Garage doors are one of the most vulnerable parts of the home during high winds.

High winds can push a garage door inward, allowing pressure to build inside the garage and push up on the roof and surrounding walls—often resulting in major damage to your home.

The good news? Wind-rated garage doors that have been tested to withstand these pressures are available and can help protect your home.

However, while modern building codes require garage doors to be wind-rated, it’s difficult to know which doors are rated and which aren’t.

Additionally, prior to 2006, there were no requirements for wind-rated doors for homes built outside of Florida, and even today, some areas have not yet adopted a modern building code.

Check Your Garage Door for a Label

Look for a label on your garage door that shows it’s rated for wind pressures in positive and negative PSF (pounds per square foot). If it doesn’t have a label, or the label is missing this information, you don’t know if it’s wind-rated or not. And if it’s not wind-rated, it doesn’t meet modern codes, and may not stand up to high winds.

Purchase a New Garage Door

If you’re not sure whether your garage door is wind-rated, it’s best to purchase a new one that is.

  1. Consult your local building department or a local garage door dealer to find out the wind rating required in your area.
  2. Look for a garage door with a label showing that particular wind rating.
  3. Remember—don’t peel off the label!

Brace Your Existing Garage Door

If you’re unable to buy a new garage door or cannot find one that is wind-rated for your area, you can reinforce your existing garage door temporarily with a brace ahead of severe weather.

An IBHS survey found that 80%–90% of garage doors away from coastlines are not labeled properly for their wind resistance, or at all.

Look for doors tested to one of these standards:

  • ASTM E330
  • ANSI/DASMA 108
  • Florida Building Code TAS 202

Learn more about how to protect your home from high winds at DisasterSafety.org/hurricane-ready.

Learn more about IBHS research on garage doors at IBHS.org.