Florida Information Page

The State of Florida has issued a Florida Building Code reference number of FL5723.1, code year 2004, that covers the 4' x 8' polycarbonate panel offered by our firm. I do not claim to be an expert in these administrative matters. However, I thought it would be appropriate to offer the following commentary on this topic.

My understanding of this matter is that the State of Florida requires the installation of "approved" storm panels at some point prior to issuing a final Certificate of Occupancy to the home builder/owner of a new home. As far as I know, there is no such requirement imposed by any public or private agency on an existing home in Florida. In other words, as the homeowner you are entitled to put up anything you desire on your home as a storm panel (including nothing). If you want to put cardboard up - that's your business and nobody can say "Boo" about it. (I can't say I'd recommend this though - it gets all soggy when wet.)

However, if it, for some reason, is important to you that your storm panel installation is compliant with Florida FL5723.1 then you must follow the exact installation methods utilized when certification testing was conducted (as documented on the Gallina web site). As I understand it, this means you must use the male PanelMate anchors, the wingnuts, the rubber washers and the fiberglass rods described there (none of which I used or offer for sale). Further, you must not span more than a 4x8 opening. If this makes sense to you, God bless you.

If, however, you are convinced that you are capable of deciding what constitutes an adequate installation technique, you are welcome and encouraged to consider the goods offered on our web site.

If you have any information to contribute on this topic, I'm all ears.