STS Impact Windows, Doors & Roofing is a veteran-owned company based in South Florida that specializes in premium hurricane protection solutions, including impact windows, doors, custom storefronts, and roofing. Combining over 25 years of industry experience with military precision, STS provides expert installation, full transparency, and outstanding customer service, backed by a leading 3-year installation warranty. Their comprehensive services ensure security and peace of mind for both residential and commercial clients, with a strong focus on quality, reliability, and efficiency.
View on Google MapsSTS Impact Windows and Doors specializes in hurricane protection solutions, offering high-quality impact windows, storm-resistant doors, custom storefronts, and professional roofing services. With expert installation, full transparency, and outstanding customer service, the company ensures homes and businesses stay secure and energy-efficient.
STS Impact Windows and Doors is located at 1000 Holland Dr Suite 10, Boca Raton, FL 33487, United States. The company proudly serves residential and commercial clients across Florida and throughout the United States, delivering reliable storm protection solutions. View their location on Google Maps.
Yes, STS Impact Windows and Doors is a veteran-owned company recognized for its dedication, integrity, and service to the community. This background adds an extra level of trust and reliability for homeowners and businesses seeking storm protection solutions.
STS Impact Windows and Doors provides a wide range of services including the installation of hurricane impact windows, impact doors, custom commercial storefronts, and roofing services. Each project is backed by expert craftsmanship, a 3-year installation warranty, and over 25 years of industry experience.
The company proudly serves both residential homeowners and commercial property owners. From protecting family homes to fortifying businesses with hurricane-rated storefronts, STS Impact Windows and Doors delivers customized solutions that ensure safety, durability, and efficiency.
Clients benefit from the company’s focus on quality, reliability, and efficiency. Their impact-resistant windows and doors not only enhance security and hurricane protection but also improve energy efficiency, reduce noise, and increase property value. With a 3-year installation warranty, customers can trust in long-term performance and peace of mind.
STS Impact Windows and Doors has been recognized with multiple industry honors, including the South Florida Veteran Owned Business Excellence Award, Best Hurricane Protection Provider 2023 Florida, and the Angi’s Super Service Award for Window Installation. These awards highlight their commitment to excellence, customer satisfaction, and industry leadership.
You can reach STS Impact Windows and Doors by phone at 561-600-1018 or visit their website at stswindows.com. They are open Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm and are available on Facebook and Instagram for updates and project showcases.
Business Name: STS Impact Windows & Doors
Address: 1000 Holland Dr #10, Boca Raton, FL 33487, United States
Phone: (561)-600-1018
Hurricane season shapes life along Florida's coasts. You feel it in the method next-door neighbors track tropical waves, the pre-storm rush to stockpile, and the ritual of transporting ladders to mount panels. After two decades specifying, setting up, and fixing building envelopes from Secret Largo to Palm Beach, I've seen what holds up and what doesn't. When the objective is real security with year-round comfort, Miami-Dade authorized, energy‑efficient effect windows surpass shutters in ways that exceed storm day. They change 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 much faster than predicted.
This is a useful look at why lots of South Florida property owners are moving from shutters to cyclone impact-resistant windows, how to check out the requirements behind "Miami-Dade approved," what materials matter, and how to get the setup right the first time.
Miami-Dade County's Item Control Division sets among the most difficult benchmarks in the nation for developing components exposed to windborne particles. Approval is not a marketing sticker label. It is made through particular laboratory tests that imitate genuine typhoon conditions.
First comes big missile impact. A 9-pound 2x4 is contended the glass at roughly 34 miles per hour. That simulates roof tiles, branches, or pieces of fencing that fly in the eyewall. After the impact, the same unit faces cyclic pressure loading, countless pressurization and depressurization cycles that imitate rapid wind gusts over hours. If the glass remains in the frame without letting the envelope breach, it passes. The distinction in between "satisfies Florida building code windows" and "Miami-Dade authorized windows" often resides in these test thresholds. Miami-Dade is just stiffer, particularly in High Speed Cyclone Zone requirements, which include Miami-Dade and Broward.
Wind scores vary by opening size and design pressures, denoted as PSF values. On ocean-facing properties or high-rises, I often define units rated at +60/ -80 PSF or greater. Inland or in more secured direct exposures, scores in the +45/ -60 PSF range can suffice, but you size and specification based on the website's wind map, constructing height, and surrounding structures. A professional understands that a corner direct exposure at the 2nd story demands various support than a protected window under a deep porch.
Hurricane shutters vs effect windows is not a one-to-one contrast. Shutters can satisfy 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 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 reside in place. You get constant defense, even if a pop-up storm surprises you while you're stuck on United States 1. You likewise get advantages every day of the year.
Noise control is the most underappreciated advantage. Laminated impact glass is essentially a sandwich: 2 panes of glass bonded by a durable interlayer, generally PVB interlayer glass or SentryGlas. That interlayer damps noise. On jobs along busy corridors like Biscayne Boulevard or near flight paths, I've determined interior sound drops in the 5 to 10 decibel range, in some cases more when coupled with insulated glass units.
Security enhances since laminated glass withstands forced entry. A burglar can shatter the external lite with a hammer, but the interlayer holds the fragments. They fulfill a sticky, stubborn membrane rather of a quick path inside. Insurance coverage underwriters understand this, which is why policies frequently offer credits for impact windows and doors. In my tasks, premiums generally drop 10 to 25 percent, depending on the carrier and the number of openings are protected.
Energy performance is the 3rd pillar. Energy-efficient effect windows with modern low-E impact glass and warm-edge spacers can cut solar heat gain while protecting noticeable light. That suggests less cooling need, particularly on west and south direct exposures where the afternoon sun penalizes interiors. In one Coral Gables retrofit, we replaced 1980s single-pane sliders with laminated low-E effect systems. Summer afternoon peak load come by approximately a ton of cooling, and the home's yearly electrical power use fell in between 12 and 18 percent. Results vary with shading, attic insulation, and HVAC efficiency, however the instructions is consistent.
Laminated impact glass is the heart of the system, however not all laminated products are equal.
Most domestic hurricane windows utilize a PVB interlayer glass stack, commonly 0.030 to 0.090 inches thick in single or multiple plies. Thicker interlayers enhance effect resistance and sound control, however they include weight and cost. For oceanfront or high openings, you might see SGP (ionoplast) interlayers, which are stiffer and stronger than PVB, allowing thinner areas to attain higher style pressures. For noise-sensitive sites, acoustic PVB formulas fine-tune the polymer to better soak up sound in the 1,000 to 3,000 Hz range, where traffic and voices sit.

Tempered glass windows turn up typically in conversations since tempered glass is stronger in bending than annealed glass. That holds true, and tempered lites are typically used as the external or inner ply in an impact system. However tempered alone is not impact-resistant in the hurricane sense. When it stops working, it explodes into little cubes and falls out of the frame, which leaves the opening vulnerable. The effect performance comes from laminated construction, not tempering by itself. Numerous systems use a tempered outer lite laminated Boca Raton window installation experts to a hardened inner lite, or both tempered, but always bonded through a PVB or ionoplast interlayer.
Low-E finishes matter for comfort. A soft-coat low-E tuned for South Florida usually targets a solar heat gain coefficient in the 0.25 to 0.35 variety while keeping noticeable light transmission around 50 percent or higher. Go too low on SHGC and the glass can look gray or green, specifically in bigger openings. The sweet spot depends upon your exterior 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 noticeable transmittance for daylighting.
Frames are the other half of the story. Aluminum frames dominate here since they deal with big openings and won't swell. Thermal breaks and improved glazing gaskets have actually narrowed the energy gap with vinyl. Premium vinyl impact frames, when enhanced effectively, can carry out well for standard-sized openings and have much better insulating values, but I prevent them for extremely wide sliders or tall storefront-style windows in high-wind zones. Wood-clad units look gorgeous in older Mediterranean Revival homes, however they demand careful maintenance and clever flashing. The Florida sun destroys cheap vinyl and chalks low-grade aluminum surfaces quickly. Look for powder-coated finishes ranked for coastal exposure, and request written warranty details in salt-air environments.
Window installation can make or break efficiency. A pricey unit set up like a handyman swap-out will not pass a storm's stress test. The load path is the core. Impact forces have to travel from the glass through the frame, to the anchors, into the substrate, and then into the structure's framing or masonry.
In cinder block building and construction, you want stainless or hot-dipped galvanized anchors embedded into solid material. 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 houses, structural screws need to bite into solid trimmers, not just sheathing. Shimming and plumb alignment matter so the locks engage cleanly and the weatherstripping compresses evenly.
The sealant joint is best impact windows in Boca Raton not just aesthetic. An appropriately sized backer rod and premium polyurethane or silyl-modified polymer sealant develop a long lasting, versatile seal that manages thermal expansion. Too small a bead and it tears under motion. Too huge and it treatments improperly. On coastal jobs, I never match different metals without a barrier, and I always 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 crucial. If you rely on sealant alone, water will discover its method. That moisture might not show up as a drip. It might rot a sill plate gradually, then betray itself as a buckling flooring or a musty odor 2 typhoon seasons later.
I have nothing versus well-designed shutters. Accordion shutters that are preserved and lubed, roll-down shutters with battery backups, and even detachable panels saved carefully can secure homes successfully. They also assist in particular cases.
Second homes or seasonal leasings where spending plan is tight in some cases lean on shutters to satisfy the Florida building code windows requirement for safeguarded openings. On specialized openings like a lanai that is rarely used in summertime, a tidy motorized roll-down can be affordable, especially if coupling with impact windows and doors elsewhere stresses the budget. For property 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 your house when released, and they require action at exactly the time you are juggling insurance documents, gas cans, and household logistics. Throughout 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 room. He made it through with stitches. His living-room window did not. Shutters also rattle and can vibrate under continual winds, sometimes loosening up fasteners in time if not maintained.
For long-lasting owners who want to set it and forget it, impact windows offer typhoon evidence windows protection while protecting daylight and view. The convenience grows important once you have actually experienced one storm season with absolutely no prep beyond locking the sash.
South Florida homes fight 2 battles: hidden load from humidity and sensible 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 visible light through. With the best finishing stacks, you can obstruct a big portion of convected heat and UV. UV clog in laminated units comes largely from the interlayer itself, which usually filters 95 to 99 percent of UV, reducing fading of materials and floor covering. Include the low-E, and you curb the solar heat that drives your air conditioner insane midafternoon.
I assess glass specifications with 3 numbers: U-factor, SHGC, and VT. While U-factor matters more up north, it still helps here by lowering nighttime heat circulation and keeping the interior glass temperature closer to space temperature, which lowers condensation danger. SHGC drives just how much solar heat goes into. VT affects how bright the interior feels. Balance is key. Some property owners want the crisp, clear appearance of higher VT, even if it suggests accepting a couple of degrees more heat in late afternoon, because their landscaping and roof overhangs already do some shading. Others prefer a more powerful tint for glare control on waterfront lots that show extreme 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 surfaces, and a properly sized variable-speed HVAC, and you begin to develop resilience. If the grid decreases and you switch to a generator, a lower cooling load means a smaller sized generator and less gallons of fuel.
Miami-Dade Notification of Approval, or NOA, is the document you request. It details the authorized setups, sizes, anchors, and pressures checked. It is inadequate to hear "these are Miami-Dade approved windows" in a showroom. Confirm the NOA matches the exact model and alternatives you are purchasing, including the glazing makeup and hardware. If you remain in Broward or Miami-Dade, your allowing office will want this paper trail.
Statewide, the Florida Product Approval system provides FL numbers that show code compliance. In the remainder of the state outside the High Velocity Hurricane Zone, Florida building regulations windows can count on Florida Item Approval without Miami-Dade specific NOAs. Lots of top producers carry both. Where budgets permit, I choose NOA products even outside the zone since the testing is stiffer.
NFRC labels deal with energy metrics. They won't tell you impact efficiency, but they show 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, however make sure your home still has balanced ventilation. Sealing the envelope and disregarding fresh air is a dish for indoor air quality complaints.
Impact windows cost more in advance than shutters. There's no spin around that. Set up expenses differ with size, shape, surface, and gain access to. On simple single-family homes, per-opening expenses frequently land between 1,200 and 3,000 dollars for standard sizes. Big multi-panel sliders, custom-made arches, and coastal-grade finishes raise the numbers quickly.
Where you recover value:
If you plan to own the home for five years or more, the math typically tilts in favor of effect windows, especially when you factor the intangible of comfort. If you prepare to sell within a year and need to show compliance rapidly, shutters may make more short-term sense. Context matters.
I pay attention to hardware and accessories. Multi-point locks on casements and awnings improve seal compression and security. For sliders, robust tandem rollers in stainless real estates move smoother and last longer on sandy patio areas. Look at the sill design on sliding doors. Weep systems must be crafted 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 style. Reflective films can contravene of neighborhood associations or produce mirror-like glare toward neighboring residential or commercial properties. In coastal ecosystems, extremely reflective glass can puzzle birds or sea turtles in some jurisdictions. Local pros understand which coatings balance performance with compliance.
Color stability is a big offer. Dark bronze or black frames look fantastic on contemporary homes, however in Florida sun low-cost surfaces chalk and fade. AAMA 2605-rated finishings provide the best color retention and chalk resistance. I specify them for coastal direct exposures whenever budgets allow.
Historic districts frequently require profiles that mimic old wood sash sightlines. There are impact-rated windows that fit these requirements, however lead times lengthen and costs climb. Anticipate extra evaluation by architectural boards, and line up a contractor familiar with these submissions.
Condos have another layer of governance. Associations sometimes specify a narrow list of authorized items for harmony. They also care about noise control in between units. If your structure sits straight on Collins Opportunity 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 limited parking can add days and dollars.
Large openings, like a 16-foot-wide slider, need special attention in style pressure, deflection, and running hardware. Not every unit that looks durable in a showroom fulfills the wind loads on a ninth-floor balcony. Do not depend on catalog maximum sizes. Utilize the NOA tables that correspond to your website's zone, favorable and unfavorable pressures, and mullion combinations if any.
The finest tasks start with a measured survey and exposure analysis. You map each opening, keep in mind the substrate, and identify any framing abnormalities or settlement fractures. During proposal, the professional reveals you the NOA and the Florida Item Approval, lists 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 install day, they remove one opening at a time to keep your home safe. They secure floors, pull back window treatments, and cap sprinklers. Old frames come out with care to preserve interior finishes. 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 regulated spray to validate drainage paths and seals. The inspector sees a neat jobsite, clear labels, and documentation in order.
Six months later on, your windows still close with two fingers, locks bite smoothly, and there is no mystery rattle throughout thunderstorms. You did not need to call for a roller modification after the first week. That is the standard.
Impact ranking does not equivalent breakproof. Laminated glass can break under serious effects, but it must remain in the frame and hold together. After a storm that sends debris into the glass, you may see star fractures or spidering. The window did its task. Replace the sash or IGU after the event.
Window films do not convert non-impact windows into typhoon impact-resistant windows. They can add shatter resistance, but they do not replacement for a checked, anchored system. Your insurance company and building department will not count movies as secured openings.
Interior humidity matters. Tight, energy-efficient effect windows minimize air leak. That's great, however it increases the significance of a properly sized heating and cooling with excellent dehumidification. If your system is large, the thermostat pleases rapidly and fails to pull enough moisture from the air. Ask your heating and cooling pro to examine sensible heat ratio, air flow, and run time. You desire stable, longer cycles, not brief bursts.

Maintenance is uncomplicated but not optional. Tidy weep holes on sliders, wash salt spray from frames, and lube hardware every year with a silicone-based product that will not gum up in heat. Small habits extend lifespan.
There are legitimate reasons to blend options. A pair of hardly ever utilized garage windows can keep removable panels to shave budget. A deep-set patio with minimal sun exposure might do great with accordion shutters if you prioritize other upgrades like a brand-new roof deck accessory or a prepared garage door. Shutters can likewise protect outdoor kitchens or cabana openings where grease and smoke would age elegant hardware prematurely.
If you pick shutters, invest in quality. Stainless fasteners, smooth tracks, and motors with handbook overrides for roll-downs make a distinction. Assign duty for deployment 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 discover you have 29.
Impact windows are not just about enduring the huge one. They reshape 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 typhoon threatens, your preparation list gets much shorter. You lock the sashes, set storm mode on the alarm, and focus on people rather than panels.
For much of my clients, that intangible is the deciding factor. They know storms will come. They likewise understand life in South Florida is too great to live inside a fortress that only awakens in August. Miami-Dade authorized windows provide you both: a clear view of Biscayne Bay on a breezy February early morning and quiet self-confidence when the spaghetti models point our method September.

If you are weighing the choice, begin with a site-specific assessment. Match your direct exposures to design pressures, select the right laminated glass stack for wind and heat, choose frames that fit the architecture and conditions, and work with a team that appreciates the load course. Done right, energy‑efficient impact windows deliver what shutters can not: security that never ever asks for a ladder and a better home every day of the year.