Every June, South Florida homeowners run the same checklist: water, batteries, gas in the car, shutters located, photos of the house for insurance. The garage door rarely makes the list, and yet it is the one part of the house that decides whether the rest of the checklist matters. This is the garage-door-specific playbook we give our own customers in Broward and Palm Beach County: what to do at the start of the season, in the 48 hours before landfall, during the storm, and in the days after, including the part almost everyone gets wrong.

Part 1: The start of the season (June)

Do this once, early, while nothing is on the radar.

Find out what door you have. Open it, go inside, and look at the inside face of the panels for the manufacturer label. You are looking for an approval number (a Florida FL number or a Miami-Dade NOA) and design pressures written as positive and negative PSF. If there is no label, or you cannot read it, treat the door as unrated. In Broward County that means it would not meet today's code; in Palm Beach it means it probably would not either, and it will not earn you insurance credit. Our full guide to hurricane-rated doors in Broward and Palm Beach covers what the label means.

Decide now if it needs replacing. Rated doors are built to order. Lead time is measured in weeks, permits add more, and once a storm has a name every garage door company in South Florida is booked. If you know the door is old or unrated, June is when to call, not September.

Get a tune-up. A door heading into hurricane season should have tight hinges, properly tensioned springs, rollers that are not cracked, tracks that are plumb and firmly anchored to the jambs, and a bottom seal that actually touches the slab. A door that rattles in an afternoon thunderstorm will not hold in a hurricane. We check every anchor point, because the door is only as strong as the brackets holding the track to the wall.

Test the battery backup. If your opener has one, unplug the opener and run the door. If it does not move, the battery is dead. Batteries live a short life in a South Florida garage; the heat cooks them. If your opener has no battery backup at all, this is the season to add one or replace the opener. Florida does not require it by law the way California does, but after Irma, Ian, and every storm since, we consider it essential in this area.

Practice the manual release. Find the red cord hanging from the opener trolley. With the door fully closed, pull it. Lift the door by hand. It should rise smoothly and stay put at waist height. If it is heavy, drops, or flies up, the springs are out of balance and that is a safety issue to fix before you need to rely on it. Re-engage the trolley afterward.

Check the surroundings. Trees, patio furniture, trash cans, and anything else in the driveway or yard is a missile aimed at your garage door. Trim, tie down, or plan where it goes.

Part 2: The 48 hours before landfall

Once a watch or warning is issued for Broward or Palm Beach, work down this list.

Stop using the door. Every open-and-close cycle is stress. Park the cars where you want them, then leave the door closed.

Clear the garage. Move anything on the inside that could be thrown around if the door fails. Put valuables up off the floor in case water comes under the door.

Bracing kits: use them if you have them, and understand what they are. If your door is older and you own a vertical bracing kit, install it now, before winds pick up. Working around a garage door in gusts is dangerous, and you should be done before sustained winds reach 35 mph. Anchor the floor plates into the structural slab, never into a topping layer or tile. Know that a bracing kit does not make an old door code-compliant and does not earn insurance credit; it just adds stiffness for this one storm. If you have a modern rated door, it does not need a kit; everything it needs is built into it.

Decide: opener connected or disconnected? There are two schools of thought, and we get asked about this constantly.

  • Some people pull the manual release before the storm so the door sits free on its springs and the opener's trolley is not fighting the pressure. If you do this, you can also engage the door's slide lock or a manual lock for extra resistance. Never engage a slide lock while the opener is still connected; the opener will try to open a locked door and strip its gear.
  • Others leave the opener connected because the trolley holds the door closed against wind trying to lift it.

Our recommendation for most homes: leave the opener connected on a rated door in good balance. On an older or unrated door, disconnect it, lock it, and brace it. Either way, know how to get the door open by hand afterward, because the power will be out.

Photograph the door, inside and out. Take a clear photo of the label, the tracks, and the closed door. If you file a claim, these are your "before" pictures.

Put the paperwork somewhere dry. Permit, product approval, and installation invoice in a zip bag with your other insurance documents.

Part 3: During the storm

Stay out of the garage. If the door is going to fail, it will do so violently, and the garage is the most dangerous room in the house while the wind is up. Do not open the door to check on it, do not open it to move a car, and do not try to hold it. If you hear the door banging or see daylight around the edges, close the door between the garage and the house and stay away from it.

Part 4: After the storm

This is the part people get wrong, and it is where most post-hurricane garage door injuries and follow-up damage happen.

Do not open a damaged door. Walk around it first. If the door is bowed, off its tracks, has a section pushed in, or took a debris hit, do not run the opener and do not pull the release and lift it. A door that has come partially off track can drop, and a bent track can throw the door on the first cycle. Photograph it and call us. We do emergency post-storm calls throughout Broward and Palm Beach.

If the door looks fine, inspect before you operate. With the door still closed:

  • Look along the track sections from the inside for any bends or kinks.
  • Check the bottom seal and the floor for debris, sand, and standing water.
  • Look at the bracket bolts where the tracks meet the jambs. Anything loosened?
  • Check for light gaps around the edges of the closed door that were not there before.

Opening with no power. Pull the red release cord, lift the door by hand, and prop it if you need to. Reconnect the trolley when power returns by pulling the cord again and running the opener; most openers re-engage automatically as the trolley passes.

If water got in. Salt or brackish water is the enemy of garage door hardware. If the garage flooded, hose down the bottom of the tracks, the rollers, the hinges, and the bottom section with fresh water as soon as it is safe, dry what you can, and lubricate the moving parts. Left alone, salt-contaminated hardware starts corroding within days, and the cables and springs are what fail first.

Openers and electronics. If the opener was submerged or the garage took water above the outlet, do not plug it back in. Have it checked. A water-damaged opener is a fire and shock risk.

Check the sensors. Photo-eye sensors near the floor get knocked out of alignment by debris and water. If the door reverses when closing after the storm, that is usually why.

Document everything before you fix anything. If you have damage, photograph it from several angles, keep any debris that hit the door, and call your insurer before repairs beyond emergency securing. Keep our invoice; it becomes part of your claim.

What a failed garage door actually leads to

It helps to understand why we are this insistent. When a garage door fails in a hurricane, wind enters the garage and the pressure inside the house rises. That pressure now pushes upward on the roof from underneath at the same time the wind is pulling on it from above. Roof decking lifts, water pours in, and the damage moves from the garage to the whole house. IBHS found that about 90% of homes whose garage door held through a storm had no structural roof damage. Keep the door closed and intact, and most of the rest of your house takes care of itself.

Frequently asked questions

Should I tape or reinforce my garage door with plywood? Plywood over a garage door is not a tested system and is difficult to anchor safely. If your door is unrated, a properly installed bracing kit is a better temporary measure, and a rated door is the real fix.

How do I open my garage door when the power is out? Pull the red emergency release cord on the opener trolley with the door closed, then lift the door by hand. If it is heavy or will not stay up, stop and call us; the springs need attention.

How long does a battery backup last? Most give you somewhere between a handful and a few dozen cycles depending on the door's weight and the battery's age. It is meant to get the car out, not to run the door for a week. Use it sparingly.

Is it safe to use the garage door right after the storm? Only after you have looked at it. Any bend, gap, or off-track section means do not operate it. When in doubt, call.

Does my insurance cover garage door damage from a hurricane? Typically yes, subject to your hurricane deductible. Your permit and product approval paperwork helps the claim go smoothly. We are not insurance advisors; check your policy and talk to your agent.

Can Ultra Garage Doors come out after a storm? Yes. We run emergency service across Broward and Palm Beach after every storm, prioritizing doors that are off-track or cannot be secured. Call 561-494-4070.

Ultra Garage Doors has been getting South Florida garage doors through hurricane season since 2007. If you are not sure what door you have, want a battery backup added, or need a tune-up before the season, call us at 561-494-4070. If you are reading this after a storm with a door you cannot open, call that same number; we will get to you.