New Hanover County home featuring aluminum storm panels from AHS, providing hurricane protection for Ogden, Wilmington
Southport, North Carolina

Hurricane Storm PanelsSouthport, NC

$22/sq ft in aluminum, $26/sq ft in clear polycarbonate, installed. The lowest-cost rated protection we fit, and the only one that leaves the front of an old house looking exactly as it did.

$22/sq ft
Aluminum Installed
$26/sq ft
Clear Polycarbonate
Southport NC
Location
ASTM E1886/E1996
Rated To
Removable
Nothing On Show

Southport, Brunswick County

Why storm panels are the right answer on more Southport houses than anyone admits

Aluminum storm panels in Southport are $22/sq ft installed. Clear polycarbonate panels are $26/sq ft. Both carry the same ASTM E1886/E1996 rating as accordions, roll-downs and rated Bahamas. The certification is identical; what differs is how much work you do and how much of the house shows it.

That second part is why panels deserve more attention in Southport than they usually get. The tracks or anchor points stay on the building and the panels themselves live in the garage, so for the whole year except the few days you deploy them, the elevation is unchanged. On the historic streets that is the difference between protecting a house and altering it, and it is a conversation we have on almost every downtown quote.

The clear polycarbonate option at $26 is worth the extra four dollars more often than people expect. Aluminum panels turn every protected room completely dark, and a multi-day outage in a blacked-out house is genuinely miserable. Clear panels keep daylight in the rooms while you wait for power, and you can see what the weather is doing.

The catch is labor and it is real. Panels are carried out, lifted into the tracks and fastened before each storm, then taken down, cleaned and stacked afterward. On a large house that is most of a day and it usually needs two people. This is the right product for a full-time resident with garage space and the willingness to do the work — and the wrong one for almost everybody else.

Aluminum panels$22 per square foot installed
Clear polycarbonate$26 per square foot installed
LocationSouthport, NC (Brunswick County)
RatingASTM E1886/E1996 — identical to permanent systems
Visible year-roundTracks or anchors only, no housings or boxes
StorageRequired — panels stack flat in a garage or shed
DeploymentCarried, lifted and fastened per opening before each storm
Best forFull-time residents with storage and the willingness to work
Nothing on the facade, 360 days a year
Every other rated system leaves something permanently visible — a housing, a head box, a hinged leaf. Panels leave tracks or anchor points that read as trim and nothing else. On a Southport street where the houses are the reason people visit, that is not a small distinction, and it is the argument we lead with downtown.

When storm panels are the wrong choice in Southport

The price is the attraction and the labor is the catch. Be honest with yourself about the second one.

An owner who is not here
Panels protect nothing from four hours away. If you are a second-home owner or the house is rented, the labor requirement is disqualifying no matter how good the price looks. Accordions, motorized roll-downs or permanently mounted flat poly solve that instead.
A house with more openings than you can carry
Twenty-plus openings is a two-person day, every time, with a storm coming. We have seen people buy panels for the price, deploy them once, and never do it again. Half-deployed panels are a house with unprotected glass.
No dry place to keep them
Panels need flat, dry storage you can get to quickly. If the garage is full and the shed is not weather-tight, you will end up with warped panels and a bad day when it matters.

Questions we get in Southport

How much are storm panels in Southport?
$22 per square foot installed for aluminum and $26 per square foot for clear polycarbonate. Both prices include the tracks, the anchors, the permit and the design pressure analysis.
Are panels as strong as permanent shutters?
Yes. Panels carry the same ASTM E1886/E1996 rating as accordions and roll-downs and qualify for the same wind mitigation credit. You are trading convenience for cost, not protection for cost.
Are panels better for a historic house?
Often, yes, and it is the argument we make downtown. Nothing stays on the face of the building except the tracks or anchors, so the elevation is unchanged for the whole year outside the few days they are up. Confirm with the city before you order, as with anything on a historic facade.
Why pay $26 for clear polycarbonate?
Because aluminum panels make every protected room pitch dark, and outages here last days. Clear panels keep daylight in the house and let you see the weather. Four dollars a square foot is a small premium for not sitting in the dark for three days.
How long do they take to put up?
Budget most of a day for a full house, usually with two people. That labor is the entire trade-off. If the honest answer is that you will not do it, buy accordions instead and spend the difference once.

Why Southport homeowners call AHS

Founded in 2006 by Michael Burns. We fabricate and install ourselves — no subcontractors on your house.

OSHA-30 Certified
The only OSHA-30 certified hurricane shutter company in coastal NC and SC.
Design Pressure Analysis
Calculated per opening on your house, not to the county minimum.
7-Year Workmanship Warranty
If anything fails because of our installation, we come back and fix it.

Related Resources

Storm Panels →Flat Polycarbonate Oak Island →Hurricane Shutters Southport →Cost Calculator →

Storm Panels for Your Southport Home

Free measurement and a written quote. We will tell you honestly whether you are the kind of owner who will actually put them up.

(910) 256-1288
Available 24/7 · Free estimates
Request Free Estimate
Matthew Burns
Latest posts by Matthew Burns (see all)
Scroll to Top