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 commercial window installation Boca Raton along Florida's coasts. You feel it in the way neighbors track tropical waves, the pre-storm rush to stockpile, and the ritual of transporting ladders to mount panels. After 20 years specifying, setting up, and fixing building envelopes from Secret Largo to Palm Beach, I've seen what holds up and what does not. When the goal is genuine defense with year-round convenience, Miami-Dade authorized, energy‑efficient effect windows surpass shutters in manner ins which go beyond storm day. They alter how a home feels in August, how quiet your living room stays on a Saturday night, and how positive you are when a storm line spins up faster than predicted.
This is a useful look at why many South Florida homeowners are moving from shutters to hurricane impact-resistant windows, how to check out the standards behind "Miami-Dade authorized," what materials matter, and how to get the setup right the first time.
Miami-Dade County's Item Control Division sets among the hardest standards in the country for constructing elements exposed to windborne debris. Approval is not a marketing sticker label. It is earned through specific laboratory tests that simulate real typhoon conditions.
First comes large rocket effect. A 9-pound 2x4 is shot at the glass at approximately 34 miles per hour. That mimics roof 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 simulate rapid wind gusts over hours. If the glass remains in the frame without letting the envelope breach, it passes. The distinction between "meets Florida building regulations windows" and "Miami-Dade approved windows" typically resides in these test limits. Miami-Dade is merely stiffer, especially in High Velocity Hurricane Zone requirements, that include Miami-Dade and Broward.
Wind scores differ by opening size and design pressures, denoted as PSF worths. On ocean-facing properties or high-rises, I often define systems rated at +60/ -80 PSF or greater. Inland or in more secured exposures, scores in the +45/ -60 PSF variety can be sufficient, but you size and spec based on the website's wind map, developing height, and surrounding structures. An expert understands that a corner exposure at the 2nd story needs different reinforcement than a protected window under a deep porch.
Hurricane shutters vs effect windows is not a one-to-one contrast. Shutters can meet 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 forecast track tightens, the last thing you want is a ladder, a dead cordless drill, and a missing wing nut.
Impact windows live in location. You get continuous defense, even if a pop-up storm surprises you while you're stuck on US 1. You also get benefits every day of the year.
Noise control is the most underappreciated advantage. Laminated impact glass is basically a sandwich: two panes of glass bonded by a durable interlayer, usually PVB interlayer glass or SentryGlas. That interlayer damps sound. On tasks along busy corridors like Biscayne Boulevard or near flight courses, I've measured interior noise drops in the 5 to 10 decibel range, in some cases more when paired with insulated glass units.
Security improves since laminated glass withstands required entry. An intruder can shatter the outer lite with a hammer, but the interlayer holds the shards. They meet a sticky, persistent membrane rather of a quick path inside. Insurance underwriters know this, which is why policies frequently use credits for impact windows and doors. In my projects, premiums usually drop 10 to 25 percent, depending on the carrier and how many openings are protected.
Energy performance is the third pillar. Energy-efficient impact windows with contemporary low-E impact glass and warm-edge spacers can cut solar heat gain while preserving visible light. That implies less a/c need, especially on west and south exposures where the afternoon sun punishes interiors. In one Coral Gables retrofit, we replaced 1980s single-pane sliders with laminated low-E effect units. Summer season afternoon peak load stopped by approximately a lots of cooling, and the home's yearly electricity usage fell between 12 and 18 percent. Outcomes vary with shading, attic insulation, and HVAC performance, but the instructions is consistent.
Laminated impact glass is the heart of the system, however not all laminated products are equal.
Most property cyclone windows use a PVB interlayer glass stack, typically 0.030 to 0.090 inches thick in single or numerous plies. Thicker interlayers improve effect resistance and sound control, but they add weight and cost. For oceanfront or high openings, you might see SGP (ionoplast) interlayers, which are stiffer and more powerful than PVB, permitting thinner sections to accomplish greater style pressures. For noise-sensitive sites, acoustic PVB solutions modify the polymer to much better soak up sound in the 1,000 to 3,000 Hz variety, where traffic and voices sit.
Tempered glass windows show up frequently in conversations since tempered glass is more powerful in bending than annealed glass. That holds true, and tempered lites are commonly utilized as the external or inner ply in an impact unit. However tempered alone is not impact-resistant in the hurricane 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. Numerous systems utilize a tempered external lite laminated to a hardened inner lite, or both tempered, but always bonded through a PVB or ionoplast interlayer.
Low-E finishes matter for convenience. A soft-coat low-E tuned for South Florida generally targets a solar heat gain coefficient in the 0.25 to 0.35 range while keeping visible light transmission around half or higher. Go too low on SHGC and the glass can look gray or green, especially in larger openings. The sweet area depends upon your façade orientation and shading. On east and west elevations, I frequently tighten up SHGC and accept a slight tint to handle morning and afternoon blasts. On north elevations, I lean toward higher visible transmittance for daylighting.
Frames are the other half of the story. Aluminum frames control here because they manage big openings and won't swell. Thermal breaks and improved 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 better insulating values, however I prevent them for really wide sliders or high storefront-style windows in high-wind zones. Wood-clad systems look gorgeous in older Mediterranean Revival homes, but they demand cautious maintenance and wise flashing. The Florida sun destroys low-cost vinyl and chalks low-grade aluminum finishes rapidly. Search for powder-coated surfaces ranked for coastal exposure, and demand composed service warranty information in salt-air environments.
Window setup can make or break efficiency. A costly system set up like a handyman swap-out will not pass a storm's stress test. The load path is the core. 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 construction, you desire stainless or hot-dipped galvanized anchors embedded into strong product. Hollow cells must be grouted or you require to strike the bond beam. Tapcons in soft, unfilled block are a failure waiting to occur. In wood-framed homes, structural screws should 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 top quality polyurethane or silyl-modified polymer sealant produce a durable, flexible seal that deals with thermal growth. Too little a bead and it tears under motion. Too big and it remedies improperly. On seaside jobs, I never ever match dissimilar metals without a barrier, and I constantly specify corrosion-resistant fasteners. Ten 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 combination with the water-resistive barrier are essential. If you count on sealant alone, water will discover its method. That wetness might disappoint up as a drip. It might rot a sill plate slowly, then betray itself as a buckling floor or a moldy smell two hurricane seasons later.
I have nothing versus well-designed shutters. Accordion shutters that are kept and oiled, roll-down shutters with battery backups, and even removable panels stored carefully can secure homes efficiently. They also assist in specific cases.
Second homes or seasonal rentals where budget plan is tight sometimes lean on shutters to fulfill the Florida building code windows requirement for safeguarded openings. On specialized openings like a lanai that is rarely utilized in summer season, a clean motorized roll-down can be sensible, particularly if pairing with effect windows and doors in other places worries the budget. For house owners who plan to move within a year, shutters can be a brief bridge to compliance before a sale.
But shutters bring trade-offs. They darken your home when released, and they require action at specifically the time you are juggling insurance coverage papers, gas cans, and family logistics. During Hurricane Irma, I watched a neighbor try 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 endured with stitches. His living room window did not. Shutters also rattle and can vibrate under continual winds, often loosening up fasteners in time if not maintained.
For long-lasting owners who want to set it and forget it, effect windows provide cyclone proof windows protection while maintaining daytime and view. The benefit grows valuable once you have actually experienced one storm season with absolutely no preparation beyond locking the sash.
South Florida homes fight two fights: latent load from humidity and practical load from direct solar heat gain. Effect glass upgrades can help both if specified intelligently.
Low-E impact glass utilizes microscopically thin metallic layers to show infrared energy while letting noticeable light through. With the right finishing stacks, you can obstruct a big part of convected heat and UV. UV obstruction in laminated units comes mainly 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 air conditioner crazy midafternoon.
I assess glass specifications with three numbers: U-factor, SHGC, and VT. While U-factor matters more up north, it still assists here by decreasing nighttime heat flow and keeping the interior glass temperature closer to space temperature, which reduces condensation risk. SHGC drives just how much solar heat goes into. VT affects how brilliant the interior feels. Balance is key. Some property owners desire the crisp, clear appearance of higher VT, even if it implies accepting a few degrees more heat in late afternoon, because their landscaping and roofing overhangs currently do some shading. Others choose a stronger tint for glare control on waterside lots that show harsh light.
In useful terms, going from clear single-pane sliders to modern low-E laminated double-glazed units can decrease peak solar gains by 30 to 50 percent on the most exposed sides. Couple that with tuned overhangs, light-colored exterior finishes, and a correctly sized variable-speed a/c, and you begin to construct resilience. If the grid goes down and you change to a generator, a lower cooling load implies a smaller generator and fewer gallons of fuel.
Miami-Dade Notification of Approval, or NOA, is the file you request. It information the approved setups, sizes, anchors, and pressures checked. It is inadequate to hear "these are Miami-Dade approved windows" in a showroom. Validate the NOA matches the precise design and alternatives you are buying, including the glazing makeup and hardware. If you are in Broward or Miami-Dade, your permitting office will desire this paper trail.
Statewide, the Florida Item Approval system offers FL numbers that reveal code compliance. In the remainder of the state outside the High Velocity Hurricane Zone, Florida building code windows can depend on Florida Product Approval without Miami-Dade specific NOAs. Numerous top makers bring both. Where spending plans allow, I choose NOA products even outside the zone due to the fact that the screening is stiffer.
NFRC labels deal with energy metrics. They won't inform you effect performance, but they show U-factor, SHGC, VT, and air leakage. Go for air leak at or below 0.3 cfm/ft ². Tighter is much better for humidity control, however make sure your home still has balanced ventilation. Sealing the envelope and neglecting fresh air is a recipe for indoor air quality complaints.
Impact windows cost more in advance than shutters. There's no spin around that. Installed expenses differ with size, shape, finish, and access. On straightforward single-family homes, per-opening expenses frequently land between 1,200 and 3,000 dollars for standard sizes. Large multi-panel sliders, custom arches, and coastal-grade surfaces raise the numbers quickly.

Where you recover value:
If you plan to own the residential or commercial property for five years or more, the mathematics typically tilts in favor of impact windows, especially when you factor the intangible of comfort. If you plan to offer within a year and require to show compliance rapidly, shutters may make more short-term sense. Context matters.
I focus on hardware and devices. Multi-point locks on casements and awnings enhance seal compression and security. For sliders, robust tandem rollers in stainless housings glide smoother and last longer on sandy patio areas. Look at the sill style on moving doors. Weep systems must be crafted 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 movies can run afoul of neighborhood associations or produce mirror-like glare toward surrounding homes. In coastal communities, highly reflective glass can puzzle birds or sea turtles in some jurisdictions. Regional pros understand which finishings balance performance with compliance.
Color stability is a big offer. Dark bronze or black frames look wonderful on contemporary homes, but in Florida sun cheap finishes chalk and fade. AAMA 2605-rated coverings supply the very best color retention and chalk resistance. I define them for seaside exposures whenever budgets allow.
Historic districts typically need profiles that simulate old wood sash sightlines. There are impact-rated windows that fit these requirements, however lead times extend and costs climb. Anticipate additional evaluation by architectural boards, and line up a specialist familiar with these submissions.
Condos have another layer of governance. Associations often specify a narrow list of authorized products for uniformity. They likewise appreciate sound control between systems. If your structure sits directly on Collins Avenue or faces a busy beach boardwalk, push for acoustic laminated choices. Deal with building management on staging and lift access. best impact windows available Weekend work windows and limited parking can include days and dollars.
Large openings, like a 16-foot-wide slider, require special attention in style pressure, deflection, and operating hardware. Not every unit that looks tough in a showroom satisfies the wind loads on a ninth-floor veranda. Do not count on brochure maximum sizes. Use the NOA tables that represent your site's zone, positive and unfavorable pressures, and mullion combinations if any.
The finest tasks begin with a determined survey and exposure analysis. You map each opening, note the substrate, and identify any framing abnormalities or settlement fractures. During proposition, the specialist reveals you the NOA and the Florida Item Approval, lists anchor types, and discusses how each opening will be flashed and sealed. They prepare for stucco or drywall repairs, not pretend no damage will occur.
On set up day, Boca Raton window upgrades they get rid of one opening at a time to keep your home protected. They secure floors, draw back window treatments, and cap sprinklers. Old frames bring out care to maintain interior surfaces. New systems get dry-fit, shimmed, and anchored per the schedule. The team checks squareness and diagonals before setting sealant. They picture anchors for the authorization file, specifically if they will be concealed. After glazing, they water-test with a controlled spray to verify drainage paths and seals. The inspector sees a cool jobsite, clear labels, and paperwork in order.
Six months later, your windows still close with two fingers, locks bite smoothly, and there is no secret rattle throughout thunderstorms. You did not have to call for a roller change after the first week. That is the standard.
Impact rating does not equal breakproof. Laminated glass can break under extreme effects, but it must remain in the frame and hold together. After a storm that sends debris into the glass, you may see star cracks 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 substitute for an evaluated, anchored system. Your insurer and building department will not count movies as secured openings.
Interior humidity matters. Tight, energy-efficient impact windows lower air leakage. That's excellent, but it increases the importance of an effectively buy impact windows sized HVAC with great dehumidification. If your system is oversized, the thermostat pleases rapidly and stops working to pull enough moisture from the air. Ask your a/c pro to inspect sensible heat ratio, air flow, and run time. You desire consistent, longer cycles, not brief bursts.
Maintenance is simple however not optional. Tidy weep holes on sliders, wash salt spray from frames, and lubricate hardware annually with a silicone-based item that will not gum up in heat. Small practices extend lifespan.
There are legitimate reasons to blend options. A set of rarely used garage windows can keep removable panels to shave budget. A deep-set deck with minimal sun exposure may do great with accordion shutters if you prioritize other upgrades like a brand-new roof deck accessory or a fortified garage door. Shutters can also protect outside kitchens or cabana openings where grease and smoke would age fancy hardware prematurely.
If you choose shutters, buy quality. Stainless fasteners, smooth tracks, and motors with manual overrides for roll-downs make a distinction. Assign duty for deployment and practice when outside professional window installation near me of a storm watch. Inventory your hardware. The day you need 32 wing nuts is not the morning you want to find you have 29.
Impact windows are not only about enduring 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 cyclone threatens, your preparation list gets shorter. You lock the sashes, set storm mode on the alarm, and focus on individuals rather than panels.
For a lot of my customers, that intangible is the choosing aspect. They understand storms will come. They likewise understand life in South Florida is too good to live inside a fortress that only gets up 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 designs point our way in September.
If you are weighing the option, begin with a site-specific evaluation. Match your direct exposures to design pressures, select the best laminated glass stack for wind and heat, choose frames that fit the architecture and conditions, and work with a crew that appreciates the load path. Done right, energy‑efficient impact windows deliver what shutters can not: protection that never requests for a ladder and a much better home every day of the year.