You might’ve heard the idea that opening your windows during a hurricane can reduce the stress on your home’s roof and walls as it’s being battered by the wind. But is this really true? According to the Mythbusters, it probably is.
The team created a scaled-down house out of sheet metal and plexiglass to find out and placed it inside of an enclosed wind tunnel. But this wasn’t just any scale model; it was equipped with hydraulic cylinders that could indicate roof and wall movement with the help of colored fluid.
Upon cranking the wind speeds up to 60 miles per hour, the team could discern differences in roof and wall stress as the windows were opened and closed during testing. Upon analyzing the results, they found that a house with all windows opened experienced less wind stress than a home with no or only some windows opened.
Obviously, the test doesn’t consider how high-speed wind might impact the belongings inside of your house if you were to open your windows during a hurricane. But at least it demonstrates that your home could better survive the winds.
