Survey About Hurricane Protection

[SAG]

Dear Participants:

We are a group of students at the University of North Texas writing to request your participation in our survey for hurricane protection products. The enclosed survey link is formatted using check boxes in attempt to make it user friendly and less time consuming to complete. We are especially interested in consumer perception and awareness of hurricane protection products offered in the market. We estimate this survey will take 3-8 minutes.

We thank you for your assistance in helping us in this study.

Here is the survey link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5PBLJT7

[rjgator]

Glad to see someone taking a survey like this. What needs to be made known is the major flaw with impact resistant windows and doors. Even the most stringent testing for ground level large missile impact only requires one "missile" to not penetrate the glass. Problem is the theory is great as the laminate prevents the layers of glass from falling out of the frame but what about the second impact? If you have seen the deflection (almost 6+ inches in the maximum allowable openings) from the initial impact you can imagine any storm creating windborne debris of such magnitude will not just throw one coconut your way. I have tested them myself and found that after the initial breakage there are several issues. One is the basic shrinkage caused by the dimple left behind and the initial and subsequent deflection events. upon the second impact the dimples and deflection increases and you can actually push larger pieces of glass right out of the frames due to the shrinkage of the pane and the amount of overlap of the glass into the frame shrinks on all sides and is the pane is damaged along the L side it is even worse now take that time 3200 lbs (100 PSF * 32 SF just caused by the wind alone) and you have an elephant sitting and bouncing on a broken pane of glass deflecting +/- 6" with the pos and neg pressures. The math shows that the glass will fall right out of the frame every time. Mind you last I checked the testing for design pressure, water infiltration, and impact resistance are preformed separate and not on the window after the impacts occur. The second issue is small missiles impacting the window after a large impact tear the laminate apart and cause a hole to form and therefore loss of the building envelope. Where would we rather be in the next Hurricane Andrew standing behind a opening protected with steel panels or other rigid protection that do not even get deformed upon impact (And are actually stronger than the 5/8" plywood a lot of 2nd floors are still constructed out of) or a shattered picture impact resistant window deflecting in and out 12" with every gust waiting till the next concrete roof tile of the 2500 on your neighbors roof that will become airborne eventually. The public has been misinformed and in a major storm there is a potential disaster in the making. I would be interested in your findings and as a large homebuilder I try my best to educate those I can.

[vbhoutex]

If I read your post right you said the testing for different things is done on different panels? That is outright deceptive in my book if that is the case. They should be testing "real situations" ie already impacted panels, etc. and then telling us how "safe" they are.

[Jinkers]

I took it

[MGC]

I bet a sheet of plywood is cheaper.....MGC