Guide · Wind code · Collier County
How to Tell If Your Garage Door Is Hurricane Rated
There is a label, and it is in a specific place. Five minutes with a phone torch settles it — and it decides whether your insurance credit is real.
Where to look. Open the door fully, stand inside the garage and look at the inside face of the end stile — the vertical steel channel at the left or right edge of a section, usually the second or third one up. Rated doors carry a foil or paper label there with the manufacturer, model, a Florida Product Approval number beginning FL, and the design pressures.
Reading the label on a garage door in Collier County
A wind-rated garage door is not rated because of how it looks or how heavy it feels. It is rated because a specific assembly — sections, track, hinges, end stiles and the exact fasteners — was tested together and approved. The proof of that is a label, and if there is no label, there is no rating.
What the label should say
Manufacturer and model or series. This is what lets anyone order a matching section later without voiding the approval.
A Florida Product Approval number. It starts with FL followed by digits, sometimes with a revision suffix. This is the statewide approval that Collier County builds to.
Design pressures, positive and negative. Written as something like +35.0 / -38.5 psf. Collier County design pressures for typical residential doors run roughly ±40 to ±50 psf in the coastal band and less inland, so a door labelled at ±20 psf is not adequate here even if it has a label.
An impact rating, or not. Look for a reference to ANSI/DASMA 115 (missile impact) alongside DASMA 108 (structural). Structural without impact means the door resists pressure but is not impact-rated, which matters because all of Collier is a wind-borne debris region.
What is not proof
A heavy door. An insulated door. A door with struts across the back — struts stiffen a door but do not confer a rating. A contractor telling you it is “hurricane grade”. A sticker on the outside. And, specifically, a Miami-Dade NOA is a valid credential but it belongs to the High Velocity Hurricane Zone, which is Miami-Dade and Broward. Collier is not HVHZ, so Florida Product Approval is what your permit and your insurer are looking for.
Send us a photo of your label
We will tell you what it is rated for, whether it is impact-rated, and whether it is enough for your part of Collier County.
What if there is no label at all?
Then assume the door is not rated. Labels can be painted over or peel off in a garage that has been through water, but in our experience a door with no label on any section, on either end stile, was not a rated door to begin with.
You have three options. Replace the door with a rated one, which is the only route that also earns the insurance credit. Fit approved opening protection over it, which is possible but rarely cheaper than a door. Or do nothing, which is a decision as long as it is an informed one.
Why the label decides your insurance
Florida wind mitigation uses form OIR-B1-1802, and the opening protection credit is all-or-nothing: every glazed and non-glazed opening in the house has to be protected before any of it counts. A homeowner who has spent $40,000 on impact windows and left a 1998 garage door on the front of the house gets nothing for the windows.
The inspector needs documentation, which in practice means the label, the approval number and photographs. Since April 2026 the form requires photo documentation of each rated component, so an installer who cannot supply that is costing you money. The full picture is on the wind mitigation page.
The five-minute check
- Open the door fully and go inside. Take a phone torch.
- Look at the end stiles. The vertical steel channel on the left and right edge of each section. Start with the second and third sections from the bottom.
- Photograph anything you find. Even a half-legible label is worth keeping.
- Find the FL number. No FL number means no Florida Product Approval.
- Read the pressures. ±40 to ±50 psf is the range you want near the coast in Collier.
- Look for DASMA 115. Structural only is not impact-rated.
Is a rated door worth it if you are not required to have one?
Your existing old door is not illegal. Nothing forces you to replace it until you do replace it, at which point the new one must be rated and permitted — see permits in Collier County. The argument for doing it sooner is that the garage door is the largest opening in the building and the one whose failure pressurises the house from inside, and that the insurance credit typically returns $400 to $1,200 a year.
If cost is the obstacle, the My Safe Florida Home programme covers wind-rated garage doors, with grants up to $10,000 for low-income households and a 2:1 match for moderate incomes.
Related
Not sure what you are looking at?
Photograph the label and send it over. Reading it costs you nothing and it settles the question.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the label on a garage door?
On the inside face of the end stile — the vertical steel channel at the left or right edge of a section — usually on the second or third section up from the bottom. Open the door fully and look from inside the garage.
What does a Florida Product Approval number look like?
It begins with FL followed by digits, sometimes with a revision suffix. That number is the statewide approval Collier County builds to, and it is what a permit application and a wind mitigation inspector are looking for.
Does a Miami-Dade NOA count in Naples?
It is a valid and respected credential, but it belongs to the High Velocity Hurricane Zone, which is Miami-Dade and Broward only. Collier County requires Florida Product Approval. A Miami-Dade approved door here is a voluntary upgrade rather than a requirement.
My door is heavy and has struts. Is it hurricane rated?
Not necessarily. Weight, insulation and struts all stiffen a door but none of them confer a rating. Only a tested and approved assembly with a label does.
What if the label is missing?
Assume the door is not rated. Labels do get painted over or lost after flooding, but a door with nothing on either end stile of any section was usually not rated in the first place.
How much does a wind-rated garage door cost in Naples?
A rated 16×7 steel door installed typically runs a few thousand dollars depending on specification, and it is the only route that also earns the wind mitigation insurance credit. Current ranges are on our pricing page.
Still not sure? Send us a photo and we will tell you straight.
Tell Us What the Door Is Doing
You get the price before anyone drives out, and if you decide not to go ahead you owe us nothing.