Hurricane season is here, and a lot of Florida residents might need some glass door replacement services soon. Specifically, they need to replace their older glass doors for ones that are impact-rated to survive the strong wind, rain, and flying debris brought by major tropical storms.
One question that the install team at Karoly Windows & Doors often gets when putting in new doors is: “Can’t I just change the glass in my door to make it impact-rated?” In a lot of cases, the homeowner is hoping that they can save some money by not having to replace the whole door.
The short answer to this glass door replacement question is “No.” You cannot just change out the glass in a non impact-resistant door and have it be sufficient to meet hurricane resistance requirements.
Why doesn’t simply changing out the glass work? Here’s an explanation:
Impact Resistance Is More Than the Sum of the Door’s Parts
One reason we recommend complete glass door replacement over simply changing out the glass in the door is that impact resistance requires more than having just one strong component.
The strongest impact glass in the world won’t have much of an impact on a door’s ability to withstand hurricane-force winds if the frame isn’t built to withstand those winds. At best, you’ll just save a little on cleanup as the still-intact impact glass is torn from the non-impact-resistant door frame.
So, even if you put impact-resistant glass in your doors and windows, that doesn’t make them secure against hurricanes.
To adequately protect your home from hurricane-force winds and storm damage, the whole door needs to be made of impact-resistant materials and be designed for high wind pressure.
To Meet Code Requirements, You Need a Complete Glass Door Replacement
Florida building codes require that homes built in the state meet certain hurricane resistance requirements. And it’s for a good reason. Between 2000 and 2023, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that no less than 16 hurricanes hit Florida:
- Charley: August 2004
- Frances: September 2004
- Ivan: September 2004
- Jeanne: September 2004
- Dennis: July 2005
- Katrina: August 2005
- Rita: September 2005
- Wilma: October 2005
- Hermine: September 2016
- Matthew: October 2016
- Irma: September 2017
- Michael: October 2018
- Sally: September 2020
- Ian: September 2022
- Nicole: November 2022
- Idalia: August 2023
In addition to these, there was the double-whammy of hurricanes Helene and Milton right after Hurricane Debby kicked off the 2024 hurricane season. This made for a total of three hurricanes to hit Florida in 2024.
In other words, Florida saw 19 hurricanes in the last 25 years… And that’s not counting tropical storms and depressions that can still cause significant damage to your home.
It’s a commonly-cited statistic that Florida sees a hurricane once every three years, but the rate of hurricanes hitting the sunshine state has been significantly higher than that over the last two decades.
This is why the Florida Building Code for some parts of Florida requires that doors and windows be built to withstand 180 mph winds.These HVHZ (High Velocity Hurricane Zones) have some of the strictest requirements for design pressure and impact resistance in the country.
What Standard Does a Door Need to Meet to Be Considered Impact Resistant?
To be considered ‘impact-resistant’ in Florida, a door needs to pass a series of tests. One such test is the MIssile D Impact test. This test consists of two separate tests: the Large Missile Impact Test and the Small Missile Impact Test.
In the Large Missile Impact Test, a 2 x 4 x 6 foot piece of timber weighing nine pounds is fired at the door at a speed of 50 feet per second—that’s about 34 mph—twice. As noted by the 2023 FBC listing on UpCodes: “For doors, wall cladding and external protection devices, both impacts shall be to the thinnest section through the assembly… For doors with glass, the glass shall be impacted twice.”
They purposefully target the weakest portion of the door for this test to ensure that the door won’t fail during a hurricane if a large object hits it at its weakest point. It may sound like overkill, but strong hurricanes (and the tornadoes they can spawn) have been known to send debris flying far and fast.
The Small Missile Impact Test involves firing a series of 2-gram steel balls at the door. This is done thirty times to stress test the door. This test helps to check if the door can take a prolonged series of impacts from small, fast-moving objects such as rocks, nails, and other objects thrown by hurricane-force winds.
Why Does Impact Resistance Matter for Glass Door Replacement?
Hurricane season can be an unpredictable time for Floridian homeowners. Some years, you might only have to deal with tropical storms and depressions—though those can still cause significant damage. Other years, you might get hit with multiple hurricanes in less than a month.
You need to have windows and doors that can stand up to the impacts of Florida’s hurricanes at their worst. A single point of entry into your home holding or failing can mean the difference between simply having to repair/replace a single window or door and having to deal with massive water damage or even seeing the structure collapse.
When a window or door breaks during a hurricane, the sudden change in pressure can compromise the integrity of the structure. This leads to an increased risk of total collapse during a hurricane.
Add to that the way water and storm debris can infiltrate a home after a major storm, and you have a perfect recipe for extremely expensive to fix damage. Standing water can soak into your home’s insulation, promoting the growth of mold and mildew. It can also lead to major insect infestations that can be extremely difficult to fix.
When it comes to installing an impact-resistant glass door replacement in Florida, spending more for a top-quality replacement job can actually save you a lot of money in the long run.
Need help getting the right impact-resistant doors for your home? Reach out to Karoly Windows and Doors to get a quote! One of our experts will come out to inspect your home to create the most reliable and accurate estimate of your needs!
