At our house on the beach in Zacatitos we had hurricane fabric to protect the windows on both levels facing the beach. We chose fabric because we really didn’t want large rolls of aluminum shutters on each side or on the top of windows and doors. When we moved to Pueblo Campestre Phase 2 in December 2022, we also had to start thinking about hurricane protection for the townhouse. We knew that we would have at least three important decisions to make in choosing hurricane protection solutions.

1. Which windows and doors would be cover? Insurance companies will not provide protection from hurricanes unless all the windows and doors in the property have hurricane protection. However, with past hurricanes, the residents say that the only damage that Pueblo Campestre has seen was to the third-floor pergola. In our case, because of modifications due to our solar system, the combination of concrete pillars, angle iron on each beam to the main posts and a patented mounting system for the solar panels – with space between them, we were not worried about this damage. Similarly, with walled courtyards that we be cleared of furniture, the potential for damage would be lower. As a result, we decided to cover the two french doors to the living room and dining room, the kitchen window and the french doors to the second floor bedroom suite.

2. What type of hurricane protection to select? As with our house in Zacatitos, aesthetics was an important part of the decision in the selection of the type of hurricane protection. We walked around Pueblo Campestre, Hacienda and Montecito to look at the mounting systems that appeared to be most popular in Club Campestre. A lot of the houses had the traditional aluminum fold out shutters, which in most cases did not even match the color of the structure. To us, this meant that you would always see them, whether in use or not. Some had similar fabric systems to the one in our house in Zacatitos – eye hooks screwed into position around the windows to which the fabric was connected with straps that can be tightened. There were a few houses, however, that had small boxes that held fabric that appear to be motorized and some windows that just had metal along the sides, matched to the color of the home in which fabric protection would be inserted. This alternative was the most aesthetically pleasing to us as it would not completely disrupt the design of the townhouse. Some homeowners choose the bulkier aluminum shutter systems for added protection against a break in when they spend a significant time away from the property during the hurricane season. As full-time residents, this was not as important to us.

3. Who will we choose to install the hurricane protection system? I had interviewed several companies when we update the hurricane protection for the house in Zacatitos. At the time, none of them offered the thin, color matched system that we had seen at a few houses in Campestre. One of the fairway homes had the type of fabric system in which we were interested covering their two garage doors. It turned out that this home belongs to Bert and Laurie Huisman, the owners of Baja Screens. We had used Baja Screens to install the phantom screens throughout our house and so we knew the quality of the team, installation and the attention to detail. We asked Bert to visit and outline the alternatives for us and their associated costs.