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 ritual of carrying ladders to mount panels. After 20 years specifying, setting up, and troubleshooting structure envelopes from Key Largo to Palm Beach, I have actually seen what holds up and what does not. When the goal is real security with year-round comfort, Miami-Dade approved, energy‑efficient impact windows surpass shutters in ways that exceed storm day. They alter how a home feels in August, how peaceful your living-room remains on a Saturday night, and how confident you are when a storm line spins up faster than predicted.
This is a practical take a look at why lots of South Florida homeowners are moving from shutters to cyclone impact-resistant windows, how to check out the requirements behind "Miami-Dade authorized," what products matter, and how to get the installation right the first time.
Miami-Dade County's Product Control Department sets one of the toughest criteria in the country for building elements exposed to windborne particles. Approval is not a marketing sticker. It is earned through particular laboratory tests that mimic real hurricane conditions.
First comes large rocket effect. A 9-pound 2x4 is shot at the glass at approximately 34 miles per hour. That mimics roofing system tiles, branches, or pieces of fencing that fly in the eyewall. After the effect, the same system 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 difference in between "fulfills Florida building code windows" and "Miami-Dade approved windows" typically lives in these test thresholds. Miami-Dade is merely stiffer, particularly in High Speed Cyclone Zone requirements, that include Miami-Dade and Broward.
Wind ratings vary by opening size and style pressures, signified as PSF worths. On ocean-facing residential or commercial properties or high-rises, I frequently define systems rated at +60/ -80 PSF or greater. Inland or in more protected direct exposures, ratings in the +45/ -60 PSF variety can be enough, however you size and spec based on the site's wind map, constructing height, and surrounding structures. A professional understands 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 much better than nothing. However they ask you to do operate at the worst possible time. When a watch turns to a caution 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 live in location. You get constant protection, 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 benefit. Laminated effect glass is essentially a sandwich: two panes of glass bonded by a resistant interlayer, typically PVB interlayer glass or SentryGlas. That interlayer damps noise. On tasks along hectic corridors like Biscayne Boulevard or near flight courses, I have actually measured interior sound drops in the 5 to 10 decibel range, often more when coupled with insulated glass units.
Security improves due to the fact that laminated glass withstands required entry. An intruder can shatter the outer lite with a hammer, however the interlayer holds the professional window installation in Boca Raton shards. They fulfill a sticky, persistent membrane rather of a quick path inside. Insurance underwriters understand this, which is why policies often use credits for effect doors and windows. In my tasks, premiums normally drop 10 to 25 percent, depending upon the carrier and how many openings are protected.
Energy performance is the 3rd pillar. Energy-efficient impact windows with modern low-E effect glass and warm-edge spacers can cut solar heat gain while maintaining visible light. That implies less cooling need, specifically on west and south direct exposures where the afternoon sun punishes interiors. In one Coral Gables retrofit, we replaced 1980s single-pane sliders with laminated low-E effect units. Summertime afternoon peak load dropped by approximately a lots of cooling, and the home's annual electrical power usage fell in between 12 and 18 percent. Outcomes vary with shading, attic insulation, and heating and cooling efficiency, however the direction is consistent.
Laminated impact glass is the heart of the system, but not all laminated items are equal.
Most property cyclone windows use a PVB interlayer glass stack, frequently 0.030 to 0.090 inches thick in single or numerous plies. Thicker interlayers improve effect resistance and sound control, but they include weight and cost. For oceanfront or tall openings, you might see SGP (ionoplast) interlayers, which are stiffer and stronger than PVB, permitting thinner sections to achieve greater design pressures. For noise-sensitive websites, acoustic PVB formulas fine-tune the polymer to much better take in sound in the 1,000 to 3,000 Hz variety, where traffic and voices sit.
Tempered glass windows turn up typically in discussions since tempered glass is stronger in bending than annealed glass. That's true, and tempered lites are commonly utilized as the outer or inner ply in an impact unit. But tempered alone is not impact-resistant in the cyclone sense. When it stops working, it blows up into small cubes and falls out of the frame, which leaves the opening vulnerable. The impact performance originates from laminated building, not tempering by itself. Many systems use 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 convenience. A soft-coat low-E tuned for South Florida normally 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 short 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 minor tint to manage 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 deal with 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 strengthened correctly, can perform well for standard-sized openings and have better insulating worths, but I prevent them for really large sliders or tall storefront-style windows in high-wind zones. Wood-clad systems look lovely in older Mediterranean Revival homes, but they require mindful maintenance and wise flashing. The Florida sun damages low-cost vinyl and chalks low-grade aluminum surfaces rapidly. Try to find powder-coated surfaces rated for seaside direct exposure, and demand composed guarantee details in salt-air environments.
Window setup can make or break efficiency. An expensive unit set up like a handyman swap-out will not pass a storm's tension test. The load course is the essence. 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 want stainless or hot-dipped galvanized anchors embedded into strong material. Hollow cells need to be grouted or you need to hit the bond beam. Tapcons in soft, unfilled block are a failure waiting to occur. In wood-framed homes, 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 aesthetic. A correctly sized backer rod and top quality polyurethane or silyl-modified polymer sealant produce a durable, flexible seal that handles thermal growth. Too little a bead and it tears under movement. Too big and it remedies badly. On seaside tasks, I never ever combine dissimilar metals without a barrier, and I constantly 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 combination with the water-resistive barrier are vital. If you depend on sealant alone, water will find its method. That moisture might not show up as a drip. It may rot a sill plate gradually, then betray itself as a buckling flooring or a moldy smell 2 typhoon seasons later.

I have nothing versus well-designed shutters. Accordion shutters that are kept and lubed, roll-down shutters with battery backups, and even removable panels stored thoroughly can protect homes efficiently. They likewise help in certain cases.
Second homes or seasonal leasings where budget is tight sometimes lean on shutters to satisfy the Florida building code windows requirement for secured openings. On specialized openings like a lanai that is hardly ever utilized in summer, a clean motorized roll-down can be affordable, specifically if coupling with effect doors and windows somewhere else stresses the spending plan. For house owners who plan to move within a year, shutters can be a brief bridge to compliance before a sale.
But shutters bring compromises. They darken the house when released, and they need action at exactly the time you are handling insurance coverage papers, gas cans, and family logistics. Throughout Hurricane Irma, I viewed 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 urgent care waiting space. He survived with stitches. His living-room window did not. Shutters likewise rattle and can vibrate under sustained winds, sometimes loosening fasteners in time if not maintained.
For long-lasting owners who want to set it and forget it, effect windows offer cyclone proof windows protection while protecting daytime and view. The benefit grows important once you've experienced one storm season with absolutely no prep beyond locking the sash.
South Florida homes fight two battles: hidden load from humidity and practical load from direct solar heat gain. Impact glass upgrades can assist both if defined intelligently.

Low-E effect glass uses microscopically thin metallic layers to reflect infrared energy while letting noticeable light through. With the ideal covering stacks, you can block a large part of convected heat and UV. UV blockage in laminated units comes mainly from the interlayer itself, which usually filters 95 to 99 percent of UV, lowering fading of fabrics and floor covering. Include the low-E, and you curb the solar heat that drives your air conditioning crazy midafternoon.
I evaluate glass specifications with 3 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 lowers condensation danger. SHGC drives just how much solar heat enters. VT influences how brilliant the interior feels. Balance is crucial. Some property owners desire 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 stronger tint for glare control on waterfront lots that show severe light.
In practical terms, going from clear single-pane sliders to modern-day low-E laminated double-glazed units can minimize peak solar gains by 30 to 50 percent on the most exposed sides. Couple that with tuned overhangs, light-colored outside surfaces, and an appropriately sized variable-speed a/c, and you start to build durability. If the grid goes down and you change to a generator, a lower cooling load means a smaller generator and fewer gallons of fuel.
Miami-Dade Notification of Approval, or NOA, is the file you request for. It details the authorized setups, sizes, anchors, and pressures evaluated. It is inadequate to hear "these are Miami-Dade approved windows" in a showroom. Verify the NOA matches the exact model and options you are buying, including the glazing makeup and hardware. If you best hurricane proof windows Boca Raton remain in Broward or Miami-Dade, your allowing workplace will desire this paper trail.
Statewide, the Florida Product Approval system supplies FL numbers that reveal code compliance. In the remainder of the state outside the High Velocity Typhoon Zone, Florida building regulations windows can rely on Florida Product Approval without Miami-Dade particular NOAs. Many leading manufacturers bring both. Where budget plans permit, I prefer NOA items even outside the zone since the testing is stiffer.
NFRC labels handle energy metrics. They will not inform you impact performance, however they reveal U-factor, SHGC, VT, and air leak. Go for air leak 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 recipe for indoor air quality complaints.
Impact windows cost more in advance than shutters. There's no spin around that. Installed costs differ with size, shape, surface, and gain access to. On uncomplicated single-family homes, per-opening expenses typically land in between 1,200 and 3,000 dollars for standard sizes. Big multi-panel sliders, customized arches, and coastal-grade finishes raise the numbers quickly.
Where you recover value:
If you prepare to own the property for 5 years or more, the mathematics typically tilts in favor of impact windows, especially when you factor the intangible of assurance. If you plan to offer within a year and need to show compliance quickly, shutters may make more short-term sense. Context matters.

I pay attention to hardware and devices. Multi-point locks on sashes and awnings enhance seal compression and security. For sliders, robust tandem rollers in stainless real estates glide smoother and last longer on sandy patio areas. Take a look at the sill style on sliding doors. Weep systems need to 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 movies can run afoul of neighborhood watch or produce mirror-like glare towards surrounding homes. In seaside communities, extremely reflective glass can puzzle birds or sea turtles in some jurisdictions. Regional pros understand which coverings balance efficiency with compliance.
Color stability is a big offer. Dark bronze or black frames look great on contemporary homes, however in Florida sun inexpensive finishes chalk and fade. AAMA 2605-rated coatings provide the very best color retention and chalk resistance. I define them for coastal exposures whenever budgets allow.
Historic districts typically require profiles that mimic old wood sash sightlines. There are impact-rated windows that fit these requirements, but lead times lengthen and costs climb. Anticipate additional evaluation by architectural boards, and line up a specialist knowledgeable about these submissions.
Condos have another layer of governance. Associations often specify a narrow list of authorized items for uniformity. They likewise care about sound control between systems. If your structure sits straight on Collins Avenue or deals with a hectic beach boardwalk, push for acoustic laminated options. Work with building management on staging and lift access. Weekend work windows and restricted parking can add days and dollars.
Large openings, like a 16-foot-wide slider, need unique attention in design pressure, deflection, and operating hardware. Not every unit that looks durable in a display room fulfills the wind loads on a ninth-floor veranda. Do not rely on brochure optimum sizes. Utilize the NOA tables that correspond to your site's zone, positive and unfavorable pressures, and mullion mixes if any.
The finest jobs begin with a measured survey and direct exposure analysis. You map each opening, note the substrate, and identify any framing irregularities or settlement fractures. During proposal, the contractor shows you the NOA and the Florida Product Approval, lists anchor types, and describes how each opening will be flashed and sealed. They plan for stucco or drywall repair work, not pretend no damage will occur.
On install day, they get rid of one opening at a time to keep your home secure. They secure floorings, pull back window treatments, and cap sprinklers. Old frames come out with care to preserve interior finishes. New units get dry-fit, shimmed, and anchored per the schedule. The crew checks squareness and diagonals before setting sealant. They photograph anchors for the authorization file, especially if they will be concealed. After glazing, they water-test with a regulated spray to confirm drainage courses and seals. The inspector sees a cool jobsite, clear labels, and paperwork in order.
Six months later on, your windows still close with two fingers, locks bite efficiently, and there is no secret rattle throughout thunderstorms. You did not have to call for a roller modification after the very first week. That is the standard.
Impact score does not equivalent breakproof. Laminated glass can break under severe impacts, but it must stay in the frame and hold together. After a storm that sends particles into the glass, you might see star fractures or spidering. The window did its task. Replace the sash or IGU after the event.
Window movies do not transform non-impact windows into hurricane impact-resistant windows. They can include shatter resistance, but they do not replacement for a tested, anchored system. Your insurance company and building department will not count films as protected openings.
Interior humidity matters. Tight, energy-efficient effect windows lower air leakage. That's great, however it increases the importance of an appropriately sized heating and cooling with good dehumidification. If your system is large, the thermostat satisfies rapidly and stops working to pull enough moisture from the air. Ask your HVAC pro to check reasonable heat ratio, airflow, and run time. You want consistent, longer cycles, not brief bursts.
Maintenance is simple but not optional. Clean 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. Little practices extend lifespan.
There are genuine factors to blend services. A pair of hardly ever used garage windows can keep removable panels to shave budget plan. A deep-set deck with very little sun exposure might do fine with accordion shutters if you focus on other upgrades like a brand-new roofing deck attachment or a fortified garage door. Shutters can also safeguard outdoor kitchen areas or cabana openings where grease and smoke would age elegant hardware prematurely.
If you pick shutters, purchase quality. Stainless fasteners, smooth tracks, and motors with manual bypasses for roll-downs make a distinction. Designate obligation for release and practice when outside of a storm watch. Inventory your hardware. The day you require 32 wing nuts is not the early morning you want to find you have 29.
Impact windows are not just about surviving the big one. They improve daily living. The living-room stays cooler and quieter. The air conditioning cycles calmly instead 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 cyclone threatens, your preparation list gets much shorter. You lock the sashes, set storm mode on the alarm, and focus on people instead of panels.
For much of my clients, that intangible is the choosing aspect. They understand storms will come. They likewise know life in South Florida is too excellent to live inside a fortress that only awakens in August. Miami-Dade approved windows provide you both: a clear view of Biscayne Bay on a breezy February morning and peaceful self-confidence when the spaghetti designs point our way in September.
If you are weighing the option, begin with a site-specific assessment. Match your direct exposures to design pressures, pick the ideal laminated glass stack for wind and heat, select frames that fit the architecture and conditions, and employ a crew that respects the load path. Done right, energy‑efficient impact windows deliver what shutters can not: defense that never asks for a ladder and a much better home every day of the year.