STS Impact Windows, Doors & Roofing is a veteran-owned company based in South Florida that specializes in premium hurricane protection solutions, including impact windows, doors, custom storefronts, and roofing. Combining over 25 years of industry experience with military precision, STS provides expert installation, full transparency, and outstanding customer service, backed by a leading 3-year installation warranty. Their comprehensive services ensure security and peace of mind for both residential and commercial clients, with a strong focus on quality, reliability, and efficiency.
View on Google MapsSTS Impact Windows and Doors specializes in hurricane protection solutions, offering high-quality impact windows, storm-resistant doors, custom storefronts, and professional roofing services. With expert installation, full transparency, and outstanding customer service, the company ensures homes and businesses stay secure and energy-efficient.
STS Impact Windows and Doors is located at 1000 Holland Dr Suite 10, Boca Raton, FL 33487, United States. The company proudly serves residential and commercial clients across Florida and throughout the United States, delivering reliable storm protection solutions. View their location on Google Maps.
Yes, STS Impact Windows and Doors is a veteran-owned company recognized for its dedication, integrity, and service to the community. This background adds an extra level of trust and reliability for homeowners and businesses seeking storm protection solutions.
STS Impact Windows and Doors provides a wide range of services including the installation of hurricane impact windows, impact doors, custom commercial storefronts, and roofing services. Each project is backed by expert craftsmanship, a 3-year installation warranty, and over 25 years of industry experience.
The company proudly serves both residential homeowners and commercial property owners. From protecting family homes to fortifying businesses with hurricane-rated storefronts, STS Impact Windows and Doors delivers customized solutions that ensure safety, durability, and efficiency.
Clients benefit from the company’s focus on quality, reliability, and efficiency. Their impact-resistant windows and doors not only enhance security and hurricane protection but also improve energy efficiency, reduce noise, and increase property value. With a 3-year installation warranty, customers can trust in long-term performance and peace of mind.
STS Impact Windows and Doors has been recognized with multiple industry honors, including the South Florida Veteran Owned Business Excellence Award, Best Hurricane Protection Provider 2023 Florida, and the Angi’s Super Service Award for Window Installation. These awards highlight their commitment to excellence, customer satisfaction, and industry leadership.
You can reach STS Impact Windows and Doors by phone at 561-600-1018 or visit their website at stswindows.com. They are open Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm and are available on Facebook and Instagram for updates and project showcases.
Business Name: STS Impact Windows & Doors
Address: 1000 Holland Dr #10, Boca Raton, FL 33487, United States
Phone: (561)-600-1018
Hurricane season shapes life along Florida's coasts. You feel it in the way next-door neighbors track tropical waves, the pre-storm rush to stockpile, and the routine of transporting ladders to install panels. After 20 years specifying, setting up, and troubleshooting structure envelopes from Secret Largo to Palm Beach, I've seen what holds up and what doesn't. When the goal is genuine protection with year-round convenience, Miami-Dade authorized, energy‑efficient effect windows surpass shutters in manner ins which go beyond storm day. They change how a house feels in August, how peaceful your living-room remains on a Saturday night, and how positive you are when a storm line spins up faster than predicted.
This is a useful take a look at why lots of South Florida house owners are moving from shutters to cyclone impact-resistant windows, how to check out the standards behind "Miami-Dade approved," what products matter, and how to get the setup right the first time.
Miami-Dade County's Product Control Department sets among the toughest benchmarks in the nation for building elements exposed to windborne debris. Approval is not a marketing sticker label. It is made through specific lab tests that imitate genuine typhoon conditions.
First comes large missile impact. A 9-pound 2x4 is shot at the glass at approximately 34 miles per hour. That imitates roofing system tiles, branches, or pieces of fencing that fly in the eyewall. After the impact, the exact same system deals with cyclic pressure loading, thousands of pressurization and depressurization cycles that mimic fast wind gusts over hours. If the glass remains in the frame without letting the envelope breach, it passes. The difference in between "meets Florida building regulations windows" and "Miami-Dade approved windows" frequently resides in these test thresholds. Miami-Dade is just stiffer, particularly in High Speed Cyclone Zone requirements, which include Miami-Dade and Broward.
Wind rankings vary by opening size and style pressures, represented as PSF values. On ocean-facing homes or high-rises, I frequently define systems ranked at +60/ -80 PSF or greater. Inland or in more safeguarded direct exposures, ratings in the +45/ -60 PSF range can be sufficient, however you size and spec based upon the website's wind map, constructing height, and surrounding structures. A professional knows that a corner exposure at the second story needs various support than a protected window under a deep porch.
Hurricane shutters vs effect windows is not a one-to-one contrast. Shutters can satisfy code, and they're better than nothing. However they ask you to do work at the worst possible time. When a watch turns to a warning and the forecast track tightens up, the last thing you desire is a ladder, a dead cordless drill, and a missing wing nut.
Impact windows reside in place. You get constant protection, even if a pop-up storm surprises you while you're stuck on United States 1. You also get advantages every day of the year.
Noise control is the most underappreciated benefit. Laminated impact glass is basically a sandwich: 2 panes of glass bonded by a durable interlayer, typically PVB interlayer glass or SentryGlas. That interlayer damps noise. On tasks along busy corridors like Biscayne Boulevard or near flight courses, I have actually measured interior noise drops in the 5 to 10 decibel variety, often more when paired with insulated glass units.
Security enhances because laminated glass withstands forced entry. A robber can shatter the outer lite with a hammer, but the interlayer holds the shards. They satisfy a sticky, stubborn membrane rather of a quick path inside. Insurance coverage underwriters know this, which is why policies often provide credits for effect doors and windows. In my projects, premiums generally drop 10 to 25 percent, depending upon the carrier and the number of openings are protected.
Energy performance is the 3rd pillar. Energy-efficient effect windows with modern-day low-E impact glass and warm-edge spacers can cut solar heat gain while maintaining noticeable light. That suggests less cooling demand, especially on west and south exposures where the afternoon sun penalizes interiors. In one Coral Gables retrofit, we replaced 1980s single-pane sliders with laminated low-E impact systems. Summertime afternoon peak load dropped by approximately a ton of cooling, and the home's annual electricity usage fell in between 12 and 18 percent. Results vary with shading, attic insulation, and HVAC effectiveness, but the instructions is consistent.
Laminated effect glass is the heart of the system, but not all laminated products are equal.
Most domestic cyclone windows use a PVB interlayer glass stack, frequently 0.030 to 0.090 inches thick in single or several plies. Thicker interlayers enhance effect resistance and sound control, however they include weight and expense. For oceanfront or high openings, you may see SGP (ionoplast) interlayers, which are stiffer and more powerful than PVB, enabling thinner areas to achieve higher style pressures. For noise-sensitive websites, acoustic PVB formulations fine-tune the polymer to better soak up noise in the 1,000 to 3,000 Hz variety, where traffic and voices sit.
Tempered glass windows show up typically in discussions since tempered glass is stronger in bending than annealed glass. That holds true, and tempered lites are frequently utilized as the external or inner ply in an impact system. However tempered alone is not impact-resistant in the typhoon sense. When it fails, it blows up into small cubes and falls out of the frame, which leaves the opening vulnerable. The impact efficiency originates from laminated building and construction, not tempering by itself. Lots of systems utilize a tempered external lite laminated to an annealed inner lite, or both tempered, however always bonded through a PVB or ionoplast interlayer.
Low-E finishes matter for comfort. A soft-coat low-E tuned for South Florida usually targets a solar heat gain coefficient in the 0.25 to 0.35 variety while keeping noticeable light transmission around half or higher. Go too short on SHGC and the glass can look gray or green, specifically in bigger openings. The sweet spot depends on your exterior orientation and shading. On east and west elevations, I often tighten up SHGC and accept a small tint to handle morning and afternoon blasts. On north elevations, I lean toward greater noticeable transmittance for daylighting.
Frames are the other half of the story. Aluminum frames dominate here due to the fact that they manage big openings and will not swell. Thermal breaks and enhanced glazing gaskets have actually narrowed the energy space with vinyl. High-quality vinyl impact frames, when enhanced correctly, can carry out well for standard-sized openings and have much better insulating worths, but I prevent them for extremely broad sliders or high storefront-style windows in high-wind zones. Wood-clad systems look beautiful in older Mediterranean Revival homes, but they demand careful maintenance and smart flashing. The Florida sun destroys inexpensive vinyl and chalks low-grade aluminum finishes rapidly. Search for powder-coated surfaces rated for coastal exposure, and request written service warranty information in salt-air environments.
Window setup can make or break performance. An expensive unit set up like a handyman swap-out will not pass a storm's tension test. The load path is the essence. Impact forces need to take a trip from the glass through the frame, to the anchors, into the substrate, and then into the structure's framing or masonry.
In cinder block building, you desire stainless or hot-dipped galvanized anchors embedded into strong material. Hollow cells must be grouted or you require to hit the bond beam. Tapcons in soft, unfilled block are a failure waiting to happen. In wood-framed homes, structural screws must bite into strong trimmers, not just sheathing. Shimming and plumb positioning matter so the locks engage cleanly and the weatherstripping compresses evenly.
The sealant joint is not simply aesthetic. A properly sized backer rod and top quality polyurethane or silyl-modified polymer sealant create a long lasting, flexible seal that deals with thermal expansion. Too small a bead and it tears under movement. Too big and it remedies badly. On seaside jobs, I never ever combine different metals without a barrier, and I always specify corrosion-resistant fasteners. Ten years later on, you will see who took shortcuts.
Flashing is the other non-negotiable. Pan flashing at sills, self-adhered membranes at jambs and heads, and integration with the water-resistive barrier are vital. If you count on sealant alone, water will find its way in. That moisture might disappoint up as a drip. It may rot a sill plate slowly, then betray itself as a buckling flooring or a musty odor 2 typhoon seasons later.
I have absolutely nothing versus properly designed shutters. Accordion shutters that are kept and lubricated, roll-down shutters with battery backups, and even detachable panels kept carefully can safeguard homes efficiently. They also assist in particular cases.
Second homes or seasonal leasings where spending plan is tight often lean on shutters to satisfy the Florida building code windows requirement for secured openings. On specialized openings like a lanai that is rarely used in summer, a clean motorized roll-down can be affordable, specifically if coupling with effect windows and doors somewhere else worries the spending plan. For property owners who prepare to move within a year, shutters can be a short bridge to compliance before a sale.
But shutters bring compromises. They darken your home when deployed, and they require action at exactly the time you are handling insurance papers, gas cans, and family logistics. During Typhoon Irma, I viewed a neighbor try to install steel panels hours before landfall. The ladder sank in saturated soil, a panel slipped, and we invested the next hour in the immediate care waiting room. He survived with stitches. His living-room Home hardening upgrades window did not. Shutters likewise rattle and can vibrate under continual winds, in some cases loosening fasteners in time if not maintained.
For long-lasting owners who wish to set it and forget it, impact windows give cyclone evidence windows protection while preserving daylight and view. The convenience grows valuable once you've experienced one storm season with zero prep beyond locking the sash.
South Florida homes battle 2 fights: latent load from humidity and sensible load from direct solar heat gain. Effect glass upgrades can help both if specified intelligently.
Low-E effect glass utilizes microscopically thin metallic layers to show infrared energy while letting noticeable light through. With the ideal finish stacks, you can block a big part of radiant heat and UV. UV blockage in laminated systems comes largely from the interlayer itself, which typically filters 95 to 99 percent of UV, lowering fading of fabrics and flooring. Add the low-E, and you suppress the solar heat that drives your AC crazy midafternoon.
I assess glass specs with three numbers: U-factor, SHGC, and VT. While U-factor matters more up north, it still helps here by minimizing nighttime heat flow and keeping the interior glass temperature level closer to space temperature level, which lowers condensation danger. SHGC drives just how much solar heat goes into. VT influences how bright the interior feels. Balance is crucial. Some property owners want the crisp, clear look of higher VT, even if it indicates accepting a couple of degrees more heat in late afternoon, because their landscaping and roofing overhangs already do some shading. Others choose a more powerful tint for glare control on waterside lots that show harsh light.
In useful terms, going from clear single-pane sliders to modern-day low-E laminated double-glazed units can reduce peak solar gains by 30 to 50 percent on the most exposed sides. Couple that with tuned overhangs, light-colored outside surfaces, and a correctly sized variable-speed a/c, and you start to build strength. If the grid goes down and you change to a generator, a lower cooling load implies a smaller generator and less gallons of fuel.
Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance, or NOA, is the document you request for. It information the approved configurations, sizes, anchors, and pressures checked. It is inadequate to hear "these are Miami-Dade authorized windows" in a display room. Validate the NOA matches the exact design and choices you are purchasing, consisting of the glazing makeup and hardware. If you are in Broward or Miami-Dade, your allowing workplace will want this paper trail.
Statewide, the Florida Product Approval system provides FL numbers that show code compliance. In the remainder of the state outside the High Speed Typhoon Zone, Florida building regulations windows can count on Florida Item Approval without Miami-Dade specific NOAs. Lots of top manufacturers bring both. Where budget plans enable, I prefer NOA products even outside the zone because the screening is stiffer.
NFRC labels handle energy metrics. They will not tell you effect performance, however they show U-factor, SHGC, VT, and air leakage. Aim for air leakage at or listed below 0.3 cfm/ft TWO. Tighter is better for humidity control, but ensure your home still has stabilized ventilation. Sealing the envelope and overlooking fresh air is a dish for indoor air quality complaints.
Impact windows cost more in advance than shutters. There's no spin around that. Set up costs vary with size, shape, finish, and access. On simple single-family homes, per-opening expenses often land in between 1,200 and 3,000 dollars for standard sizes. Large multi-panel sliders, custom-made arches, and coastal-grade finishes raise the numbers quickly.
Where you recover value:
If you prepare to own the home for 5 years or more, the mathematics frequently tilts in favor of impact windows, particularly when you factor the intangible of comfort. If you plan to offer within a year and need to reveal compliance quickly, shutters might make more short-term sense. Context matters.
I pay attention to hardware and accessories. Multi-point locks on sashes and awnings enhance seal compression and security. For sliders, robust tandem rollers in stainless housings slide smoother and last longer on sandy outdoor patios. Take a look at the sill style on sliding doors. Weep systems ought to be engineered to drain pipes heavy rainfall without letting wind-driven water blow back in. Ask to see a cutaway sample in the showroom.
Tint colors and reflectivity are more than fashion. Reflective films can contravene of neighborhood associations or produce mirror-like glare towards neighboring residential or commercial properties. In coastal environments, highly reflective glass can confuse birds or sea turtles in some jurisdictions. Regional pros know which finishes balance efficiency with compliance.
Color stability is a huge deal. Dark bronze or black frames look great on modern-day homes, but in Florida sun inexpensive finishes chalk and fade. AAMA 2605-rated finishings offer the best color retention and chalk resistance. I define them for coastal direct exposures whenever budget plans allow.
Historic districts frequently need profiles that simulate old wood sash sightlines. There are impact-rated windows that fit these requirements, however lead times lengthen and costs climb. Expect extra evaluation by architectural boards, and line up a professional familiar with these submissions.
Condos have another layer of governance. Associations in some cases define a narrow list of approved items for uniformity. They likewise appreciate sound control in between units. If your building sits straight on Collins Opportunity or deals with a busy beach boardwalk, push for acoustic laminated options. Deal with building management on staging and lift gain access to. Weekend work windows and minimal parking can add days and dollars.
Large openings, like a 16-foot-wide slider, require unique attention in design pressure, deflection, and operating hardware. Not every system that looks strong in a showroom fulfills the wind loads on a ninth-floor terrace. Do not depend on catalog maximum sizes. Utilize the NOA tables that correspond to your website's zone, favorable and unfavorable pressures, and mullion mixes if any.
The best projects start with a measured study and direct exposure analysis. You map each opening, keep in mind the substrate, and determine any framing irregularities or settlement fractures. Throughout proposal, the contractor reveals you the NOA and the Florida Item Approval, notes anchor types, and explains how each opening will be flashed and sealed. They plan for stucco or drywall repairs, not pretend no damage will occur.
On install day, they get rid of one opening at a time to keep the house safe. They secure floors, pull back window treatments, and cap sprinklers. Old frames bring out care to preserve interior finishes. New units get dry-fit, shimmed, and anchored per the schedule. The team checks squareness and diagonals before setting sealant. They photograph anchors for the permit file, especially if they will be concealed. After glazing, they water-test with a regulated spray to verify drainage paths and seals. The inspector sees a cool jobsite, clear labels, and documents in order.
Six months later on, your windows still close with 2 fingers, locks bite efficiently, and there is no mystery rattle throughout thunderstorms. You did not have to require a roller modification after the first week. That is the standard.
Impact score does not equal breakproof. Laminated glass can split under severe impacts, but it must remain in the frame and hold together. After a storm that sends out particles into the glass, you might see star fractures or spidering. The window did its task. Change the sash or IGU after the event.
Window movies do not convert non-impact windows into cyclone impact-resistant windows. They can include shatter resistance, however they do not replacement for a tested, anchored system. Your insurance company and building department will not count movies as secured openings.
Interior humidity matters. Tight, energy-efficient impact windows decrease air leakage. That's excellent, however it increases the value of an effectively sized HVAC with excellent dehumidification. If your system is extra-large, the thermostat pleases quickly and fails to pull enough moisture from the air. Ask your HVAC pro to check reasonable heat ratio, air flow, and run time. You desire constant, longer cycles, not short bursts.
Maintenance is uncomplicated but not optional. Tidy weep holes on sliders, wash salt spray from frames, and lubricate hardware every year with a silicone-based item that will not gum up in heat. Little habits extend lifespan.
There are legitimate reasons to mix solutions. A pair of rarely utilized garage windows can keep removable panels to shave budget. A deep-set porch with very little sun exposure might do great with accordion shutters if you focus on other upgrades like a new roofing deck accessory or a fortified garage door. Shutters can also secure outdoor kitchen areas or cabana openings where grease and smoke would age expensive hardware prematurely.
If you select shutters, purchase quality. Stainless fasteners, smooth tracks, and motors with manual overrides for roll-downs make a distinction. Designate duty for deployment and practice as soon as outside of a storm watch. Inventory your hardware. The day you require 32 wing nuts is not the morning you wish to discover you have 29.
Impact windows are not just about enduring the big one. They reshape daily living. The living-room stays cooler and quieter. The a/c cycles calmly rather of racing at 4 p.m. You sleep without freight trains of wind noise when a squall line passes at 2 a.m. When a hurricane threatens, your preparation list gets much shorter. You lock the sashes, set storm mode on the alarm, and focus on individuals rather than panels.
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For a number of my clients, that intangible is the choosing factor. They know storms will come. They likewise understand life in South Florida is too excellent to live inside a fortress that only awakens in August. Miami-Dade authorized windows offer you both: a clear view of Biscayne Bay on a breezy February early morning and quiet confidence when the spaghetti models point our method September.
If you are weighing the choice, begin with a site-specific evaluation. Match your exposures to create pressures, choose the ideal laminated glass stack for wind and heat, select frames that fit the architecture and conditions, and work with a team that respects the load course. Done right, energy‑efficient impact windows deliver what shutters can not: security that never ever asks for a ladder and a better home every day of the year.