Hurricane Screens in Naples, FL
Motorized hurricane screens for Collier County homes — installed and permitted by a Cape Coral-based contractor that works Naples every week.
Naples is a harder job than most of Southwest Florida, and not for the reason people assume. The wind here is survivable. It is the combination of open Gulf exposure, salt, and homes where the view is the asset that makes the wrong hurricane product so expensive — you can armor a Gulf-front lanai and ruin the thing the owner paid for.
What Naples actually took in Ian
When Ian came ashore on 28 September 2022, the wind gusts recorded around Naples topped out near 112 mph. That is a serious number, but it is not the number that did the damage. The water was: 8 to 11 feet of storm surge along the Gulf beaches, and roughly 6.18 feet above mean higher high water past the Naples Pier. Collier County finished with about $2.2 billion in property damage.
That split matters when you are choosing protection, so we will say the part most contractors skip: a hurricane screen is wind and wind-borne debris protection. It is not a flood barrier. Nothing that rolls down over an opening will hold back surge. What a screen does is keep the wind out of the structure and keep flying debris from breaching the envelope — which, above the surge line, is most of what destroys a Naples lanai.
Two Naples, two different problems
Gulf-front and bayfront
Old Naples, Aqualane Shores, Port Royal, Park Shore, Pelican Bay and Bay Colony. In Ian, water breached these from both sides — the Gulf and the bay — and the streets that flooded first were the ones you would expect: Gulf Shore Boulevard, Crayton Cove, Neapolitan Way, Gordon Drive.
Here the design problem is salt and sight lines. These are homes with wide western exposure where the whole point of the room is what you see out of it. An oversized shutter box across the header is a permanent tax on that view, paid every day of the year for the handful of days a decade it earns its keep.
Inland and east Collier
Golden Gate, Golden Gate Estates, Lely, and the newer communities pushing east toward Immokalee Road. Surge is not the threat out here — debris is. Bigger lots, more mature landscaping, more loose material in the air, and generally larger pool cages and lanais than the coast. These are the openings that are too wide for panels and too tall for an accordion to look right.
Why screens, and which one
A motorized screen rolls down from a housing above the opening and closes the entire span in one piece — no panels to store, no track to hang, no seams across a 24-foot lanai. For most Naples homes the real decision is not screens versus shutters. It is which of the two systems fits the opening.
MagnaTrack Defender
Covers up to 30 feet wide by 20 feet high — the widest openings we do, and enough for most Naples lanais in a single screen with no center post. It runs on a dual-pull neodymium magnetic track over a low-friction Keder interlock; the magnetic fields dampen wind and debris and hold the screen flat. Self-Adjusting Technology. Florida Building Code approval #30798, US patent 11,421,474.
UltraShield
Keeps its housing at 7 inches or under at every size — it does not grow as the opening gets wider — with the clearest view out in the industry, patented four-sided end retention and an adjustable base slat that self-levels to a pitched floor up to 1.75 inches. Florida product approval FL-42141.
Both are Florida product-approved for hurricane protection. Which one goes on your house depends on the opening, and that is what the in-home consultation is for. More detail on the systems is on our motorized hurricane screens page.
Permitting in Collier County
This trips people up, so: Naples is not one permitting jurisdiction. If your address is inside the City of Naples, the city’s own building department reviews the job. If you are in unincorporated Collier County — which is most of the addresses people call “Naples,” including the Estates and most of the gated communities east of 41 — it goes through Collier County. Marco Island is separate again.
Collier sits in roughly a 160 to 170 mph design wind speed zone for standard residential Risk Category II construction, varying with how far you are from the coast. Every product on an exterior opening has to carry a valid Florida Product Approval rated for the wind zone at your specific address. Collier does not require a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance — that is a common misconception, and a talking point some companies lean on.
Permitting is handled as part of the job.
Where we work in Collier
Naples, North Naples, Golden Gate, Golden Gate Estates, Pelican Bay, Park Shore, Old Naples, Aqualane Shores, Lely and Marco Island. We are based in Cape Coral, about an hour up 75, and we are in Collier most weeks.
Hurricane screens across Southwest Florida:
Cape Coral · Fort Myers · Punta Gorda · Bonita Springs · Estero · Sanibel · Fort Myers Beach · Port Charlotte · Marco Island · North Fort Myers · San Carlos Park · Babcock Ranch
Hurricane shutters in Naples, FL
Naples is the market where appearance carries real money, so the shutter choice is rarely about cost. Bahama shutters earn their place on street-facing elevations, and roll-down shutters disappear into a housing rather than stacking on a wall you paid an architect to design. Accordion shutters still make sense on side and rear windows nobody looks at, and on the Estates properties east of 41 where there are simply a lot of openings.
Shutters and screens are different products doing different jobs, and most houses in Naples end up with some of each. If you are not sure which your openings want, that is exactly what the call is for.
Product pages for Naples
Accordion shutters in Naples
Where they belong on a Naples house, and where something less visible belongs instead.
Bahama shutters in Naples
The Old Naples vocabulary, plus permanent shade on west-facing Gulf glass.
Roll down shutters in Naples
Invisible when up. Specify during design and the housing disappears into the wall.
Storm panels in Naples
Fewer sold here, and the two situations where they are still the right buy.
Roll down screens in Naples
Naples lanais run larger than anywhere. Up to 30ft in one span, no centre post.
Impact windows in Naples
EAS units – and an honest word on the opening glass cannot cover.
Talk to us about your openings — Naples
Tell us what you are looking at and someone from our team will call you the same business day. We go through it on the phone first — your openings, the products that actually fit, what is involved — and if it is a fit we come out and put a written quote in your hand. No charge and no obligation.
Naples hurricane screen questions
Do I need a permit for hurricane screens in Naples?
Yes. Every hurricane screen or shutter installation on an exterior opening requires a building permit, either from the City of Naples or from Collier County depending on your address. Permitting is handled as part of the job.
Will a hurricane screen protect my house from storm surge?
No, and be careful with anyone who tells you otherwise. Hurricane screens are rated for wind pressure and wind-borne debris. Surge is a flood problem and is handled through elevation, flood openings and flood insurance, not through screens.
Does a motorized screen block my view of the Gulf?
When it is up, you see the housing and nothing else — which is why housing size matters so much on the coast. The UltraShield housing stays at 7 inches or under regardless of how wide the opening is. When the screen is down it is a storm condition, not a view condition.
Can one screen cover my whole lanai?
Usually. MagnaTrack Defender spans up to 30 feet wide by 20 feet high in a single screen, which covers the large majority of Naples lanais and pool cages without a post in the middle.
Do these count for a wind mitigation credit on my insurance?
Opening protection is one of the items a wind mitigation inspection looks at, but whether it changes your premium depends on your carrier and the rest of your home’s construction. Ask your agent before you buy, and ask us for the product approval numbers to give them.
More questions? Our full hurricane shutter & screen FAQ covers products, service, permitting and financing.
Florida Screen & Shutter, LLC · 883 NE 27th Ln #5, Cape Coral, FL 33909 · (239) 409-0426
License #SCC131152867 · Fully Licensed & Insured Florida Contractor · MagnaTrack President’s Club, #6 in the country, 2025