Windows in thunderstorms and high winds: how to protect your home

Official storm guidance tells occupants to close doors and windows and secure loose items such as ladders, garden furniture and decorations. Pots, tools and lightweight balcony equipment can become projectiles. Even suitable safety glazing can be damaged by a solid object accelerated by the wind.

Turn each handle to its fully locked position, close patio doors and do not leave a leaf on night ventilation. Move fragile objects away from large panes and identify an internal place away from glazing if warnings escalate. Do not go outdoors during the storm to retrieve furniture or repair an external blind.

Opening windows is not an appropriate pressure strategy for an ordinary home. It creates a route for rain and gusts, loads the hardware, can make the leaf slam and may raise pressure inside the building. Met Office guidance is to close and securely fasten windows and doors, particularly on the windward side.

Where a combustion appliance, smoke-control system or specialist ventilation arrangement requires a defined air path, follow its design and instructions. A manually tilted window is not a substitute for engineered ventilation or a wind-resistant opening strategy.

The correct position for a roller shutter, external venetian blind or screen depends on the exact product, its declared wind resistance and the manufacturer's instructions. A lowered domestic shutter is not automatically a hurricane shutter. A partly lowered curtain or unsecured bottom bar may be especially exposed to gusts.

For automated shading, check that a wind sensor overrides the normal solar programme and can act without an internet connection. If the instructions require the blind to retract above a wind threshold, do not disable that protection. Never adjust an external system during the storm where doing so requires stepping onto a balcony or terrace.

Product standard EN 14351-1 covers characteristics including resistance to wind load, watertightness and air permeability for windows and external pedestrian doors. There is no single correct class for every building. The required performance depends on location, height, facade exposure, element dimensions, subdivision and opening arrangement.

A large opening leaf, corner window or exposed upper-storey facade may need a different profile, reinforcement, glass and fixing pattern from a small window in sheltered housing. Product performance cannot compensate for weak installation. Supports and anchors must transfer loads into the building structure, while the perimeter joint must remain properly executed.

Do not touch cracked glass or a loose facade component. Inspect from a safe position and keep people away from the area below. If the pane is damaged, the leaf rubs, the handle no longer completes its travel or the frame has moved from the wall, avoid forcing the mechanism and arrange professional assessment.

Check trickle vents, drainage paths, gaskets and sills as well. A small ingress during exceptional wind-driven rain does not necessarily have the same cause as a recurring leak in ordinary weather. Record wind direction, the point where water appeared and clear photographs to make diagnosis more reliable.

Before the storm season, confirm handles move smoothly, opening leaves have not dropped, seals are continuous and blind fixings are secure. Clear drainage openings according to the maintenance instructions and request adjustment if a sash has to be pushed into place. Randomly tightening hardware without understanding the mechanism can make its operation worse.

For a home with several large glazed openings, keep a short pre-storm checklist and assign responsibility. A few calm minutes spent securing doors, terrace items and alerts is more effective than improvising after the wind already makes outside movement hazardous.