Moisture Intrusion is one of the biggest problems you will have to deal with if you own a home. Mold is the result of moisture intrusion. There are several locations you will have to deal but the one of the biggest water intrusion locations we will deal with in this article.
The sliding glass door typically opens into the living area. Most of them open into a Living Room or a bedroom. This is one of the weakest defenses of your home. If you live in hurricane prone areas it is even more susceptible to water intrusion. If you get water intrusion at this location, you can definitely expect to see signs of possible mold. In 75% of all homes we inspect, we always find water damage at both sides of the lower tracks on the drywall at both ends. This is worse if you do not have an overhang on this part of the house.
Let's talk about water intrusion from a hurricane. If you have one of the old style sliding glass doors, you have a serious problem. The first thing you say is "I have storm shutters on my sliding glass doors". Well guess what, the shutters do not stop the water intrusion or the wind intrusion. I inspected a house in Boca Raton,Fl. after Hurricane Wilma and they had shutters too. The wind pressure blew the sliding glass doors out of the tracks into the house. The entire room was soaked from wind driven rain. The worst part about it was the mold that started to grow in the Living Room from the moisture intrusion. There was no electric for over week and the mold definitely began growing on the drywall.
Your next question is why did that happen? The problem with the old style sliding glass doors is a very small track on the top and bottom to hold them in from wind pressure. The door will bow under pressure and blow out even with shutters on the door. Imagine a large sliding glass door bowing or bending under pressure from the wind. The strangest thing about this experience was the doors landed on the couch and never broke. Personally, I live in Florida and have no sliding glass doors for that reason. I do not want a mold problem if it can be prevented.
The new style hurricane rated sliding glass doors are reinforced at all areas so they cannot blow out. In fact, their biggest problem you will have is getting over the elevated threshold or what is called a water dam. This is what keeps water out of your home at the bottom during a hurricane. If you live in a hurricane prone area, I would highly recommend you change your sliding glass doors out. There is an old saying, pay now or pay later. You either change these outdated sliding glass doors or pay for the damage from the wind driven rain later which can result in mold.
In conclusion, I would recommend any sliding glass door that meets the strict Miami-Dade County Building Code for Impact Resistant Sliding Glass Doors so you will get the benefit of the new wind and impact rated glass and frames. I have a client who recently installed the new hurricane impact sliding glass doors by PGT Industries. The good thing about the impact windows, they are a real deterrent against mold and burglary break-ins also. If you have any questions, feel free to call us or visit our website..
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