Hurricane shutter

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A hurricane shutter made out of plywood.

Hurricane shutters are used in hurricane mitigation to protect houses and other structures from damage caused by storms. They are frequently constructed from steel or aluminum, but homeowners sometimes use the low-cost alternative of plywood. The shutters are affixed to the outside of the building with screws or a track system. Advanced shutters may be motorized, and they may fold away when not in use.

Three major types of shutters are known alternatively as panel systems. They are usually made of plywood, metal (aluminum or steel), or a new variety of hurricane panel made with General Electric's LEXAN sheet or other polycarbonate plastic with lesser impact resistance. LEXAN panels are transparent, and may be flat or have been heat-formed into a corrugated shape to further increase impact resistance. Panels must be attached to the structure via screws in a direct mount or on tracks. When not in use, storm panels are stored in an easy to reach location. They can be quite bulky, and dangerous to put up.

A panel system hurricane shutter made out of aluminum or steel.

Another type of shutter is an accordion shutter. Accordion shutters are made from interlocking vertical blades which slide into place horizontally on a track; to operate, simply pull each curtain toward the center of the track, latch the curtains together and lock the handle.

The most advanced hurricane shutter is a Roll-Up or rolling shutter. They are comprised of a series of slats that form a curtain with both sides of the curtain being inserted into guide rails. The curtain is then rolled onto an axle which is covered by a housing. Rolling shutters can be operated manually by gear, by pull strap or can be motorized independently or in conjunction with a manual override. Motorized shutters can be operated by either a switch or remote and can be controlled either individually or in groups. Note that when there are blackouts caused by hurricanes, motorized shutters must be operated manually, requiring either access to the motor (which can be difficult) or a pre-installed manual override. Most often, a manual override is operated using a gear.

Panels, Accordions & Roll-ups are the most well known as far as shutters go, but Bahamas and Colonials are other forms of Hurricane shutters approved for hurricane protection. Bahama shutters are mounted above the window creating shade when they are open, and when in use, they are brought down and secured over the window. Colonials, just as it sounds are the new and improved version of the wooden shutters used to "shutter" up the house for winter, etc. They are now made out of aluminum and like the original colonials, they hinge on the side of the windows and swing shut to protect the opening.

Hurricane shutters are used to prevent windows from being broken by flying objects during a storm. The presence of windows during a storm is considered crucial; when a window is broken, the air pressure may rise inside a building, causing the roof to break apart, especially in lightweight timber frame construction typical in North America. This, in turn, weakens the walls of the structure, causing the walls to fall and the entire building to collapse. Hurricane shutters stop this chain reaction from happening by shuttering the openings with a strong, durable, waterproof material.

The highest standard of hurricane building material product approval is the International Building Code and the International Residential Code. These codes use the criteria set forth in ASTME 1886 and ASTME 1996. These criteria describe the tests approved shutters are subjected to and the pass/fail standards. The tests consist of three parts: A large missile impact test, a small missile impact test and a cyclic pressure test. While the Dade County criteria used to be considered the "gold standard" of hurricane shutters tests, the cyclic pressure test mandated by 1886/1996 is more rigorous.