Added Update 4 below. See more hurricane entries here.
When you have two hurricanes in three weeks, you are bound to come across new challenges. We are preparing for Hurricane Ivan at the moment. While Charley and Frances made it “X makes the spot,” Ivan will make it an “asterisk.” (Update 3: I was wrong about the location, since Ivan whacked Pensacola instead.) My post on Hurricane Charley Survival Lessons is a good place to start your reading. Here are some additional items that became obvious before, during and after Hurricane Frances.
Plywood Shutters - This was my major area of preparation for Frances. We had lots of storm debris left over from Charley. When Frances was six days away, I made the decision to make plywood storm shutters for the windows on the north and east sides of our house. With the storm coming in from the southeast, we would get lots of wind from the northeast for a very long time. Our house has inset windows with beveled, painted concrete exterior facings (most everything built in Florida these days is stucco).
How the window is built into the house is important. Ours are inset, but our neighbor’s (built by a different builder) are flush with the exterior walls. Inset is better because there is less chance of the plywood being ripped off by the wind. Also, the flush windows may have portions of the frame that protrude and interfere with a simple shutter installation. In this case, you need to frame the window with wood and then attach the shutter. This takes longer, is more complex, needs more fasteners, and requires more wood.
Because of our construction and the time constraints I was facing, I went with Plylox clips to hold the plywood in place. This removes the requirement to install Tapcon fasteners on every window. It also allows me to transition to another securing method using barrel bolts that is described here. While the Plylox clips worked, I will be switching to barrel bolts if not getting true hurricane shutters. During installation, the clips proved to be difficult to keep aligned while hefting nearly 16 square feet of plywood. They also are designed for only 1/2-inch plywood. Also, the clips will scratch your painted window casings, so be ready to repaint them. Update 1: There is a fourth strike against Plylox clips - they rust. Now I have to remove the rust stains from my window casings before I repaint them. With difficult installation, a 1/2-inch plywood limitation, scratches/gouges and now rust, based on my experience, I cannot recommend you use Plylox clips unless you have no other option.
I would have preferred 3/4-inch exterior plywood, but none was available. Since no exterior grade plywood was available, the interior grade plywood warped after getting wet. The clips popped free from the window frame because of its angle and the warping. I was not alone in this regard. I will be painting the plywood and reinforcing it with some 2x4-inch boards to reduce warping while preparing for Hurricane Ivan.
Update 4: I have posted some Plylox Clip Installation Tips based on my preparations for Hurricane Jeanne. I'll post anything else that comes up from Jeanne as soon as we get power back. We assume we will lose it some time during the storm.
For the large shutters I constructed, I fastened rope handles along the bottom with fencing staples to make it easier and safer to install them.
If you cut shutters outside, vacuum up your sawdust after cutting to prevent a soggy mess later. This prevented my tracking the stuff around the house.
Plan ahead and get a storage scheme together for where you will be storing these shutters when you do not need them. I am going to construct a storage area over a garage door to take advantage of two concrete walls for support. This will allow me to use only one support up to a roof truss.
Update 2: The reason for storm shutters is to prevent debris from breaking the windows. The stronger the shutter, the heavier and faster the material it can defend against. In this, there is an advantage to moving the protective shutter further away from the glass since some bending and deformation can be allowed before the window breaks. A broken window can lead to roof tearoff and complete destruction. No wood shutter meets South Florida code.
Simple shutters, that rely on the window frame for support, may be thinner since they do not need to be self supporting against hurricane wind forces, but they offer less protection against impact. Also, they are close to the glass so even a minor impact deformation may still break the window. It is a risk you take. Some protection is better than nothing.
Picture Windows - My biggest job was protecting an 8x12-foot window that faces east. I built three 4x8-foot frames out of 2x2-inch wood, added plywood sheets, and reinforced it with hardware cloth. (Hardware cloth is wire fencing with 1/2-ince square openings. It is very stiff and strong.) 1x6-inch boards covered the gaps between the panels.
These panels are heavy. I installed them using deck brackets that I fastened to the concrete. The weight of the frames sits on the window casement rather than the brackets. I screwed the brackets to the frames as an added capture feature.
Sliding Glass Doors - There are various ways to do this. I chose two long, narrow pieces of scrap plywood from my other shutter construction and bolted them to the concrete on either side of the slider. I used Tapcon fasteners for this, and then used exterior grade deck screws to fasten two full sheets of plywood horizontally across the door. This worked well and the two sheets were quickly removed after the storm passed. I will be adding 2x4-inch wood bracing to the middle. I also got some shims to use as wedges to prevent our sliding screens from banging back and forth.
Wood Screws - I used 1 3/4-inch exterior deck screws to fasten my pieces together. These were easy to drive and to remove due to their coarse threads. A screw installation guide tool on the drill greatly speeded the work.
Concrete Fasteners - Houses in Florida are generally concrete these days. To get things secured to the concrete walls and window casings, I used Tapcon concrete fasteners (3/16-inch diameter, 1 1/4-inch long, hex head). I fortunately bought these early since they sold out quickly. (People bought plywood around here with no idea of how to fasten it onto their houses. They used anything, including 3/16-inch pegboard, over their windows.) Make sure you get fasteners that are long enough but not too long. For a Tapcon to work correctly and fit tightly, the hole needs to be drilled 1/4-inch or so deeper than the length the fastener will be in the concrete to allow any concrete powder to be forced down, but still allow the fastener to be fully seated. This amount of concrete drilling requires an electric drill since no battery will last long enough to get the full job done. Since I was shopping early, I was able to get one of the Tapcon Condrive 500 installation tools. This made the job much, much easier and is highly recommended. (The tool consists of a chuck that holds their special concrete bit and a torsion sleeve that can fit over the drill to engage the fastener to prevent over-driving. Since the sleeve just slips over the drill, no bit changes are necessary. This greatly speeds the installation process.)
Tools and Safety - My old corded drill was required for the Tapcon installation, but a hammer drill would have been faster. My battery drill was more convenient for installing the wood screws. A tool belt was also very useful for holding the numerous screws and tools I used. Because of the amount of plywood handling I did, good work gloves saved my hands. Remember to use eye protection to keep the sawdust out of your eyes.
Roof Tarps - Many people needed to cover their roofs with tarps after Charley ripped off large areas of roofing tiles. Many of these were lost early on during Frances due to being poorly secured. Tarps that survived were generally tightly fitted and held down by vertical wood strips on the edges. Large tarps also required some boards in the middle.
Drainage - I extended my downspout drains to prevent planting area washout. I used the ribbed black plastic drainpipe, sealed the joints with duct tape and fastened the end of the pipe in place with a stake and some rope.
Track Plotting - I used Microsoft Streets and Trips to plot the detailed projected track of the storm as well as the position of the eye. I got my coordinates from the National Hurricane Center’s discussion web pages. Their public graphic is too large a scale to be useful; especially when you are trying to determine which side of the eye you fall on. This will govern what winds you will see and how you will rig your defenses. The Streets and Trips program has a Find dialog with three tabs. The "Lat/Long" tab was where I plugged in the NHC’s data points to create the pushpins. I then connected the pushpins with lines and thus had a track I could examine at the street level. This was both reassuring and extremely informative data to have.
Psychological Peace - I bought a small 150-watt outdoor halogen light and mounted it to a stake in my back yard. When plugged in, it gave enough light to be able to see what was happening. This was psychologically reassuring while the wind was howling through the hours of darkness.
Fires - After the storm passed, many people forgot their stovetops or ovens were on when the electricity was knocked out. Many others forgot to make sure they were turned off. In some cases where electricity has been restored, the ovens and stovetops heated up and started fires. The best bet is to check and make sure both the stove and oven are off.