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 method next-door neighbors track tropical waves, the pre-storm rush to stockpile, and the ritual of hauling ladders to mount panels. After twenty years specifying, setting up, and repairing structure envelopes from Key Largo to Palm Beach, I've seen what holds up and what doesn't. When the objective is real security with year-round comfort, Miami-Dade approved, energy‑efficient effect windows outshine shutters in manner ins which surpass storm day. They alter how a home feels in August, how peaceful your living room stays on a Saturday night, and how confident you are when a storm line spins up much faster than predicted.
This is a useful look at why many South Florida homeowners are moving from shutters to typhoon impact-resistant windows, how to check out the standards behind "Miami-Dade approved," what materials matter, and how to get the installation right the first time.
Miami-Dade County's Item Control Division sets among the most difficult benchmarks in the nation for constructing components exposed to windborne particles. Approval is not a marketing sticker. It is made through particular lab tests that simulate genuine hurricane conditions.
First comes large rocket effect. A 9-pound 2x4 is contended the glass at approximately 34 miles per hour. That imitates roofing tiles, branches, or pieces of fencing that fly in the eyewall. After the effect, the very same unit faces cyclic pressure loading, thousands of pressurization and depressurization cycles that simulate rapid wind gusts over hours. If the glass stays in the frame without letting the envelope breach, it passes. The distinction in between "meets Florida building regulations windows" and "Miami-Dade authorized windows" often resides in these test limits. Miami-Dade is merely stiffer, especially in High Speed Cyclone Zone requirements, that include Miami-Dade and Broward.
Wind ratings differ by opening size and style pressures, denoted as PSF worths. On ocean-facing homes or high-rises, I often specify systems rated at +60/ -80 PSF or greater. Inland or in more safeguarded direct exposures, scores in the +45/ -60 PSF range can suffice, however you size and spec based upon the site's wind map, building height, and surrounding structures. An expert knows that a corner direct exposure at the second story demands different reinforcement than a protected window under a deep porch.
Hurricane shutters vs impact windows is not a one-to-one contrast. Shutters can fulfill code, and they're much better than nothing. But they ask you to do work at the worst possible time. When a watch turns to a warning and the projection track tightens up, the last thing you want 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 likewise get advantages every day of the year.
Noise control is the most underappreciated advantage. Laminated effect glass is basically a sandwich: two panes of glass bonded by a durable interlayer, typically PVB interlayer glass or SentryGlas. That interlayer damps sound. On jobs along busy corridors like Biscayne Boulevard or near flight courses, I've determined interior noise drops in the 5 to 10 decibel variety, sometimes more when coupled with insulated glass units.
Security enhances due to the fact that laminated glass resists forced entry. A burglar can shatter the external lite with a hammer, but the interlayer holds the shards. They satisfy a sticky, stubborn membrane rather of a fast path inside. Insurance underwriters understand this, which is why policies frequently provide credits for impact windows and doors. In my projects, premiums generally drop 10 to 25 percent, depending on the provider and how many openings are protected.
Energy efficiency is the third pillar. Energy-efficient effect windows with modern-day low-E effect glass and warm-edge spacers can cut solar heat gain while protecting visible light. That implies less a/c demand, especially on west and south exposures where the afternoon sun punishes interiors. In one Coral Gables retrofit, we changed 1980s single-pane sliders with laminated low-E effect systems. Summer afternoon peak load dropped by approximately a lots of cooling, and the home's yearly electrical energy use fell in between 12 and 18 percent. Results vary with shading, attic insulation, and a/c efficiency, however the instructions is consistent.
Laminated impact glass is the heart of the system, however not all laminated items are equal.
Most residential cyclone windows utilize a PVB interlayer glass stack, frequently 0.030 to 0.090 inches thick in single or multiple plies. Thicker interlayers improve impact resistance and sound control, however they add weight and cost. For oceanfront or tall openings, you might see SGP (ionoplast) interlayers, which are stiffer and stronger than PVB, permitting thinner areas to accomplish higher style pressures. For noise-sensitive sites, acoustic PVB solutions fine-tune the polymer to better absorb sound in the Boca Raton Impact windows 1,000 to 3,000 Hz range, where traffic and voices sit.
Tempered glass windows come up often in discussions since tempered glass is more powerful in bending than annealed glass. That's true, and tempered lites are frequently utilized as the outer or inner ply in an impact system. But tempered alone is not impact-resistant in the cyclone sense. When it fails, it takes off into little cubes and falls out of the frame, which leaves the opening susceptible. The effect efficiency originates from laminated building and construction, not tempering by itself. Many systems use a tempered external lite laminated to a hardened inner lite, or both tempered, however constantly bonded through a PVB or ionoplast interlayer.
Low-E finishings matter for comfort. A soft-coat low-E tuned for South Florida typically 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 larger openings. The sweet spot depends on your exterior orientation and shading. On east and west elevations, I frequently tighten SHGC and accept a minor tint to handle early morning and afternoon blasts. On north elevations, I favor greater noticeable transmittance for daylighting.
Frames are the other half of the story. Aluminum frames control here due to the fact that they handle large openings and won't swell. Thermal breaks and improved glazing gaskets have narrowed the energy space with vinyl. High-quality vinyl impact frames, when enhanced correctly, can carry out well for standard-sized openings and have better insulating worths, but I avoid them for very wide sliders or tall storefront-style windows in high-wind zones. Wood-clad units look lovely in older Mediterranean Revival homes, but they require cautious maintenance and smart flashing. The Florida sun ruins cheap vinyl and chalks low-grade aluminum surfaces rapidly. Try to find powder-coated surfaces rated for coastal direct exposure, and demand written warranty information in salt-air environments.
Window installation can make or break efficiency. A costly unit set up like a handyman swap-out will not pass a storm's tension test. The load course is the crux. Effect forces have to travel from the glass through the frame, to the anchors, into the substrate, and after that into the structure's framing or masonry.
In concrete block building, you desire stainless or hot-dipped galvanized anchors embedded into strong product. 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 houses, structural screws should bite into strong trimmers, not simply sheathing. Shimming and plumb positioning matter so the locks engage easily and the weatherstripping compresses evenly.
The sealant joint is not simply visual. An appropriately sized backer rod and high-quality polyurethane or silyl-modified polymer sealant create a durable, flexible seal that manages thermal growth. Too small a bead and it tears under movement. Too big and it treatments improperly. On seaside jobs, I never ever match different metals without a barrier, and I always define corrosion-resistant fasteners. 10 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 method. That wetness may not show up as a drip. It may rot a sill plate gradually, then betray itself as a buckling flooring or a musty odor 2 typhoon seasons later.
I have absolutely nothing against well-designed shutters. Accordion shutters that are preserved and oiled, roll-down shutters with battery backups, and even detachable panels saved carefully can safeguard homes successfully. They likewise help in particular cases.
Second homes or seasonal leasings where spending plan is tight often lean on shutters to meet the Florida building code windows requirement for protected openings. On specialized openings like a lanai that is rarely utilized in summertime, a clean motorized roll-down can be sensible, especially if coupling with effect doors and windows elsewhere stresses the budget. For homeowners who prepare to move within a year, shutters can be a brief bridge to compliance before a sale.
But shutters bring trade-offs. They darken your house when released, and they need action at exactly the time you are managing insurance coverage documents, gas cans, and family logistics. During Hurricane Irma, I enjoyed a next-door neighbor try to mount steel panels hours before landfall. The ladder sank in saturated soil, a panel slipped, and we spent the next hour in the urgent care waiting space. He survived with stitches. His living room window did not. Shutters also rattle and can vibrate under sustained winds, in some cases loosening fasteners over time if not maintained.
For long-lasting owners who want to set it and forget it, impact windows give hurricane proof windows coverage while preserving daytime and view. The benefit grows important once you have actually experienced one storm season with zero prep beyond locking the sash.
South Florida homes combat two battles: hidden load from humidity and sensible load from direct solar heat gain. Effect glass upgrades can assist both if defined intelligently.
Low-E effect glass utilizes microscopically thin metal layers to reflect infrared energy while letting noticeable light through. With the ideal coating stacks, you can obstruct a large portion of radiant heat and UV. UV clog in laminated systems comes mainly from the interlayer itself, which usually filters 95 to 99 percent of UV, lowering fading of fabrics and floor covering. Add the low-E, and you suppress the solar heat that drives your a/c crazy midafternoon.
I evaluate glass specifications with three numbers: U-factor, SHGC, and VT. While U-factor matters more up north, it still helps here by decreasing nighttime heat circulation and keeping the interior glass temperature level closer to space temperature, which minimizes condensation risk. SHGC drives how much solar heat enters. VT influences how intense the interior feels. Balance is essential. Some property owners desire the crisp, clear appearance of higher VT, even if it implies accepting a couple of degrees more heat in late afternoon, since their landscaping and roof overhangs currently do some shading. Others choose a stronger tint for glare control on waterfront lots that reflect harsh light.
In useful terms, going from clear single-pane sliders to contemporary low-E laminated double-glazed units can lower peak solar gains by 30 to half on the most exposed sides. Couple that with tuned overhangs, light-colored exterior surfaces, and a correctly sized variable-speed HVAC, and you start to build durability. If the grid goes down and you change to a generator, a lower cooling load implies a smaller sized generator and fewer gallons of fuel.
Miami-Dade Notification of Approval, or NOA, is the document you ask for. It details the approved configurations, sizes, anchors, and pressures evaluated. It is inadequate to hear "these are Miami-Dade approved windows" in a showroom. Verify the NOA matches the specific model and choices you are buying, including the glazing makeup and hardware. If you remain in Broward or Miami-Dade, your allowing office will want this paper trail.
Statewide, the Florida Item Approval system provides FL numbers that show code compliance. In the rest of the state outside the High Velocity Impact windows Typhoon Zone, Florida building regulations windows can depend on Florida Product Approval without Miami-Dade specific NOAs. Lots of top makers carry both. Where spending plans permit, I choose NOA products even outside the zone because the screening is stiffer.
NFRC labels handle energy metrics. They won't inform you impact performance, however they reveal U-factor, SHGC, VT, and air leakage. Go for air leakage at or below 0.3 cfm/ft ². Tighter is much better for humidity control, but ensure your home still has actually balanced ventilation. Sealing the envelope and overlooking fresh air is a recipe 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, surface, and access. On simple single-family homes, per-opening costs frequently land in between 1,200 and 3,000 dollars for standard sizes. Big multi-panel sliders, customized arches, and coastal-grade surfaces raise the numbers quickly.
Where you recover worth:
If you plan to own the residential or commercial property for five years or more, the mathematics often tilts in favor of impact windows, especially when you factor the intangible of assurance. If you plan to sell within a year and require to reveal compliance quickly, shutters might make more short-term sense. Context matters.
I take note of hardware and devices. Multi-point locks on sashes and awnings improve seal compression and security. For sliders, robust tandem rollers in stainless real estates slide smoother and last longer on sandy patios. Look at the sill design on moving doors. Weep systems ought to be engineered to drain 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 movies can run afoul of neighborhood associations or produce mirror-like glare toward surrounding properties. In coastal communities, highly reflective glass can confuse birds or sea turtles in some jurisdictions. Local pros understand which finishings balance efficiency with compliance.
Color stability is a huge offer. Dark bronze or black frames look fantastic on modern-day homes, however in Florida sun low-cost finishes chalk and fade. AAMA 2605-rated coatings provide the very best color retention and chalk resistance. I specify them for seaside exposures whenever budget plans allow.
Historic districts frequently require profiles that mimic old wood sash sightlines. There are impact-rated windows that fit these requirements, but lead times lengthen and costs climb. Expect additional review by architectural boards, and line up a specialist acquainted with these submissions.
Condos have another layer of governance. Associations sometimes specify a narrow list of approved products for uniformity. They likewise appreciate noise control in between systems. If your structure sits straight on Collins Avenue or faces a hectic beach boardwalk, push for acoustic laminated alternatives. Work with building management on staging and lift gain access to. Weekend work windows and limited parking can add days and dollars.
Large openings, like a 16-foot-wide slider, need special attention in style pressure, deflection, and operating hardware. Not every unit that looks sturdy in a display room fulfills the wind loads on a ninth-floor terrace. Do not depend on catalog maximum sizes. Use the NOA tables that represent your website's zone, favorable and negative pressures, and mullion combinations if any.
The finest jobs begin with a measured study and exposure analysis. You map each opening, note the substrate, and recognize any framing irregularities or settlement cracks. During proposition, the contractor reveals you the NOA and the Florida Product Approval, notes anchor types, and describes how each opening will be flashed and sealed. They plan for stucco or drywall repairs, not pretend no damage will occur.
On set up day, they get rid of one opening at a time to keep your home safe and secure. They secure floorings, draw back window treatments, and cap sprinklers. Old frames bring out care to protect 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 license file, especially if they will be hidden. After glazing, they water-test with a controlled spray to verify drain courses and seals. The inspector sees a cool jobsite, clear labels, and paperwork 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 call for a roller adjustment after the first week. That is the standard.
Impact score does not equal breakproof. Laminated glass can crack under severe impacts, however it must stay in the frame and hold together. After a storm that sends out particles into the glass, you might see star cracks or spidering. The window did its job. Replace the sash or IGU after the event.
Window movies do not convert non-impact windows into cyclone impact-resistant windows. They can add shatter resistance, however they do not replacement for an evaluated, anchored system. Your insurance company and building department will not count films as secured openings.
 
Interior humidity matters. Tight, energy-efficient impact windows reduce air leak. That's terrific, but it increases the significance of an appropriately sized a/c with excellent dehumidification. If your system is extra-large, the thermostat satisfies quickly and fails to pull enough moisture from the air. Ask your heating and cooling pro to inspect sensible heat ratio, airflow, and run time. You desire constant, longer cycles, not brief bursts.
Maintenance is straightforward but not optional. Tidy weep holes on sliders, wash salt spray from frames, and oil hardware each year with a silicone-based item that will not gum up in heat. Small routines extend lifespan.
 
There are genuine reasons to mix solutions. A set of rarely utilized garage windows can keep detachable panels to shave spending plan. A deep-set patio with very little sun direct exposure may do fine with accordion shutters if you focus on other upgrades like a brand-new roofing system deck accessory or a prepared garage door. Shutters can likewise secure outdoor kitchens or cabana openings where grease and smoke would age elegant hardware prematurely.
If you choose shutters, invest in quality. Stainless fasteners, smooth tracks, and motors with handbook overrides for roll-downs make a difference. Appoint responsibility for implementation and practice once beyond 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 surviving the big one. They reshape daily living. The living-room remains cooler and quieter. The a/c cycles calmly instead of racing at 4 p.m. You sleep without freight trains of wind sound 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 concentrate on people rather than panels.
For a number of my clients, that intangible is the deciding element. They understand storms will come. They likewise know life in South Florida is too good to live inside a fortress that just awakens in August. Miami-Dade approved windows offer you both: a clear view of Biscayne Bay on a breezy February early morning and quiet self-confidence when the spaghetti models point our method September.
If you are weighing the choice, begin with a site-specific evaluation. Match your direct exposures to create pressures, choose the ideal laminated glass stack for wind and heat, choose frames that fit the architecture and conditions, and employ a team that respects the load path. Done right, energy‑efficient impact windows provide what shutters can not: security that never requests for a ladder and a much better home every day of the year.