Impact Garage Doors in Port St. Lucie, FL

Impact garage doors deal with the largest single opening on a typical Port St. Lucie house. A double garage door is around sixteen feet wide, and an older door with thin panels and light struts can bow inward under strong wind until it pops out of its tracks. Once it goes, wind pours into the garage and pushes up on the roof above it. Hurricane-rated doors are built with heavier sections, horizontal reinforcement and stronger track and anchor systems so they hold their shape.

Wind-rated versus impact-rated

Every garage door installed in coastal Florida needs to meet the design pressure for its opening. A wind-rated door is built to resist that pressure. An impact-rated door is also tested against flying debris. If the door has windows, they must be impact glass, and the City of Port St. Lucie asks for an opening protection permit and documents for glass in a garage door. Solid doors without glass can be wind rated, and the wind mitigation form looks for that verification when grading opening protection.

Choices that matter

• Single or double: sized to the opening, with the design pressure printed on a label and listed in the approval.
• Insulated or not: a foam-filled door keeps an attached garage cooler in summer, a real difference in a Florida garage.
• Windows: impact-rated glass in the top section for light.
• Style: raised panel, flush, carriage house and modern, in colors that match the house.
• Opener: a new opener with battery backup is useful when the power goes out after a storm.

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Older doors and braces

Some older doors can be reinforced with a manufacturer's bracing kit that adds vertical or horizontal posts before a storm. This can be a reasonable stopgap, but it only works if the kit is approved for that door and someone installs it each time. When a door is old, dented or missing its rating label, replacement usually makes more sense, and we show both options when bracing is on the table.

Permit and paperwork

The City's overhead garage door checklist requires the Florida Product Approval with installation instructions, and asks that expiration dates, code additions and design pressures be highlighted on the approval. Changes to the opening itself need plans signed and sealed by a Florida-licensed architect or engineer. We prepare the package and meet the inspector.