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 stock up, and the routine of carrying ladders to mount panels. After twenty years specifying, installing, and repairing building envelopes from Key Largo to Palm Beach, I have actually seen what holds up and what does not. When the objective is real security with year-round convenience, Miami-Dade approved, energy‑efficient impact windows outperform shutters in manner ins which go beyond storm day. They alter how a house feels in August, how quiet your living-room stays on a Saturday night, and how positive you are when a storm line spins up much faster than predicted.
This is a practical look at why numerous South Florida house owners are moving from shutters to cyclone impact-resistant windows, how to read the standards behind "Miami-Dade authorized," what products matter, and how to get the setup right the very first time.
Miami-Dade County's Product Control Department sets one of the toughest standards in the country for constructing elements exposed to windborne particles. Approval is not a marketing sticker label. It is made through particular laboratory tests that replicate real hurricane conditions.
First comes big rocket effect. A 9-pound 2x4 is contended 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 system deals with cyclic pressure loading, thousands of pressurization and depressurization cycles that imitate quick 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 code windows" and "Miami-Dade authorized windows" often resides in these test thresholds. Miami-Dade is just stiffer, especially in High Speed Typhoon Zone requirements, that include Miami-Dade and Broward.

Wind scores vary by opening size and style pressures, denoted as PSF values. On ocean-facing residential or commercial properties or high-rises, I frequently specify units rated at +60/ -80 PSF or higher. Inland or in more safeguarded direct exposures, ratings in the +45/ -60 PSF variety can be enough, but you size and specification based upon the website's wind map, constructing height, and surrounding structures. An expert knows that a corner direct exposure at the 2nd story needs different reinforcement than a sheltered window under a deep porch.
Hurricane shutters vs impact windows is not a one-to-one comparison. 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 caution and the projection track tightens, 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 US 1. You likewise get advantages every day of the year.
Noise control is the most underappreciated benefit. Laminated effect glass is basically a sandwich: 2 panes of glass bonded by a resilient interlayer, generally PVB interlayer glass or SentryGlas. That interlayer damps sound. On jobs along busy corridors like Biscayne Boulevard or near flight courses, I've measured interior sound 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 withstands forced entry. A robber can shatter the external lite with a hammer, but the interlayer holds the shards. They meet a sticky, stubborn membrane instead of a quick course inside. Insurance coverage underwriters understand this, which is why policies often offer credits for effect doors and windows. In my jobs, premiums normally drop 10 to 25 percent, depending upon the carrier and the number of openings are protected.
Energy efficiency is the 3rd pillar. Energy-efficient effect windows with modern-day low-E effect glass and warm-edge spacers can cut solar heat gain while maintaining noticeable light. That laminated safety glass indicates less a/c need, especially 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 impact units. Summer afternoon peak load stopped by roughly a lots of cooling, and the home's annual electricity usage fell in between 12 and 18 percent. Results 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 products are equal.
Most property typhoon windows utilize a PVB interlayer glass stack, frequently 0.030 to 0.090 inches thick in single or multiple plies. Thicker interlayers improve effect resistance and sound control, however they include weight and expense. For oceanfront or tall openings, you may see SGP (ionoplast) interlayers, which are stiffer and more powerful than PVB, enabling thinner sections to achieve greater style pressures. For noise-sensitive websites, acoustic PVB solutions tweak the polymer to much better soak up noise in the 1,000 to 3,000 Hz variety, where traffic and voices sit.
Tempered glass windows come up often in conversations due to the fact that tempered glass is more powerful in flexing than annealed glass. That's true, and tempered lites are commonly used as the outer or inner ply in an effect unit. But 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 effect efficiency originates from laminated construction, not tempering by itself. Numerous systems use a tempered outer lite laminated to a hardened inner lite, or both tempered, however constantly bonded through a PVB or ionoplast interlayer.
Low-E coverings 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 bigger openings. The sweet spot depends on your façade orientation and shading. On east and west elevations, I frequently tighten SHGC and accept a minor tint to manage morning and afternoon blasts. On north elevations, I favor higher noticeable transmittance for daylighting.
Frames are the other half of the story. Aluminum frames control here since they handle big openings and will not swell. Thermal breaks and enhanced glazing gaskets have narrowed the energy gap with vinyl. Premium vinyl impact frames, when enhanced properly, can perform well for standard-sized openings and have much better insulating worths, however I avoid 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 upkeep and smart flashing. The Florida sun destroys low-cost vinyl and chalks low-grade aluminum finishes quickly. Search for powder-coated finishes rated for seaside direct exposure, and demand written guarantee information in salt-air environments.
Window installation can make or break efficiency. A pricey system set up like a handyman swap-out will not pass a storm's tension test. The load course is the crux. Effect forces need to take a trip from the glass through the frame, to the anchors, into the substrate, and then into the structure's framing or masonry.
In cinder block construction, you want stainless or hot-dipped galvanized anchors embedded into solid material. Hollow cells must be grouted or you need to strike the bond beam. Tapcons in soft, unfilled block are a failure waiting to happen. In wood-framed houses, structural screws should bite into solid trimmers, not simply sheathing. Shimming and plumb alignment matter so the locks engage cleanly and the weatherstripping compresses evenly.
The sealant joint is not just visual. A correctly sized backer rod and premium polyurethane or silyl-modified polymer sealant produce a resilient, flexible seal that deals with thermal expansion. Too small a bead and it tears under motion. Too big and it remedies inadequately. On seaside jobs, I never pair different metals without a barrier, and I constantly specify 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 important. If you rely on sealant alone, water will find its way in. That moisture might disappoint up as a drip. It may rot a sill plate slowly, then betray itself as a buckling floor or a musty smell 2 cyclone seasons later.
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I have nothing against well-designed shutters. Accordion shutters that are kept and lubricated, roll-down shutters with battery backups, and even detachable panels kept carefully can protect homes efficiently. They likewise help in certain cases.
Second homes or seasonal rentals where spending plan is tight in some cases lean on shutters to fulfill the Florida building code windows requirement for safeguarded openings. On specialized openings like a lanai that is hardly ever utilized in summer, a clean motorized roll-down can be reasonable, particularly if pairing with effect doors and windows in other places stresses the budget. For property owners who plan to move within a year, shutters can be a short bridge to compliance before a sale.
But shutters bring compromises. They darken your home when deployed, and they need action at exactly the time you are managing insurance coverage documents, gas cans, and household logistics. During Cyclone Irma, I enjoyed a next-door neighbor attempt to mount steel panels hours before landfall. The ladder sank in saturated soil, a panel slipped, and we spent the next hour in the immediate care waiting space. He survived with stitches. His living-room window did not. Shutters also rattle and can vibrate under sustained winds, often loosening up fasteners gradually if not maintained.
For long-term owners who want to set it and forget it, impact windows offer cyclone proof windows coverage while protecting daytime and view. The convenience grows valuable once you've experienced one storm season with absolutely no preparation beyond locking the sash.
South Florida homes combat two battles: latent load from humidity and practical load from direct solar heat gain. Effect glass upgrades can assist both if specified intelligently.
Low-E effect glass uses microscopically thin metallic layers to show infrared energy while letting noticeable light through. With the right covering stacks, you can obstruct a big portion of radiant heat and UV. UV blockage in laminated units comes mainly from the interlayer itself, which normally filters 95 to 99 percent of UV, minimizing fading of fabrics and flooring. Add the low-E, and you curb the solar heat that drives your a/c insane midafternoon.
I evaluate 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 circulation and keeping the interior glass temperature level closer to room temperature level, which decreases condensation threat. SHGC drives how much solar heat enters. VT affects how brilliant the interior feels. Balance is key. Some homeowners want the crisp, clear look of higher VT, even if it suggests accepting a couple of degrees more heat in late afternoon, because their landscaping and roofing overhangs already do some shading. Others prefer a more powerful tint for glare control on waterside lots that reflect harsh light.
In practical terms, going from clear single-pane sliders to modern-day 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 an effectively sized variable-speed a/c, and you start to build strength. If the grid goes down and you switch to a generator, a lower cooling load implies a smaller generator and fewer gallons of fuel.
Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance, or NOA, is the document you request for. It details the authorized setups, sizes, anchors, and pressures checked. It is not enough to hear "these are Miami-Dade approved windows" in a display room. Validate the NOA matches the precise design and options you are buying, consisting of the glazing makeup and hardware. If you remain in Broward or Miami-Dade, your allowing office will desire this paper trail.
Statewide, the Florida Item Approval system supplies FL numbers that reveal code compliance. In the rest of the state outside the High Velocity Hurricane Zone, Florida building regulations windows can rely on Florida Product Approval without Miami-Dade specific NOAs. Many top makers bring both. Where budgets permit, I choose NOA products even outside the zone due to the fact that the testing is stiffer.
NFRC labels manage energy metrics. They won't tell you impact efficiency, however they reveal U-factor, SHGC, VT, and air leak. Aim for air leak at or below 0.3 cfm/ft TWO. Tighter is much better for humidity control, but make sure your home still has actually stabilized ventilation. Sealing the envelope and overlooking fresh air is a dish for indoor air quality complaints.
Impact windows cost more in advance than shutters. There's no spin around that. Installed expenses vary with size, shape, finish, and access. On simple single-family homes, per-opening expenses often land in between 1,200 and 3,000 dollars for basic sizes. Big multi-panel sliders, customized arches, and coastal-grade finishes raise the numbers quickly.
Where you recoup worth:
If you prepare to own the 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 prepare to offer within a year and need to show compliance quickly, shutters might make more short-term sense. Context matters.
I take notice of hardware and accessories. Multi-point locks on sashes and awnings improve seal compression and security. For sliders, robust tandem rollers in stainless real estates glide smoother and last longer on sandy patios. Look at the sill design on sliding doors. Weep systems need to be crafted 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 contravene of neighborhood associations or produce mirror-like glare toward neighboring homes. In coastal environments, highly reflective glass can puzzle birds or sea turtles in some jurisdictions. Local pros know which coverings balance efficiency with compliance.
Color stability is a huge deal. Dark bronze or black frames look wonderful on modern homes, but in Florida sun inexpensive surfaces chalk and fade. AAMA 2605-rated finishes offer the best color retention and chalk resistance. I specify them for coastal exposures whenever spending plans allow.
Historic districts typically need profiles that simulate old wood sash sightlines. There are impact-rated windows that fit these requirements, but lead times lengthen and costs climb. Expect extra evaluation by architectural boards, and line up a contractor knowledgeable about these submissions.
Condos have another layer of governance. Associations in some cases define a narrow list of authorized items for harmony. They likewise appreciate sound control between systems. If your building sits directly on Collins Opportunity or faces a hectic beach boardwalk, push for acoustic laminated choices. Deal with building management on staging and lift access. Weekend work windows and limited parking can add days and dollars.
Large openings, like a 16-foot-wide slider, require 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 balcony. Do not depend on catalog maximum sizes. Use the NOA tables that correspond to your website's zone, favorable and negative pressures, and mullion combinations if any.
The finest projects begin with a measured study and exposure analysis. You map each opening, note the substrate, and recognize any framing irregularities or settlement fractures. Throughout proposal, the professional shows you the NOA and the Florida Item Approval, notes anchor types, and describes 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, they remove one opening at a time to keep your home protected. They secure floorings, pull back window treatments, and cap sprinklers. Old frames come out with care to preserve interior surfaces. 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, specifically if they will be concealed. After glazing, they water-test with a controlled spray to confirm drainage courses and seals. The inspector sees a cool jobsite, clear labels, and documentation in order.
Six months later on, your windows still close with two fingers, locks bite efficiently, and there is no mystery rattle during thunderstorms. You did not have to call for a roller adjustment after the very first week. That is the standard.
Impact rating does not equivalent breakproof. Laminated glass can split under serious impacts, but it must stay in the frame and hold together. After a storm that sends out debris into the glass, you might see star fractures or spidering. The window did its task. Change the sash or IGU after the event.
Window movies do not convert non-impact windows into cyclone impact-resistant windows. They can include shatter resistance, however they do not alternative to a checked, anchored system. Your insurer and building department will not count films as protected openings.
Interior humidity matters. Tight, energy-efficient impact windows lower air leak. That's terrific, but it increases the significance of an effectively sized a/c with good dehumidification. If your system is large, the thermostat satisfies rapidly and stops working to pull enough moisture from the air. Ask your a/c pro to examine reasonable heat ratio, airflow, and run time. You desire stable, longer cycles, not brief bursts.
Maintenance is uncomplicated however not optional. Tidy weep holes on sliders, wash salt spray from frames, and lubricate hardware yearly with a silicone-based item that will not gum up in heat. Small practices extend lifespan.
There are genuine factors to blend solutions. A set of rarely used garage windows can keep removable panels to shave spending plan. A deep-set patio with minimal sun direct exposure may do fine with accordion shutters if you focus on other upgrades like a brand-new roofing deck attachment or a prepared garage door. Shutters can likewise safeguard outdoor cooking areas or cabana openings where grease and smoke would age fancy hardware prematurely.
If you choose shutters, invest in quality. Stainless fasteners, smooth tracks, and motors with manual overrides for roll-downs make a difference. Appoint duty for deployment and practice as soon as beyond a storm watch. Inventory your hardware. The day you require 32 wing nuts is not the morning you want to discover you have 29.
Impact windows are not only about enduring the huge one. They reshape daily living. The living room remains cooler and quieter. The air conditioning cycles calmly rather of racing at 4 p.m. You sleep without freight trains of wind noise when a squall line passes at 2 a.m. When a hurricane threatens, your preparation list gets shorter. You lock the sashes, set storm mode on the alarm, and concentrate on people rather than panels.
For a number of my customers, that intangible is the deciding factor. They understand storms will come. They also know life in South Florida is too excellent to live inside a fortress that just wakes up in August. Miami-Dade approved windows give you both: a clear view of Biscayne Bay on a breezy February morning and peaceful confidence when the spaghetti designs point our method 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 hire a crew that appreciates the load path. Done right, energy‑efficient effect windows deliver what shutters can not: defense that never requests a ladder and a better home every day of the year.