Inspection
Protect glass doors or wood doors with large glass panes as you would windows. Check all doors, including solid wood exterior doors, for loose or missing screws. Strong winds can buckle any door that’s not properly protected and secured.
As you inspect exterior doors, pay attention to hinges. Are any screws missing? How many hinges are there? Having three hinges on outside doors adds strength. You might want to replace existing hinge screws with longer ones to anchor the door to the wall structure.
Be sure the door threshold is tightly screwed into the house, not just the door frame. Adding a one-inch deadbolt to a door also makes it more wind resistant. Since double entry doors fail when their surface bolts break at the header trim or threshold, check the connections at both places. Be sure the surface bolt extends into the door header and through the threshold into the sub-floor. Install head and foot bolts on the inactive door of double-entry doors.
Sliding Glass Doors
Sliding glass doors are more vulnerable to wind damage than most other doors. If you are replacing your patio doors or building a new home, consider installing impact-resistant door systems made of laminated glass, plastic glazing, or a combination of plastic and glass. When a hurricane threatens, an easy, temporary, and effective step is to cover the entire patio door with shutters made of plywood.