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Is your Garage Door Hurricane Ready?
The air starts pressing in, thick and quiet. The Gulf waters heat, the forecast shifts, and you already know what that means. You’ve got shutters for the windows, sandbags stacked if needed, maybe even a generator gassed up and ready.
How about your garage door?
Is your Garage Door Hurricane Ready? – Every Naples Homeowner Should Know
In SWFL, the garage door isn’t just the barrier to where you keep your cars, golf cart, or boat trailer; it’s the largest entrance to your home. If it fails during a hurricane, it can let in a ton of water, cause damage, and potentially let in unwanted critters.
You don’t want to be on the hook for thousands of dollars in damages to replace your destroyed belongings and essential items.
The Weakest Point in the House
Most garage doors in older Naples homes are not designed to handle strong hurricane-force winds. You can usually tell by looking for the label. If there’s no wind load rating visible near the bottom panel or the track, it might not be impact-rated. Originally, doors 15+ years ago were designed for a lower wind-rating, due to recent hurricanes, the State of FL and Collier County have been forced to boost wind rating requirements for garage doors. If it’s a double-wide door without reinforcement, you’re looking at serious vulnerability.
As many Floridians know, the wind speeds are no joke. Local building codes require new garage doors to withstand up to 170 mph gusts near the coast. Hurricane Irma in 2017 hit Marco Island just south of Naples with sustained winds of 142 mph, damaging thousands of structures and leading to catastrophic damage.
You saw what that storm did. It peeled roofs, twisted steel, and crushed garage doors like tin cans. The damage that wind and water from storm surge can do is no joke.
It’s Not Just Wind, It’s Pressure Too
When the wind enters through a failed garage door, the internal pressure can blow out the roof or lift the structure entirely. That’s why hurricane-rated doors aren’t just heavier, they’re braced with steel reinforcements, upgraded tracks, and stronger rollers to keep them anchored under stress.
If your home was built before 2002, odds are your garage door doesn’t meet current codes. After Hurricane Andrew devastated South Florida in 1992, it took a decade, but Florida adopted stricter statewide wind load standards in 2002. The wind codes are constantly changing to ensure homeowners’ safety.
What You Can Check Today
Walk outside, take a look at your garage door. Look for rust or warping in the panels, tracks, and listen to how the rollers sound. Does the door feel loose when it shuts or looks like it’s bent? These signs matter. A door that drags or flexes under normal conditions may not survive a pressure shift during a hurricane.
Take a look at the anchoring. Reinforced doors bolt into the walls at multiple points. If yours is only attached with a few screws into the wood frame, you’re gambling when the storm rolls in.
Naples gets an average of 14 named storms per year, threatening the Gulf region. Every season is another roll of the dice. Feel free to give Empire Garage Doors a call if you would like us to come by and assess your current garage door.
The Insurance Conundrum
You won’t always see the risk in plain sight, but your insurance company has. Some policies in Naples now offer premium discounts for homes with wind-rated garage doors, just like they do for impact windows or a new roof. If your door’s not hurricane impact-rated, you’re not only more vulnerable, you’re paying more than you should.
Check your wind mitigation inspection. If the garage door isn’t rated, it’ll show up as a liability. In a market where Florida’s property insurance premiums have risen 7% in 2025 alone, every mitigation measure counts.
The Cost of Waiting Till the Season Strikes
People wait until June to start thinking about hurricane preparedness. Then July hits, and most companies in Naples are backed up. Suddenly, the storm is tracking west from the Caribbean, and you’re trying to do everything last minute. Similar to how gas stations run out of gas, big department stores run out of water and other essential supplies. So, it’s better to be prepared and be ahead of the curve than to regret never checking out your garage door.
Empire Garage Doors, however, stocks standard-sized doors, tracks, hardware, & other parts to install a new door quickly and conveniently.
Hurricane season is not the time to be wondering if the garage door will hold. A hurricane-rated garage door in Naples isn’t a luxury upgrade; it’s peace of mind every season. You’ll feel secure every time the wind starts to build and you know your door is rated, reinforced, and ready.
Empire Garage Doors of Naples
Don’t let garage door issues disrupt your daily life. Contact us to restore your garage door’s functionality and enhance your home’s curb appeal and security.
Empire Garage Doors offers a wide range of hurricane-impact-rated garage doors to meet every customer’s needs. Our doors are built with the highest quality standards, exceptional style, and are made right here in the USA. Being a local family-run company with our expert technical knowledge and exceptional customer service, you can trust Empire Garage Doors to deliver superior products and service.
