Florida Building Code: Garage Doors, Wind Loads, & Insurance Savings in Clay, Duval & St. Johns Counties
As your licensed, local hurricane protection experts, Hurricane Guard Garage Doors & Openers is dedicated to ensuring your home not only meets but exceeds Florida's stringent safety standards. This guide details the essential compliance and financial facts about garage doors for homeowners in the Clay, Duval, and St. Johns County regions.
For homes along the St. Johns River corridor, understanding your required Wind Load Rating is the first step in ensuring safety and compliance.
Understanding Wind Load & The FBC Requirements
Wind Load: What Does PSF Mean?
Your garage door's design pressure is expressed in PSF (Pounds per Square Foot). This rating indicates the amount of pressure the door must withstand, acting in both positive (wind pushing inward toward the garage) and negative (wind pulling outward away from the garage) directions.
The wind load required for your home is ultimately determined by the Risk Category of the structure. For new installations or replacements, the design pressure of the door you purchase must equal or exceed the calculated design pressure required for your specific garage door opening.
The Core Requirement: Allowable Stress Design
In Florida, garage doors are typically rated for an Allowable Stress Design wind pressure rather than an ultimate wind speed. This design pressure is critical because it already incorporates the necessary safety and load adjustment factors mandated by the Florida Building Code (FBC).
The Importance of an Impact-Rated Door
When securing your home, mitigation is the action taken on the home’s exterior envelope to protect it from high wind events, including hurricanes. For the garage door, the mitigation focus is on impact resistance.
Stopping Catastrophic Structural Failure
All certified Impact-Rated garage doors must be tested and approved by manufacturers for both missile impact and cyclic pressure. This means the door is proven not just to take one hit, but to remain intact through the repeated pressure fluctuations of a sustained hurricane.
Maximizing Wind Mitigation for Insurance Savings
The actions you take to protect your home (mitigation) can lead to substantial reductions in your insurance premiums.
Potential Savings and the Inspection Form
Mitigation includes any action taken on your home that goes above and beyond the minimum Florida Building Code requirements. For the windstorm premium portion of your insurance policy, the potential reduction in cost can be anywhere from 10% to 70%.
Insurance companies use a checklist called the Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form (OIR-B1-1802) to verify the types of mitigation features in place, which then determines your eligible credits.
The Mitigation Inspection Process
To qualify for these state-mandated credits, you must ensure your door complies with the FBC and get an independent inspection. The inspector is looking for verification that your garage door provides Opening Protection against windborne debris.
Key Fact: An Impact-Rated garage door, even a non-glazed one, always increases your credit eligibility if it is part of the overall opening protection strategy for your structure, regardless of its location in Florida.
Required Documentation for Savings
Manufacturer’s Label: The door itself must include a manufacturer’s label certifying compliance to the specific wind load.
Product Approval: The installer should provide the Notice of Acceptance (NOA) or the Florida Product Approval (FL#) number. This is the engineering documentation confirming the door has passed the necessary impact and cyclic pressure tests.
Without proper paperwork, your investment in a hurricane-rated door cannot be officially recognized for insurance purposes.
Every Hurricane Guard installation provides you with the necessary documentation to present to your inspector and guarantee compliance. Ready to protect your investment and save money?
Call Us to Request a FREE Wind Code Consultation
Standard Size (16x7) Garage Door
WindCode rating: W3
Heavy 25 gauge steel construction
$2016.00
Meets local building code requirements.
Designed to withstand winds of up to 130MPH & wind load pressures of +12.7/-14.1.
Tongue-&-groove/shiplap section joints keep out wind, rain & snow.
Replaceable vinyl bottom weatherseal in a corrosion-resistant retainer helps seal out the elements.
Galvanized steel hinges are durable, reliable & secure.
Inside/outside step plates & grip handles make doors easy and safe to manually operate.
includes installation and life-time warranty
$2214.00 with windows
includes installation & life-time warranty
Standard Size (16x7) Garage Door
WindCode rating: W4
Heavy 25 gauge steel construction
$2250.00
Hurricane-rated, exceeds local building code requirements, offering peace of mind & potential insurance premium discounts.
Designed to withstand winds of up to 140MPH & wind load pressures of +14.5/-16.2.
Engineered & built with reinforced materials & construction making the garage door more resistant to high winds & flying debris.
Tongue-&-groove/shiplap section joints keep out wind, rain & snow.
Replaceable vinyl bottom weatherseal helps seal out the elements.
includes installation & life-time warranty
$2448.00 with windows
includes installation & life-time warranty
Standard Size (16x7) Garage Door
WindCode rating: W5
Heavy 25 gauge steel construction
$2457.00
Hurricane-rated, exceeds local building code requirements, offering peace of mind & potential insurance premium discounts.
Designed to withstand winds of up to 150MPH & wind load pressures of +16.7/-18.6.
Engineered & built with reinforced materials & construction, making the garage door more resistant to high winds & flying debris.
Tongue-&-groove/shiplap section joints keep out wind, rain & snow.
Replaceable vinyl bottom weatherseal helps seal out the elements.
includes installation & life-time warranty
$2664.00 with windows
includes installation & life-time warranty
Single Car Garage Doors Available In All Standard Sizes 8x7, 9x7 & 10x7.
