Massachusetts may not be hurricane country, but nor'easters, severe thunderstorms, and occasional tropical storm remnants bring winds strong enough to damage garage doors. A compromised garage door during a storm can lead to catastrophic structural damage to your entire home.
Why garage doors are vulnerable: A garage door is usually the largest opening in a house, and an unreinforced one. The U.S. Department of Energy's Building America Solution Center (PNNL: Garage Doors Are Pressure Rated) says garage doors are commonly damaged in high winds: they buckle inward, get pulled outward out of their tracks, or fail at the hardware. Once a door is breached, wind entering the building can raise the pressure inside enough to push out windows, walls, doors and the roof.
Before a storm: Close the door fully, keep it closed until the wind has passed, and move bins, bikes and anything else that could blow into it. If the door has a manual slide lock and you use it, unplug the opener first so nobody can run the opener against the locked door, and when the wind has passed, slide the lock open before you plug the opener back in and use it. Before storm season, go through the 10-minute monthly checklist: loose hinge and track bolts, worn rollers and a door out of balance are easier to deal with before the wind arrives. Leave springs, cables and bottom brackets alone; they are under spring tension.
Weatherstripping and seals: A cracked or missing bottom seal lets wind-driven rain and debris in under the door. Replace worn bottom and side seals before storm season (weatherstripping replacement).
Is your door pressure rated?
Look for the manufacturer's label on the inside of the door. According to Hanover Insurance, a wind-rating label should show the manufacturer and model number, a design pressure rating written as a pair of numbers in pounds per square foot (for example +40/-40 psf), a wind speed rating and exposure category, and compliance with ANSI/DASMA 108 or a similar standard. If the label is missing or unreadable, Hanover says the door may not be rated, or may be too old to meet current standards.
The plus number is the pressure pushing the door in; the minus number is the suction pulling it out. PNNL describes both failures: doors buckled and pushed inward, and doors pulled outward out of their tracks.
Many doors carry no wind rating on the label at all. PNNL notes that ANSI/DASMA 108 does not require the pressures on the label, but does require them on the standard's test report form, so when the label is silent, the manufacturer's test report for that model is the place to check.
On the code side, PNNL summarizes Section R609.4 of the International Residential Code (IRC): garage doors must be tested to ASTM E330 or ANSI/DASMA 108 and meet the acceptance criteria of ANSI/DASMA 108. The pressure a door needs depends on the site's design wind speed and exposure: PNNL lists higher minimum ratings for a house in an open setting, next to fields, water or a golf course, than for one surrounded by other buildings and trees. Local requirements can go beyond the IRC, so PNNL and Hanover both point you to the local building department for what applies to your house.
A bracing kit or a rated door
After-market reinforcement kits add vertical and horizontal bracing to an existing door, and they come with two cautions. Hanover Insurance says kits "may not offer the same protection as a fully rated door" and that in many cases replacement is the safer option. PNNL says that if a kit requires the spring tension to be adjusted, a professional installer should make that adjustment.
Before buying a kit, ask the door's manufacturer or an installer whether that kit is approved for your door model, what rating the door has with it, and whether the springs need rebalancing afterward. Do not adjust springs, cables or bottom brackets yourself.
Wind-rated Amarr doors
Amarr's WindPro page explains its wind-load ratings: the higher the WP number, the higher the door's rating, and a WindPro door looks the same as the standard version. Amarr's collection pages list a WindPro wind-load option on Lincoln, Heritage, Hillcrest and Olympus, and its EOS page lists wind-load reinforcement up to 140 mph.
The Door Builder prices these collections in their standard construction; it does not price the WindPro option.
After storm damage
If the door is bent, cracked through, hanging crooked or off its tracks, do not run the opener. Forcing a damaged door through another cycle can make the damage worse, so leave it where it is and keep people and cars out from under it.
Before anything is moved, take photos: the label on the inside of the door, the whole door from inside and from outside, and close-ups of any bent track, dented section or slack cable. Your insurer may ask for them, and they help a technician bring the right parts.
Then pick the next step:
Door stuck open, or the house cannot be secured: emergency garage door repair. Emergency calls are $300 minimum, which covers the visit and the repair up to $300; a bigger repair costs the same as it would scheduled.
A dented, cracked or bent section: the panel replacement guide covers when a section can be repaired and when it needs replacing.
Door looks fine: run it once and watch it. It should move smoothly, and it must reverse when it touches a 2x4 laid flat under it.
Insurance: ask your insurer
Hanover Insurance suggests telling your independent insurance agent when you upgrade your garage door, since you may be eligible for a safety discount. Whether your policy offers one, and what proof it needs, varies, so ask your insurer before you buy, and keep the label photo and the door's paperwork.
Door damaged in a storm?
Request a repair visit and include photos of the door, its label and any bent track or loose cable.
Check the label on the inside of the door for a design pressure rating (a plus and a minus number in psf) and ANSI/DASMA 108. Many labels carry no wind rating; then the manufacturer's test report for the model is the place to check (PNNL).
Can I add bracing to my existing garage door?
Reinforcement kits exist, but Hanover Insurance cautions that they may not protect as well as a fully rated door, and PNNL says any spring adjustment a kit requires should be made by a professional installer.
Sources and specifications
The code, rating and insurance points in this guide come from these public sources. What applies to your house depends on where it is, so confirm with your local building department and your insurer.
