Crime & Hurricanes
Home invasion is similar in both Hurricanes and Crime.
Both forces attack our living spaces and leave a path of destruction
behind,
material damage as well as emotional distress. Results from a crime
attack are property damage, often times physical harm and in most
cases leave psychological damage. The results of a hurricane affects
us in a similar way.
Observing how we are protecting ourselves from such crime or hurricane
attacks, it suggests that we may re-evaluate our approaches and techniques
and start looking at these two threats as being the same.
Our first instinctive approach to ward of such attacks are very similar
also.
Although the temporary plywood
solution has worked well in the past, it comes with limitations as
to it’s use. One, you have to be
there when the storm approaches, you feel encapsulated and boxed in,
and the plywood has to be re-applied for every new storm. The permanent
protection in the middle will protect from flying debris and intruders
but also negates the idea of having a window at all. The 3rd picture
looks like a normal window but in fact is impact resistant and will
stop
flying debris from entering your home.
How we can protect
ourselfs simultaneously against crime and hurricanes ?
First, let us analyze how
each element is impacting our property and our lives.
Hurricanes: After researchers from the Partnership for Advancing
Technology in Housing (PATH) studied how houses withstood the
2005 storms as well
as the kinds of damage the houses suffered, a surprising conclusions
surfaced.
Wind damage accounted for only a fraction of the destruction
and the real causes are flying objects and water intrusion. When
flying objects
pierce windows and doors, hurricane force winds enter the home.
The internal pressure causes the roof to blow off, resulting
in massive
structural and water damage.
Crime: In the aftermath of Katrina, property crimes increased
to a level never before seen. Even now, after New Orleans is
policed again,
statistic figures are amongst the highest in the country.
First point of intrusion is any one of the exterior doors.
Mostly by picking the locks and/or by breaking the locking
mechjanism
or hinge
set. Especially vulnerable are sliding doors as they are simply
lifted off their tracks. The second choice is breaking the
glass of a window,
releasing the closing mechanism and entering.
What both threats have in common is the fact that the original
penetration is through the windows/doors. Knowing this fact,
it then suggest that
we can start designing a system of protection which addresses
both threats, crime and hurricanes.
SwissShade windows and doors combine heavy-duty aluminum or
steel reinforced vinyl frames with impact-resistant laminated
glass
and a multi-point
locking mechanism.
Laminated glass is constructed
by bonding a tough a Polyvinylbutyral (PVB) plastic interlayer between
two pieces of glass under heat and
pressure. Once sealed, the glass "sandwich" behaves as a
single unit and appears transparent, just like ordinary glass.
When objects break an impact-resistant window during a storm or by
the impact of an intrusion tool such as a hammer or crow bar, the opening
is not penetrated because of the strength and energy-absorbing capability
of the interlayer. People are protected because the glass fragments
adhere to the interlayer.
Fringe benefits of laminated lass are protection of the interior of
the home from the sun's damaging UV rays, filtering out up to 99 percent
of the harmful rays.
The interlayer and the weight of the glass also provides noise abatement
that is greater than double-pane insulated glass. For example, the
dB value of standard insulated glass jumps from 32 dB to 42 dB for
an A 3 laminated security glass.
These laminated glass panes can be designed and built to many different
security levels, from a burglarproof / hurricane resistant levell all
the way to a bulletresistant level, protecting against bullets from
pistols and rifles. The following tables give you an idea as to the
different levels and their respective thickness and weight:
Multi-Point Locking mechanism: Each opening window and/or balcony door
has an integrated and multi-point locking mechanism with a minimum
of 7 cam locks per opening.
Like in a safe, this technology locks the sash into the window/door
frame, all the way around. In addition, this mechanism allows you
to tilt the window inwards on top AND/OR open the window by turning
it
inside like a casement window. The tilt mode allows you to get fresh
air while still being protected against intrusion. The turn mode
allows for a quick escape route if so needed.
