My home is located on the beach. Most homes in my area are one level houses because of wind resistance and they have no basements because the water table is only about 3 feet below the surface.

When living down in Florida you have to make sure that you protect your home from strong winds and hurricanes. There are many ways that you can protect your home from these strong winds. One way is to install impact resistant doors. These doors have the ability to withstand wind blown projectiles. Reinforced garage doors are also important because if they are weak wind can blow the doors in and enter the house and blow out windows, doors and even the roof. If possible having a single car opening is more sufficient because it has more wind resistance. My home has two car openings but to reinforce my garage door I have installed horizontal bracing onto each panel of the door.

Other things to consider are hurricane shutters and windows with high performance glass. Installing hurricane shutters is one of the easiest ways to protect your home. There are many different types of storm shutters available to fit your home. My home includes metal hurricane shutters that can be rolled down to protect my home. For my windows I also installed high performance glass this is a special glazing to make the windows impact resistance as well as more energy efficient.

Reinforcing your roof is also beneficial when living a hurricane environment. For my home we had hurricane straps and clips as well as a harness installed. The harness is to counteract the forces of the winds that create an upward lift on your roof system as it passes by. The harness connects the straps from the top of the roof and anchors to the foundation.