything above ground level. I'm sure that the construction guys might be willing to jump on the business of covering windows pre-hurricane, but from what I've seen, if the storm quickly approaches, people try to protect their own place first, putting all else on hold, so think about that. People are also trying to conserve gas for the escape, or for sticking around, so very few are burning gas in the day or two prior. The easier you can make it for someone else to do, the more likely it is that they will do it.

[chrisv]

When we bought our place in 2002, I had Freeport Lumber drop off 30 sheets of 5/8" plywood. In a totally out of character move, I measured our windows and doors and pre-cut it all. Two years later I installed it for Ivan, and then the next year for Dennis and Katrina. Used to store it in a rental space until recently, now it's in our garage. Takes me about two hours to install, probably the same to take down. You should have seen me boarding up our place in Savannah when Floyd was bearing down on us in 1999.

So if you are depending on someone else, get it measured and pre-cut now, let them know where you are storing it, and find out when they will install. I prefer to DIY.

[Smiling JOe]

Remember to label the precut boards, noting which end is up. Also label doors and windows so that it is a no-brainer for someone having to install them.