Regarding hurricane shutters now that Florence is barreling through

It is really best to have a company that specializes in these shutters to put them up. They are attached to the house and usually roll up and down.

Home Depot sells fabric shutters called Astro Guard.

There are many types of shutters. You can install yourself if you have the knowledge and tools to do so. Here are some sites that can explain better than my rambling on . . .

https://www.hometips.com/articles/install-metal-hurricane-shutters.html

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/weather/hurricane/sfl-hc-shutterguide-htmlstory.html

http://www.diyhurricanesupply.com/install.aspx

When we built my girlfriends house we installed 2 types of shutters. Decorative, which are bolted to the house and hurricane / storm shutters which are installed prior to a storm. The hardware was installed while the house was being built so that when a storm was approaching they could easily hook up the metal shutters. Can be done as a retrofit too. Depending on how many windows you have, it can get expensive, but worth it. In her case, it made sense to do so, and their homeowners insurance was a little less as since they had proper protection and they were slightly "less likely" to suffer storm damage.

U really can install them yourself. It's simply bolts that are fixed into your walls around your windows and you have to put the shutters on these bolts and tighten them on with wing nuts. It doesn't take a lot of thought to do this.

Never too late in case it comes again. I'm from New Orleans area. Find out what your insurance company deems as acceptable level of coverage. Some say that board + the clips you can buy at Home Depot/Lowers is good enough. You can buy the big boards and cut them down at home with a jigsaw. The metal looks cooler, but am not sure it protects from the storm pressure.

Have to make custom covers for your doors that covers the outside of the door since not insulated like windows, using like the others say, concrete/siding/wood screws with flat ends so you can just use wing nuts to attach and take off. Try to take off a regular nut after the wet. Be sure to get zinc covered or whatever is weather-resistant so they won't rust if you are going to leave the screws in the walls of the house. And label each one. Sounds all simplistic, but when you're scared and trying to get out, then it is a seamless effort.

Can get some really good cloth ones or metal from FL - the hurricane kings. Look online and price.

Try shade and shutter systems 1800-522-1599

Thank you all for the great information. Definitely going to do something for the next time.