Hurricane-Rated Sliding Glass Doors: The Impact Resistance You Need With Access to the Views You Love

Hurricane season brings challenges that put your home or business to the test. Nowhere is this more evident than when it comes to windows and doors. If you can’t trust your glass walls to stand up to intense winds and howling rains, there’s no point in installing them. Choosing the right sliding glass door system can mean the difference between the elements entering your building and its contents being protected from Mother Nature.

Why Choose a Hurricane Rated Sliding Glass Door?

The areas that are prone to hurricanes provide people with some of the most awe-inspiring views of nature. In fact, that is one of the primary reasons why people move to these areas. Choosing a hurricane rated sliding glass door allows you to have both the protection you need and access to the views you love.

Ensuring sufficient hurricane protection for your home isn’t up for debate. The epic nature of these storms means that you’ll need all the moving glass on the property to remain intact, regardless of how much pressure it’s under.

What to Look for in a Hurricane Rated Sliding Glass Door

Not all sliding glass doors are rated for hurricanes. An impact-resistant sliding glass door should have the following components built into its design to offer you the best protection possible:

Superior Engineering

In order to be effective against everything a hurricane can hurl at your home or business, your sliding glass doors should be engineered to withstand impact from large debris, tropical storms, high winds, Category 5 hurricanes, and driving rain.

Ideally, these would be oversized panels that, along with wood cladding if desired, lock into thicker aluminum components to provide the stability and strength needed to endure the elements that are present during a hurricane. Glass wall systems that don’t perfectly align are prone to degrade over time and they’re far more likely to fall apart when you need them the most.

A hurricane window or door made from impact resistant glass has to be built with precision and assembled by experts who understand what’s at stake. If you’re looking for the best hurricane impact windows, Panda is here to help you protect your investment.

Compliant with Building Codes

There’s a reason why the building codes in Florida are so thorough and rigorous. The most stringent codes, including TAS 201, TAS 202, and TAS 203, were written based on real-world scenarios that have caused untold damage across decades of storms. A sliding glass wall system or hurricane window that breaks apart at the onset of a storm could easily destroy more than just the adjacent room. The recommendations and requirements are designed to protect your investment in the likely event that a hurricane sweeps through your area.

This is why it is vital that your impact-resistant sliding glass door complies with the Florida and United States building codes that are applicable. These include those regulations that apply to wind-borne debris areas that are outside the high-velocity hurricane zone. (Regulations change every three years based on weather patterns and new field research.) Moving glass wall systems and hurricane windows that don’t comply with the latest changes can put you, your family, and your property at greater risk.

Third-Party Testing

It’s one thing for a company to highlight the attributes of its impact sliding glass doors. However, it is another matter entirely when their products have been tested by an independent third-party company.

The Panda Impact Glass Door System, for example, underwent rigorous testing that yielded outstanding results. These include the ability to withstand structural loads at 100 pounds per square foot (PSF), water infiltration at 20 PSF and air infiltration at 1.57 PSF. When you think about just how much strain these elements can put on a glass wall system, you need to know that it’s already passed the test long before it’s installed.

Thermal Barrier Design

In a climate like Florida’s, it is important that any hurricane-rated sliding glass door be designed with a thermal barrier. This often includes interior wood that is uniquely cladded to the door profile using durable polyamide clips.

The thermal barrier of hurricane windows and doors is designed to deliver improved UV and SFGC performance. It helps reduce the transfer of cold and heat into spaces that are climate controlled for better energy efficiency. A thermal barrier is recommended for the country’s zones that experience extreme weather conditions, including excessive heat. In Florida, you want your hurricane-impact windows to be just as effective at keeping your home comfortable even when there isn’t a cloud in sight.

There are two types of thermal barriers that provide the best type of energy efficiency for hurricane zones. One way is the integration of a polyamide bar into the aluminum frame itself. Because this type of structural element is typically crimped into the material, the barrier that is created in the sliding glass wall system is both secure and long lasting.

The other type of thermal barrier involves inserting a two-part liquid into a channel of the aluminum extrusion. Once this substance hardens, an insulating element is created.

Benefits of Lift & Slide Doors

At Panda, we believe in creating superior doors and hurricane proof windows that meet the challenging needs of today’s business and homeowners. This is especially true when it comes to tropical storm and hurricane zone areas. While there is great natural beauty within these regions, there is also the frequent threat of inclement weather that must be addressed.

Our Lift & Slide Doors are designed to offer excellent protection and energy efficiency, as well as numerous other benefits:

• gaskets that make a complete seal around every panel when it is closed
• recessed track that is friendly to the barefoot tropical lifestyle with the option for drainage to suit your unique needs
• available steel components for homes and businesses on the coast
• operating hardware that is located on the interior and multi-point locks for security
• easily lift the panels 3/16 of an inch by rotating the handle 180 degrees
• the floor supports the weight of the panels
• the pocketing option allows the creation of a 100 percent opening
• available Lift & Slide doors and impact resistant windows that have been rated and tested against current regulations

Offering superior protection against the elements of a hurricane and theft with improved energy efficiency, Panda Windows & Doors Lift & Slide Doors and hurricane impact windows may even reduce homeowner’s insurance premiums. Because many insurance providers recognize that such improvements could help protect your home or business, they might offer a discount. If you’re looking for replacement doors and windows, there’s no better time to upgrade if you need superior hurricane protection.

Contact us today to learn more about how we can help protect your home or business with our hurricane-rated sliding glass doors and other products.