Ernie Hutto from DAB Garage Doors explains that the garage door is the largest opening into any home. Hurricane winds can twist and shred a door, bringing wind force and pressure vacuums into the home and causing building failure. Hurricane Master doors are made of 24-gauge steel to make them more resistant to failure. DAB Hurricane Master doors are strengthened with their patented Interforce system that reinforces the top and bottom panels to prevent door twisting and blow-in. Denver Miller and his crew install the panels starting at the bottom. Reinforcing bars are integral to the design of these hurricane-resistant doors. The Interforce bars are added to the top and bottom panels to give more strength during high winds. The garage-door tracks are also reinforced with seven brackets, a flag bracket, and a 14-gauge steel track. This prevents the tracks from pulling, twisting, and blowing in during a hurricane. The garage door opener is also installed but, as Miller points out, it need not be heavy duty because the strength of the system relies on the torsion springs not the opener. An opener's job is simply to guide the door, not pull it.

Bob talks with Robert Rainey of PJ Overhead Door as the garage door panels and tracks are installed on the Norwell home. The installation of the springs for the garage door can be dangerous, so while it may seem that installing the garage doors is a do-it-yourself job, this may be a job that is best left to a professional. This garage-door installation shows how complicated it is to put a garage door in place. When complete, the new garage doors are a big improvement over the old ones.

Bob gets together with Gary and Earl Raymond from Clairmont Glass as they prepare to install the Clopay garage doors. The openings for the garage doors have arched tops but the doors themselves are rectangular painted hemlock. The door comes in three sections - the bottom and the middle sections are plain and the top section has glass panes set in an arch to match the frame. The first step in the installation is nailing a rubber seal on the bottom of the bottom panel to keep the weather out. The door panels are pre-punched and pre-marked to indicate where the hinges go. Next they put the first panel in place and mount the vertical track. Then they add the second panel and fasten the hinges. With lengths of punched angle attached to the ceiling, they secure the track and put the top section of the door in place. Next they install the torsion spring which, when attached via cable to the door, uses tension to actually lift the door.

Bob takes a look at a new Sears garage door opener — a 3/4 horsepower unit that's among the strongest on the market. The unit features a keypad that allows access if you need to get in the garage from the home's exterior without the remote control. To meet safety requirements, the opener has an electric eye that reverses the door's downward motion if it senses an object (or small child!) in the way.

Carl Redhead is on hand to help install the garage door openers on the automotive end of the barn. Carl explains the various brackets and beams used to mount the opener's drive and reviews the chain material used to move the door. Electric eyes are added for safety.

Bob and Kevin take a brief tour of the project before Bob goes off to meet Kent Forsland of Designer Doors Inc. to look at the new garage doors.

Doors and windows are vulnerable components of your homes protective shell or envelope because they are easily penetrated by wind-borne debris often generated by the high winds of storms like hurricanes. If that envelope is breached during a storm because of the failure of windows and doors, wind, wind-driven rain and debris can enter your home causing considerable damage to its interior and your property. A more critical issue develops when the envelope is breached -- high winds can enter your home and exert high pressure on your walls and roof. These internal pressures combined with the external pressure of wind blowing over your home can lead to catastrophic damage. You can protect your home's openings by installing impact-resistant windows and doors or installing impact resistant coverings, such as shutters over windows and doors. Impact resistant glass and shutters are specifically designed to meet a combination of impact and continuous pressure from the wind. Always use products that have been tested to one of these standards and have been designated as such through a recognized product approval system or evaluation report. Ratings SBCCI SSTD 12 ASTM E 1886 and ASTM E 1996 Miami-Dade Protocols PA 201, PA 202, and PA 203. Impact resistant windows usually consist of a clear plastic-like film sandwiched between two specially-treated pieces of glass, giving the window greater strength than glass alone. Equally important as the strength of the glass is the strength of the window's frame. An impact resistant window is tested as a unit that includes the glass, the frame, as well as the attachment hardware and the installation method. Impact resistant windows should always be installed following the manufacturer's recommendations. Exterior doors should also be wind and impact resistant or protected with an impact resistant covering. Garage Doors Garage doors are particularly vulnerable to high winds, because of the long span of opening they cover and the relatively lightweight material they are made of. Two options are available for strengthening garage doors. Replace the door and track with a system that is designed to withstand high winds and wind-borne debris. The second option is to protect the garage door with a tested and approved impact resistant covering.

The garage doors are being replaced on the Norwell house. Although the project primarily involves adding an in-law suite to the home, homeowner Howard Brickman is replacing the original garage doors and installing two doors on the new garage. Bob talks with Brickman, who built this home 25 years ago on a fairly tight budget. Brickman estimated that construction costs probably ran about $50 per square foot, a figure that would not be possible today. The existing garage doors are fiberboard in a wood frame, with no insulating value. Bob talks with Robert Rainey of PJ Overhead Door about the installation of the new doors. All the hardware has been removed from old door so the sections can be taken out. The hardware is worn and the track is outdated so it will all be replaced with new hardware and operating mechanisms. The new door is a two-sided steel door with a 24-gauge exterior and a 27-gauge interior. The door features two inches of polyurethane insulation, which gives it an R-value of 13 �a vast improvement over the existing doors. The interior side of the door has an embossed wood-grain finish while the exterior has an embossed panel with a carriage-door design. This Amarr Classica 3000 door has the appearance of a wood door and the performance of factory-finished metal. A rubber gasket on the door will act as a seal to prevent air and water from entering the garage. The first panel is put in place and then the track is assembled.

Bob meets up with Ryley, who is installing a Craftsman garage door opener. Ryley starts out by pointing out the best place to start a project is with the instructions. They begin by setting up the track and mounting it to the wall over the door on one side and to the rafters on the motor side. The opener has an infrared sensor that stops the door from closing when an object is in the garage door's way. This was a new feature when the show originally aired.

The Norwell home is getting ready for the foundation pour. It will be a monolithic or single pour as they create the slab and frost walls. Todd LaBarge of LaBarge Engineering reviews some of the steps involved in the process. They will be using an innovative insulated form called ReddiForm. To create the frost wall, they dig down four feet and insert the ReddiForm blocks that snap together. These polystyrene forms can withstand the pressure of backfilling because they have a structural interior web that reinforces them. The frost wall is backfilled and a rebar cage is inserted into and over the ReddiForm blocks. The front face of the form is cut out and the rebar is extended out across the surface where the slab will be poured. The bearing is then transferred up to the top of the slab using this method, which achieves in one pour what would normally require three�footing, frost wall, and floating slab. A column pad is put in place to increase the load for the load-bearing wall. The product used for underslab insulation is called Insul-Tarp. Insul-Tarp can be laid out quickly and easily, saving time and labor costs. This is an all-in-one reflective and insulated vapor barrier. When the radiant tubing is put down over the barrier it will reflect the heat back into the living space instead of allowing it to pass into the ground.