Designing Buildings in Hurricane and Tornado Prone Areas

Designing homes and commercial buildings in storm-prone areas can be challenging. As an architect, designer or engineer, you need to ensure you're designing a building that's unique and visually appealing but can still withstand any severe weather Mother Nature throws at it.

Potential Problems for Designing in Storm-Prone Areas

When designing buildings to withstand hurricanes and tornados, you should consider several factors. Potential high winds, excessive rainfall and flying debris should be on your list of concerns when developing a hurricane-proof house design for coastal homes or a wind-resistant building design for tornado-prone areas.

Window Breakage

Flying debris during major storms like hurricanes and tornados is one of the leading causes of death and injury, according to the National Weather Service. The potential for building damage and human injury significantly increases when hurricane and tornado force winds pick up loose debris and send it flying through the air.

Common debris picked up by winds during severe storms may include:

• Signs
• Lawn furniture
• Trees
• Roofing and siding material from nearby buildings
• Loose plywood
• Other unsecured small objects

During a storm, your home or business's windows are the most susceptible to the potential damage of debris. When they're not properly secured, flying objects can crash through windows and threaten the safety of occupants inside.

Loose Shards of Glass

If rogue debris enters through your windows, another threat emerges — shattered glass. A single square foot of glass can produce up to 200 fragments, and during a storm with high winds, they can travel several feet in all directions at a high velocity. Loose shards of glass are incredibly dangerous, which is why it's crucial to stay away from windows during hurricanes and tornados.

Overall Occupant Safety

When the integrity of your home or business's windows is threatened during a destructive storm, occupant safety is at risk. The possibility of severe injury can come from flying debris unexpectedly crashing through a window or the shattered remnants of your window afterward. While a broken window from a storm is upsetting, the safety of your family or employees is of the utmost importance, making hurricane or tornado design key.

How Madico Window Film Can Help

Madico is committed to providing window films for residential and commercial buildings that can withstand whatever severe weather throws your way. When designing buildings for storm-prone areas, trust Madico to keep your windows and your building's occupants safe.

Helps Hold Shattered Glass Together

Our safety and security films provide 24/7 protection against accidents involving flying glass. Madico's anti-shatter film, like SafetyShield®, increases your windows' durability during storms and features a strong adhesive layer designed to hold and contain shards of broken glass in place. All of our safety and security films are extensively tested to meet criteria outlined by CPSC, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission and Underwriters Laboratories.

Our SafetyShield® natural disaster mitigation window films have:

• A longitudinal tensile strength averaging 28,000 pounds per square inch MD/TD
• A traverse tensile strength averaging 36,000 pounds per square inch MD/TD
• Break strengths ranging from 210-450 pounds per inch
• Yield strengths of 14,000 pounds per square inch average MD/TD

Prevents Debris From Entering Your Home

Our safety and security films also offer round-the-clock protection against flying debris breaking through your home or business's windows during natural disasters. These films, including Madico's Clear film, are shatter-resistant in high-powered storms and can prevent water and wind-borne debris from entering your home.

Our Clear natural disaster mitigation window film has:

• A tensile strength averaging 25,000 pounds per square inch MD/TD
• Break strengths ranging from 100-325 pounds per inch
• Peel strengths ranging from 3 to 6 pounds per inch
• Single and multi-ply structure options

Explore more of Madico's options for natural disaster mitigation window films today so you can begin designing buildings for storm-prone areas.

Additional Benefits of Window Tint

Along with protection against Mother Nature's harsh elements, Madico's window films offer unique solutions to everyday issues like privacy, sun glare and energy costs.

1. Add Your Own Decorative Flair

With Madico's decorative films, you can create a building or home that stands out. With tint options to suit every home or business's style, our customization option allows you to add personality and uniqueness to your building.

Decorative window tints can give your exterior a sleek and uniform look. For businesses looking to draw customer attention, our printables series allows you to make window displays and interior glass walls come alive with graphics and murals, which can promote your building's style or brand.

2. Add Privacy

Madico's decorative films give you the option to create privacy within your home or business. Block out 100% of natural light with our Black Out film or imitate etched glass with Frost Matte to increase privacy. Use decorative films to create privacy within office building conference rooms, retail environments or restaurants, or for residential bathrooms, kitchens and glass doors.

3. Cut Glare

Our commercial and residential window films allow natural light to illuminate indoor spaces while reducing glare at the same time. No matter the style of solar control window film you choose for your building, you'll create a comfortable, glare-free work or living environment for tenants. Our window films can reduce glare by up to 91%, increasing workplace productivity and residential comfortability.

4. Decrease Energy Costs

With Madico's residential and commercial window tints, you can create a better temperature-regulated building without increasing the building's energy bill. These architectural window films retain heat in the winter and reflect it in the summer. 

By regulating these outdoor temperature influences, you can create less of a temperature disparity within your homes and buildings and ultimately save money on annual energy costs. With our commercial and residential solar control window films, you'll create a comfortable environment for your building's occupants without needing to increase your budget.

Get Support Today

Madico is a proud member of ARCAT, a leading online resource featuring product information, specifications, catalogs, LEED information and videos for architects, engineers and specifiers. To learn more about how you can incorporate natural disaster mitigation window film into your next commercial or residential project, explore our product film series.

Still have some questions about the benefits and features of Madico products? Get support from one of our dedicated engineers on staff.