What Carolina Homeowners Can Learn from Florida’s Hurricane Codes

When you’re researching hurricane protection for your home in North or South Carolina, you might come across terms like “Miami-Dade Approved” or “Florida Building Code Rated.” It’s natural to wonder, “Why should I care about building codes from Florida?” The answer is simple: those codes, born from one of the most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history, created the gold standard for storm protection products worldwide.

Understanding these standards is the key to recognizing truly superior protection. At American Hurricane Shutters, we have built our business on providing our Carolina customers with products that are engineered to meet these rigorous, battle-tested standards. This guide explains why that matters for the safety of your home.

A Brief History: Hurricane Andrew and the Birth of Modern Codes

On August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew, a catastrophic Category 5 storm, made landfall in South Florida. The devastation was unprecedented. In its aftermath, engineers and investigators discovered a shocking truth: a huge percentage of the damage was caused by “building envelope failure.”

This is what happened: windows and doors, protected by flimsy shutters or nothing at all, were broken by flying debris. Once an opening was breached, the ferocious winds rushed inside, creating immense internal pressure that blew roofs off and collapsed walls. The buildings exploded from the inside out.

In response, Miami-Dade County developed the most stringent building codes in the world, specifically focused on impact resistance. These new codes mandated that all exterior products, including shutters, had to be able to withstand specific impacts from flying debris, followed by thousands of cycles of wind pressure. This changed the industry forever.

What is Miami-Dade TAS Testing? The Gold Standard

The “TAS” (Testing Application Standard) protocols are the lab tests a shutter must pass to be approved. The most important of these is the impact test:

The Large Missile Impact Test

This is the most dramatic test. To pass, a shutter must be able to withstand a 9-pound 2×4 lumber stud fired from an air cannon at 50 feet per second (34 mph). This simulates the most common type of heavy debris in a major hurricane. The shutter must not be perforated, and the window behind it must remain intact.

Cyclic Wind Pressure Testing

After being impacted, the very same shutter is then subjected to thousands of cycles of inward and outward wind pressure, simulating the violent gusts of a hurricane. The shutter must remain structurally sound and continue to protect the opening without failing.

These tests are brutal, and they are the reason why products that pass them are considered the best in the world. They are scientifically proven to protect the building envelope.

Bringing Florida-Level Protection to the Carolinas

This is the crucial point for every homeowner in Wilmington, Myrtle Beach, and all along our coastline. You don’t have to live in Miami to get Miami-level protection. The catastrophic lessons learned from Hurricane Andrew led to the development of incredibly strong and reliable products that are now available to us here in the Carolinas.

At American Hurricane Shutters, we have deliberately chosen to partner with manufacturers whose products are engineered and tested to these rigorous standards. The ASSA/Bertha HV and Alutech United systems we install are not just “good enough” for Carolina storms; they are built to withstand the worst-case scenarios.

How Our Products Pass the Test:

• Our Bertha HV Roll-Down Shutters use heavy-gauge, interlocking aluminum slats that create a solid, impenetrable barrier.
• Our Bertha HV Accordion Shutters feature a double-walled reinforced construction and heavy-duty locking mechanisms.
• Our Bertha HV Storm Panels, both aluminum and ClearTek polycarbonate, are designed with deep corrugations that provide immense rigidity and impact resistance.
• Our Alutech StormTex Screens use ballistic-grade OmegaTex fabric that absorbs and dissipates impacts like a trampoline.

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