A Hurricane Season Glass Checklist That Isn't Just "Buy Plywood"

Plywood over a window does nothing for a pane that's already cracked, a sliding door whose rollers won't let it seat and lock, or a seal that's already failed inside a double-pane unit. Before a storm watch gets posted, walk the house and check four things: existing cracks, door and window locks, what's covering the glass, and what's sitting loose near it. Plywood is the last step, not the whole plan.

Plywood protects glass that's already sound. It does nothing for glass, tracks, or seals that were already failing before the storm ever showed up on radar.

What's Actually on My Pre-Storm Glass Checklist?

I don't start a pre-storm walkthrough by talking about plywood or shutters. I start by checking whether the glass and frames are actually sound, because protection over a pane that's already compromised just delays the same failure. The five things I check, in order: existing cracks or chips, condensation or haze that signals a failed seal, whether every sliding door and window actually latches closed and locked, whether what's covering the glass is rated for wind-borne debris or is just a screen, and what's sitting loose near a window that could become the thing that breaks it.

Most of the emergency calls I get during a storm watch trace back to one of those five, not a house with zero protection. A house with plywood over a cracked pane still ends up with broken glass inside. Fix what's already weak before you cover anything.

Is Palm Beach County in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone?

No, and this is worth getting right because a lot of contractor content online states it backward. The High-Velocity Hurricane Zone (HVHZ) is Miami-Dade and Broward Counties only, defined in Florida Building Code Part II, Chapter 2, Section 202. Palm Beach County is not in it. What Palm Beach County is, entirely, is inside Florida's Wind-Borne Debris Region, which is a separate designation with its own set of protection requirements that apply regardless of HVHZ status.

The Palm Beach County Building Division states directly that all of unincorporated Palm Beach County sits within the wind-borne debris region, confirmed in its own code amendment documents. The HVHZ boundary itself is confirmed independently by Engineering Express, a Florida structural engineering firm summarizing the same code definition. In practice, products tested to a statewide Florida Product Approval are generally sufficient here, where an HVHZ project in Miami-Dade or Broward needs the stricter Miami-Dade NOA testing path. Confirm the specific requirement for your address and permit date with the Palm Beach County Building Division before assuming either way. Code varies by wind speed zone and permit date, and nothing here replaces that confirmation.

Will an Already-Cracked Pane or a Failed Seal Actually Survive a Storm?

Not reliably, and this is the part plywood can't fix. A cracked pane is already under uneven stress, and when a storm drives a rapid pressure change against the house, that crack is the path of least resistance. It's far more likely to run the rest of the way across the pane than sound glass in the same frame. Covering a cracked window with plywood doesn't change what happens behind it. It just means you don't see it happen until you take the board down.

A failed insulated glass unit (IGU), the kind with visible fog or condensation trapped between the panes, has a different problem: the seal holding two panes and a gas fill together has already broken down. That doesn't make the glass structurally weaker on its own, but I've replaced plenty of foggy IGUs that cracked outright the same season a homeowner planned to "deal with it later." If your glazing sits in a location the federal safety glazing standard, 16 CFR 1201, treats as hazardous, that's tempered glass, and tempered glass doesn't crack partway. It's fine or it's gone. Either way, the fix before hurricane season is the same: get the cracked pane or the failed IGU replaced before June 1, not boarded over. My repair-or-replace rule for cracked panes walks through how I make that call on a normal day, and it applies just as much before a storm.

Will Your Sliding Door Actually Lock When the Pressure Changes?

This is the one most homeowners skip, and it's the one I get the most storm-week calls about. A sliding door that drags in its track, or whose rollers have flattened or corroded, often looks closed from a few feet away without actually seating far enough into the frame for the lock to engage. Under normal conditions that's an annoyance. Under wind-driven pressure, a door that isn't fully seated and locked can flex or get pushed enough to fail at the lock strike, not the glass itself.

Salt air is the main reason tracks and rollers go bad here, especially within a mile or two of the coast, where pitted frames and corroded fasteners are common on doors that haven't been serviced in years. Before hurricane season, open and close every sliding door all the way and confirm the lock actually catches. If it doesn't seat clean and lock solid, that's a track or roller repair, worth handling in April, not during a watch when every glass and door company in the county has the same backlog.

Are Storm Screens and Loose Furniture Actually a Risk to Your Glass?

Yes, and both get missed because neither looks dangerous sitting still. A standard insect or patio screen is not rated wind-borne debris protection. It stops bugs and stops a beach ball, not a piece of roofing debris or a branch traveling at hurricane wind speeds, and I've met homeowners who genuinely believed a screened lanai gave their sliding doors some measure of storm protection when it gave them none. If a screen is the only thing between a window and the outside, that window is unprotected.

The furniture question matters just as much. Patio chairs, planters, and grills sitting within throwing distance of a window during hurricane-force wind are potential projectiles aimed at your own glass. Bringing them inside before a storm watch is posted is one of the cheapest things on this checklist, and the one I see skipped most because it doesn't feel like a glass task until it becomes one.

How Should Palm Beach County Homeowners Sequence This Before June 1?

Hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30 per the National Hurricane Center, and the whole point of a checklist is doing this work while you have weeks to schedule it, not the 48 hours before landfall when every glass and board-up company in the county is booked solid. I'd rather replace a cracked pane or service a sliding door track in April than have a homeowner discover in a September storm watch that the job they put off is now a same-night emergency.

If you're in a condo or under an HOA, which covers a large share of Palm Beach County housing, check with your association before scheduling glass work on an exterior-facing unit. A lot of associations treat that glass as a common element requiring board or architectural-review approval, and that process varies building to building, so confirm it early rather than mid-season. If you're a snowbird who won't be back until fall, get someone to walk the house before you leave, not after a storm's already been named. And if a storm does get past your prep and glass breaks anyway, emergency board-up secures the opening until it can be replaced. My solutions page for storm-damaged glass covers what to check once the wind has actually passed.

Get Your Glass Checked Before the Next Storm Watch

If you're not sure whether a crack, a foggy seal, or a sliding door that won't quite lock is a real problem before hurricane season, send me a photo and I'll tell you straight what needs handling now versus what can wait. Get in touch and let's get it sorted before June, not during a watch.