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 neighbors track tropical waves, the pre-storm rush to stock up, and the ritual of transporting ladders to mount panels. After two decades specifying, installing, and fixing building envelopes from Secret Largo to Palm Beach, I've seen what holds up and what does not. When the objective is real protection with year-round comfort, Miami-Dade approved, energy‑efficient impact windows outshine shutters in ways that go beyond storm day. They change how a home feels in August, how peaceful your living room stays on a Saturday night, and how positive you are when a storm line spins up quicker than predicted.
This is a practical take a look at why many South Florida property owners are moving from shutters to typhoon impact-resistant windows, how to read the standards behind "Miami-Dade authorized," what products matter, and how to get the installation right the first time.
Miami-Dade County's Product Control Division sets one of the toughest criteria in the nation for constructing parts exposed to windborne particles. Approval is not a marketing sticker label. It is made through particular laboratory tests that imitate real cyclone conditions.
First comes large rocket effect. 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 same unit deals with cyclic pressure loading, thousands of pressurization and depressurization cycles that mimic quick wind gusts over hours. If the glass stays in the frame without letting the envelope breach, it passes. The difference between "satisfies Florida building code windows" and "Miami-Dade approved windows" frequently resides in these test thresholds. Miami-Dade is merely stiffer, especially in High Velocity Typhoon Zone requirements, that include Miami-Dade and Broward.
Wind ratings differ by opening size and design pressures, represented as PSF values. On ocean-facing homes or high-rises, I typically specify units rated at +60/ -80 PSF or higher. Inland or in more secured exposures, rankings in the +45/ -60 PSF range can be sufficient, but you size and specification based upon the website's wind map, developing height, and surrounding structures. A professional knows that a corner exposure at the 2nd story demands various reinforcement than a sheltered window under a deep porch.
Hurricane shutters vs effect windows is not a one-to-one comparison. Shutters can fulfill code, and they're better than absolutely nothing. But they ask you to do operate at the worst possible time. When a watch turns to a warning and the forecast track tightens up, the last thing you want is a ladder, a dead cordless drill, and a missing wing nut.
Impact windows live in location. You get constant security, even if a pop-up storm surprises you while you're stuck on United States 1. You also get benefits every day of the year.
Noise control is the most underappreciated advantage. Laminated impact glass is essentially a sandwich: 2 panes of glass bonded by a resilient interlayer, usually PVB interlayer glass or SentryGlas. That interlayer damps noise. On jobs along busy passages like Biscayne Boulevard or near flight paths, I've measured interior noise drops in the 5 to 10 decibel variety, sometimes more when coupled with insulated glass units.
Security enhances since laminated glass withstands forced entry. A burglar can shatter the outer lite with a hammer, but the interlayer holds the shards. They fulfill a sticky, stubborn membrane instead of a fast course inside. Insurance underwriters know this, which is why policies typically offer credits for impact doors and windows. In my jobs, premiums usually drop 10 to 25 percent, depending on the provider and the number of openings are protected.
Energy performance is the 3rd pillar. Energy-efficient effect windows with contemporary low-E impact glass and warm-edge spacers can cut solar heat gain while protecting visible light. That implies less air conditioning need, specifically on west and south exposures where the afternoon sun penalizes interiors. In one Coral Gables retrofit, we changed 1980s single-pane sliders with laminated low-E impact systems. Summertime afternoon peak load stopped by approximately a ton of cooling, and the home's annual electrical energy use fell between 12 and 18 percent. Outcomes differ with shading, attic insulation, and HVAC efficiency, but the direction is consistent.
Laminated impact glass is the heart of the system, but not all laminated products are equal.

Most residential hurricane windows use a PVB interlayer glass stack, commonly 0.030 to 0.090 inches thick in single or numerous 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 stronger than PVB, allowing thinner sections to accomplish higher style pressures. For noise-sensitive websites, acoustic PVB formulas modify the polymer to much better take in sound in the 1,000 to 3,000 Hz range, where traffic and voices sit.
Tempered glass windows come up often in conversations because tempered glass is stronger in bending than annealed glass. That's 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 cyclone sense. When it stops working, it explodes into little cubes and falls out of the frame, which leaves the opening vulnerable. The impact efficiency comes from laminated building and construction, not tempering by itself. Lots of systems use a tempered external lite laminated to a hardened inner lite, or both tempered, however always bonded through a PVB or ionoplast interlayer.
Low-E coatings matter for convenience. 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 greater. Go too short on SHGC and the glass can look gray or green, particularly in bigger openings. The sweet area depends on your façade orientation and shading. On east and west elevations, I often tighten up SHGC and accept a minor tint to handle early morning and afternoon blasts. On north elevations, I favor higher visible transmittance for daylighting.
Frames are the other half of the story. Aluminum frames control here since they deal with big openings and will not swell. Thermal breaks and improved glazing gaskets have actually narrowed the energy space with vinyl. High-quality vinyl effect frames, when strengthened effectively, can carry out well for standard-sized openings and have much better insulating values, but I avoid them for really large sliders or tall storefront-style windows in high-wind zones. Wood-clad units look beautiful in older Mediterranean Revival homes, but they demand careful upkeep and clever flashing. The Florida sun destroys inexpensive vinyl and chalks low-grade aluminum finishes rapidly. Look for powder-coated surfaces ranked for coastal exposure, and request written warranty details in salt-air environments.
Window setup can make or break performance. A costly system installed like a handyman swap-out will not pass a storm's stress test. The load path is the crux. Impact forces have to take a trip 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 construction, you desire stainless or hot-dipped galvanized anchors embedded into strong product. Hollow cells need to be grouted or you require to strike the bond beam. Tapcons in soft, unfilled block are a failure waiting to take place. In wood-framed homes, structural screws need to bite into solid trimmers, not simply sheathing. Shimming and plumb positioning matter so the locks engage cleanly and the weatherstripping compresses evenly.
The sealant joint is not simply visual. A properly sized backer rod and premium polyurethane or silyl-modified polymer sealant create a long lasting, flexible seal that handles thermal growth. Too small a bead and it tears under movement. Too big and it remedies badly. On coastal tasks, I never pair dissimilar metals without a barrier, and I constantly specify corrosion-resistant fasteners. 10 years later, 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 important. If you depend on sealant alone, water will find its method. That wetness might not show up as a drip. It might rot a sill plate slowly, then betray itself as a buckling floor or a moldy 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 saved carefully can safeguard homes successfully. They also assist in certain cases.
Second homes or seasonal rentals where spending plan is tight in some cases lean on shutters to fulfill the Florida building regulations windows requirement for safeguarded openings. On specialized openings like a lanai that is seldom utilized in summertime, a clean motorized roll-down can be affordable, specifically if pairing with impact windows and doors somewhere else stresses the budget. For homeowners who plan to move within a year, shutters can be a short bridge to compliance before a sale.
But shutters bring trade-offs. They darken your home when released, and they require action at exactly the time you are juggling insurance coverage documents, gas cans, and household logistics. Throughout Cyclone Irma, I saw a next-door neighbor attempt to mount 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 space. He made it through with stitches. His living room window did not. Shutters likewise rattle and can vibrate under continual winds, often loosening up fasteners over time if not maintained.
For long-term owners who want to set it and forget it, impact windows give hurricane evidence windows coverage while protecting daytime and view. The benefit grows important once you have actually experienced one storm season with absolutely no prep beyond locking the sash.
South Florida homes fight 2 fights: latent load from humidity and sensible load from direct solar heat gain. Impact glass upgrades can help both if defined intelligently.
Low-E impact glass utilizes microscopically thin metallic layers to show infrared energy while letting noticeable light through. With the right covering stacks, you can block a big part of radiant heat and UV. UV blockage in laminated systems comes mainly from the interlayer itself, which typically filters 95 to 99 percent of UV, reducing fading of materials and flooring. Add the low-E, and you suppress the solar heat that drives your a/c crazy midafternoon.
I evaluate glass specs with three numbers: U-factor, SHGC, and VT. While U-factor matters more up north, it still assists here by lowering nighttime heat flow and keeping the interior glass temperature level closer to space temperature, which lowers condensation danger. SHGC drives just how much solar heat goes into. VT influences how intense the interior feels. Balance is essential. Some house owners desire the crisp, clear appearance of higher VT, even if it implies accepting a couple of degrees more heat in late afternoon, because their landscaping and roof overhangs currently do some shading. Others prefer a more powerful tint for glare control on waterside lots that show harsh light.
In practical terms, going from clear single-pane sliders to modern-day low-E laminated double-glazed systems can reduce peak solar gains by 30 to half on the most exposed sides. Couple that with tuned overhangs, light-colored exterior surfaces, and a properly sized variable-speed HVAC, and you begin to develop resilience. If the grid goes down and you switch to a generator, a lower cooling load means a smaller generator and less gallons of fuel.
Miami-Dade Notification of Acceptance, or NOA, is the file you request for. It details the authorized configurations, sizes, anchors, and pressures evaluated. It is not enough to hear "these are Miami-Dade approved windows" in a showroom. Validate the NOA matches the specific design and choices you are buying, including the glazing makeup and hardware. If you remain in Broward or Miami-Dade, your permitting office will desire this paper trail.
Statewide, the Florida Item Approval system offers FL numbers that show code compliance. In the best window brands remainder of the state outside the High Speed Hurricane Zone, Florida building regulations windows can rely on Florida Product Approval without Miami-Dade specific NOAs. Numerous leading makers carry both. Where spending plans enable, I prefer NOA products even outside the zone because the screening is stiffer.
NFRC labels handle energy metrics. They won't tell you impact efficiency, but they show U-factor, SHGC, VT, and air leak. Go for air leakage at or listed below 0.3 cfm/ft TWO. Tighter is much better for humidity control, however ensure your home still has actually balanced ventilation. Sealing the envelope and disregarding fresh air is a recipe for indoor air quality complaints.
Impact windows cost more upfront than shutters. There's no spin around that. Set up costs vary with size, shape, finish, and gain access to. On simple single-family homes, per-opening expenses typically land in between 1,200 and 3,000 dollars for basic sizes. Large multi-panel sliders, custom arches, and coastal-grade surfaces raise the numbers quickly.
Where you recoup value:
If you prepare to own the property for 5 years or more, the math typically tilts in favor of effect windows, especially when you factor the intangible of assurance. If you plan to sell within a year and need to reveal compliance rapidly, shutters might make more short-term sense. Context matters.
I take notice of hardware and accessories. Multi-point locks on casements and awnings improve seal compression and security. For sliders, robust tandem rollers in stainless housings move smoother and last longer on sandy patios. Look at the sill style on sliding doors. Weep systems must be engineered to drain pipes heavy rains 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 watch or produce mirror-like glare towards neighboring properties. In seaside environments, highly reflective glass can confuse birds or sea turtles in some jurisdictions. Local pros know which coverings balance performance with compliance.
Color stability is a huge offer. Dark bronze or black frames look wonderful on modern-day homes, however in Florida sun low-cost surfaces chalk and fade. AAMA 2605-rated finishes offer the very best color retention and chalk resistance. I specify them for coastal exposures whenever spending plans allow.
Historic districts often need profiles that mimic old wood sash sightlines. There are impact-rated windows that fit these requirements, however lead times lengthen and costs climb. Expect extra review by architectural boards, and line up a contractor familiar with these submissions.
Condos have another layer of governance. Associations often specify a narrow list of authorized items for harmony. They also appreciate sound control in between units. If your structure sits directly on Collins Avenue or faces a busy beach boardwalk, push for acoustic laminated alternatives. Work with structure management on staging and lift gain access to. Weekend work windows and minimal parking can include days and dollars.
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Large openings, like a 16-foot-wide slider, need unique attention in style pressure, deflection, and operating hardware. Not every unit that looks durable in a display room meets the wind loads on a ninth-floor veranda. Do not count on catalog maximum sizes. Use the NOA tables that represent your website's zone, favorable and unfavorable pressures, and mullion combinations if any.
The finest projects start with a determined survey and direct exposure analysis. You map each opening, keep in mind the substrate, and determine any framing irregularities or settlement cracks. During proposal, the professional shows you the NOA and the Florida Item Approval, notes anchor types, and discusses how each opening will be flashed and sealed. They plan for stucco or drywall repair work, not pretend no damage will occur.

On set up day, they get rid of one opening at a time to keep your home secure. They secure floorings, draw back window treatments, and cap sprinklers. Old frames come out with care to maintain interior finishes. New systems get dry-fit, shimmed, and anchored per the schedule. The crew checks squareness and diagonals before setting sealant. They picture anchors for the authorization file, specifically if they will be hidden. After glazing, they water-test with a regulated spray to confirm drain paths and seals. The inspector sees a neat jobsite, clear labels, and paperwork in order.
Six months later, your windows still close with two fingers, locks bite smoothly, and there is no mystery rattle throughout thunderstorms. You did not have to require a roller modification after the very first week. That is the standard.
Impact ranking does not equal breakproof. Laminated glass can crack under extreme impacts, however it needs to remain in the frame and hold together. After a storm that sends out debris into the glass, you may 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 hurricane impact-resistant windows. They can add shatter resistance, however they do not alternative to a checked, anchored system. Your insurance company and building department will not count films as protected openings.
Interior humidity matters. Tight, energy-efficient effect windows minimize air leak. That's fantastic, however it increases the value of a properly sized heating and cooling with great dehumidification. If your system is oversized, the thermostat pleases quickly and fails to pull enough moisture from the air. Ask your HVAC pro to inspect sensible heat ratio, air flow, and run time. You want steady, longer cycles, not short bursts.
Maintenance is simple however not optional. Tidy weep holes on sliders, wash salt spray from frames, and lube hardware each year with a silicone-based product that will not gum up in heat. Little habits extend lifespan.
There are legitimate reasons to blend services. 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 might do great with accordion shutters if you prioritize other upgrades like a brand-new roofing system deck attachment or a prepared garage door. Shutters can likewise safeguard outdoor kitchens or cabana openings where grease and smoke would age fancy hardware prematurely.
If you select shutters, purchase quality. Stainless fasteners, smooth tracks, and motors with handbook bypasses for roll-downs make a distinction. Designate obligation for implementation and practice once beyond a storm watch. Inventory your hardware. The day you need 32 wing nuts is not the early morning you want to find you have 29.
Impact windows are not just about surviving the huge one. They improve daily living. The living-room stays cooler and quieter. The AC cycles calmly rather 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 shorter. You lock the sashes, set storm mode on the alarm, and concentrate on individuals rather than panels.
For much of my clients, that intangible is the choosing factor. They understand storms will come. They also know life in South Florida is too excellent to live inside a fortress that just gets up in August. Miami-Dade approved windows provide you both: a clear view of Biscayne Bay on a breezy February early morning and peaceful self-confidence when the spaghetti designs point our way in September.
If you are weighing the option, start with a site-specific evaluation. Match your direct exposures to create pressures, pick the ideal laminated glass stack for wind and heat, select frames that fit the architecture and conditions, and hire a crew that respects the Laminated glass windows load course. Done right, energy‑efficient effect windows deliver what shutters can not: defense that never ever requests a ladder and a better home every day of the year.