Information
Impact windows vs roof — which first.
People get sold openings while the deck is still the hole in the house. Sequence the work. Then spend the insurance credit on what the form actually scores.
Information
Harden the lid before you polish the glass.
1. The deck is still the weak point
Impact glass keeps wind-borne debris out of the room. It does not keep rain out of an attic once the shingles peel. After Ian, dry interiors tracked with sealed decks and attached coverings more than with new sliders alone. Openings matter. They are not the whole envelope.
2. A working sequence
- Know the roof: covering age, deck nails, SWR, leaks.
- If the covering or deck is due, reroof and document the deck and SWR for the wind-mitigation form.
- Then openings — weakest first, usually the garage door and the large sliders.
- Roof-to-wall connectors if the attic can take them and the form still shows toe-nails.
- File a current OIR-B1-1802 after the work, not before.
3. Insurance logic
Credits stack by line on the form. A new roof covering without SWR or deck nails leaves money on the table. Opening protection does not fix a “no SWR” check. Carriers also look at the weakest opening, so one impact window does not grade the house as fully protected.
Ask the agent which lines move this policy before you write the first check. Then do those lines in an order that does not make you tear work out later.
4. When doing both in one season is worth it
One permit cycle, one inspection window, one form at the end. Worth it when the roof is due anyway and the openings are already the next credit. Not worth it when the roof is sound and the only quote on the table is glass — do the form first and see.
Doing glass first on a roof that will be stripped next year means living through two disruptions and no sealed-deck photos from a reroof you still have to buy.
5. Questions to ask
- What does the current wind-mitigation form already give us?
- Is the deck or the covering the next failure?
- Which opening is the weakest on the form?
- If we only afford one project this season, which line moves the premium and the water risk?
CGC1540882 · CBC059473 · CCC1330892 · CPC1458687
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