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 routine of carrying ladders to install panels. After twenty years specifying, setting up, and repairing building envelopes from Key Largo to Palm Beach, I've seen what holds up and what doesn't. When the goal is genuine security with year-round convenience, Miami-Dade approved, energy‑efficient impact windows outperform shutters in manner ins which exceed storm day. They alter how a house feels in August, how peaceful your living-room remains 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 numerous South Florida house owners are moving from shutters to typhoon impact-resistant windows, how to read the requirements behind "Miami-Dade authorized," what products matter, and how to get the installation right the very first time.
Miami-Dade County's Item Control Division sets one of the toughest standards in the nation for developing elements exposed to windborne debris. Approval is not a marketing sticker label. It is made through particular laboratory tests that replicate real hurricane conditions.
First comes large rocket effect. A 9-pound 2x4 is shot at the glass at roughly 34 miles per hour. That imitates roofing system tiles, branches, or pieces of fencing that fly in the eyewall. After the impact, the very same system deals with cyclic pressure loading, thousands of pressurization and depressurization cycles that mimic rapid wind gusts over hours. If the glass stays in the frame without letting the envelope breach, it passes. The distinction between "fulfills Florida building regulations windows" and "Miami-Dade authorized windows" frequently resides in these test limits. Miami-Dade is just stiffer, especially in High Speed Cyclone Zone requirements, that include Miami-Dade and Broward.
Wind ratings vary by opening size and style pressures, represented as PSF values. On ocean-facing homes or high-rises, I typically specify units ranked at +60/ -80 PSF or higher. Inland or in more safeguarded exposures, scores in the +45/ -60 PSF variety can be adequate, however you size and spec based on the website's wind map, developing height, and surrounding structures. An expert knows that a corner direct exposure at the 2nd story needs various support than a protected window under a deep porch.
Hurricane shutters vs effect windows is not a one-to-one comparison. Shutters can meet code, and they're better than absolutely nothing. However they ask you to do operate at the worst possible time. When a watch turns to a warning and the projection 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 continuous 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 benefit. 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 noise. On tasks along hectic passages like Biscayne Boulevard or near flight paths, I've determined interior noise drops in the 5 to 10 decibel variety, often more when coupled with insulated glass units.
Security enhances because laminated glass withstands required entry. A burglar can shatter the external lite with a hammer, however the interlayer holds the shards. They fulfill a sticky, stubborn membrane instead of a fast course inside. Insurance underwriters understand this, which is why policies often provide credits for effect doors and windows. In my jobs, premiums generally drop 10 to 25 percent, depending on the carrier and how many openings are protected.
Energy efficiency is the third pillar. Energy-efficient effect windows with modern low-E effect glass and warm-edge spacers can cut solar heat gain while maintaining noticeable light. That means less a/c need, particularly on west and south direct exposures where the afternoon sun punishes interiors. In one Coral Gables retrofit, we changed 1980s single-pane sliders with laminated low-E effect systems. Summer afternoon peak load visited approximately 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 effect glass is the heart of the system, but not all laminated items are equal.
Most property hurricane windows utilize 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, however they include weight and cost. For oceanfront or tall openings, you might see SGP (ionoplast) interlayers, which are stiffer and stronger than PVB, allowing thinner areas to accomplish higher design pressures. For noise-sensitive sites, acoustic PVB formulas modify the polymer to better take in sound in the 1,000 to 3,000 Hz variety, where traffic and voices sit.
Tempered glass windows come up often in conversations because tempered glass is stronger in flexing than annealed glass. That holds true, and tempered lites are commonly used as the external or inner ply in an effect system. However tempered alone is not impact-resistant in the hurricane sense. When it stops working, it takes off into small cubes and falls out of the frame, which leaves the opening vulnerable. The impact efficiency comes from laminated building, not tempering by itself. Lots of systems utilize a tempered external lite laminated to a hardened inner lite, or both tempered, however constantly bonded through a PVB or ionoplast interlayer.
Low-E finishings matter for convenience. A soft-coat low-E tuned for Window installation Boca Raton South Florida typically 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 short on SHGC and the glass can look gray or green, especially in bigger openings. The sweet spot depends upon your exterior orientation and shading. On Impact windows east and west elevations, I frequently tighten up SHGC and accept a slight tint to handle morning and afternoon blasts. On north elevations, I favor greater noticeable 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 improved glazing gaskets have actually narrowed the energy gap with vinyl. Premium vinyl effect frames, when reinforced properly, can carry out well for standard-sized openings and have better insulating values, but I avoid them for very large 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 wise flashing. The Florida sun destroys inexpensive vinyl and chalks low-grade aluminum surfaces quickly. Search for powder-coated finishes ranked for seaside exposure, and demand composed guarantee details in salt-air environments.
Window setup can make or break performance. An expensive system set up like a handyman swap-out will not pass a storm's stress test. The load course is the core. Effect forces need 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, you desire stainless or hot-dipped galvanized anchors embedded into strong material. Hollow cells should be grouted or you require to strike the bond beam. Tapcons in soft, unfilled block are a failure waiting to happen. In wood-framed houses, structural screws must bite into strong trimmers, not just sheathing. Shimming and plumb positioning matter so the locks engage cleanly and the weatherstripping compresses evenly.
The sealant joint is not simply aesthetic. A correctly sized backer rod and premium polyurethane or silyl-modified polymer sealant develop a resilient, versatile seal that deals with thermal growth. Too little a bead and it tears under movement. Too huge and it remedies poorly. On seaside tasks, I never pair different metals without a barrier, and I constantly define 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 count on sealant alone, water will find its method. That moisture may disappoint up as a drip. It might rot a sill plate gradually, then betray itself as a buckling floor or a musty smell two typhoon seasons later.
I have nothing against 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 efficiently. They also assist in certain cases.
Second homes or seasonal leasings where budget plan is tight often lean on shutters to meet the Florida building code windows requirement for secured openings. On specialized openings like a lanai that is hardly ever used in summer season, a tidy motorized roll-down can be sensible, particularly if coupling with effect windows and doors in other places stresses the spending plan. For property owners who prepare 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 released, and they require action at specifically the time you are handling insurance papers, gas cans, and household logistics. Throughout Hurricane Irma, I enjoyed a neighbor attempt to install steel panels hours before landfall. The ladder sank in saturated soil, a panel slipped, and we spent the next hour in the urgent care waiting room. He survived with stitches. His living room window did not. Shutters also rattle and can vibrate under sustained winds, in some cases loosening fasteners in time if not maintained.
For long-term owners who wish to set it and forget it, effect windows offer hurricane evidence windows protection while maintaining daylight and view. The convenience grows important once you've experienced one storm season with 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 assist both if defined intelligently.
Low-E effect glass utilizes 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 obstruction in laminated systems comes mostly from the interlayer itself, which usually filters 95 to 99 percent of UV, lowering fading of fabrics and floor covering. Add the low-E, and you suppress the solar heat that drives your air conditioning insane midafternoon.
I assess glass specs with three numbers: U-factor, SHGC, and VT. While U-factor matters more up north, it still assists here by lowering nighttime heat flow and keeping the interior glass temperature closer to space temperature level, which minimizes condensation risk. SHGC drives how much solar heat enters. VT affects how bright the interior feels. Balance is key. Some homeowners want the crisp, clear look of greater VT, even if it suggests accepting a few degrees more heat in late afternoon, since their landscaping and roofing overhangs already do some shading. Others choose a more powerful tint for glare control on waterfront lots that reflect harsh light.
In useful terms, going from clear single-pane sliders to contemporary low-E laminated double-glazed systems can decrease 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 HVAC, and you begin to construct strength. If the grid decreases and you switch to a generator, a lower cooling load suggests a smaller sized generator and fewer gallons of fuel.
Miami-Dade Notification of Approval, or NOA, is the file you ask for. It details the approved configurations, sizes, anchors, and pressures evaluated. It is insufficient to hear "these are Miami-Dade approved windows" in a showroom. Verify the NOA matches the exact design and alternatives you are buying, including the glazing makeup and hardware. If you remain in Broward or Miami-Dade, your allowing office will desire this paper trail.
Statewide, the Florida Product Approval system provides FL numbers that reveal code compliance. In the remainder of the state outside the High Velocity Cyclone Zone, Florida building regulations windows can depend on Florida Item Approval without Miami-Dade particular NOAs. Many top producers carry both. Where spending plans enable, I prefer NOA items even outside the zone because the screening is stiffer.
NFRC labels deal with energy metrics. They will not tell you impact performance, but they reveal U-factor, SHGC, VT, and air leak. Aim for air leakage at or below 0.3 cfm/ft ². Tighter is much better for humidity control, however ensure your home still has stabilized ventilation. Sealing the envelope and neglecting fresh air is a dish for indoor air quality complaints.
Impact windows cost more upfront than shutters. There's no spin around that. Set up expenses differ with size, shape, finish, and access. On straightforward single-family homes, per-opening costs typically land in between 1,200 and 3,000 dollars for standard sizes. Large multi-panel sliders, customized arches, and coastal-grade surfaces raise the numbers quickly.
Where you recover worth:
If you plan to own the residential or commercial property for 5 years or more, the mathematics typically tilts in favor of effect windows, particularly when you factor the intangible of comfort. If you plan to offer within a year and need to show compliance rapidly, shutters might make more short-term sense. Context matters.
I pay attention to hardware and devices. Multi-point locks on casements and awnings enhance seal compression and security. For sliders, robust tandem rollers in stainless housings move smoother and last longer on sandy patios. Look at the sill style on moving doors. Weep systems must be engineered to drain pipes heavy rains without letting wind-driven water blow back in. Ask to see a cutaway sample in the showroom.
Tint colors and reflectivity are more than style. Reflective movies can run afoul of neighborhood associations or produce mirror-like glare toward surrounding residential or commercial properties. In seaside ecosystems, extremely reflective glass can confuse birds or sea turtles in some jurisdictions. Local pros know which finishes balance efficiency with compliance.
Color stability is a big deal. Dark bronze or black frames look wonderful on contemporary homes, but in Florida sun low-cost surfaces chalk and fade. AAMA 2605-rated coatings supply the best color retention and chalk resistance. I define them for coastal direct exposures whenever budget plans allow.
Historic districts typically require profiles that mimic old wood sash sightlines. There are impact-rated windows that fit these requirements, however lead times extend and costs climb. Anticipate extra review by architectural boards, and line up a professional acquainted with these submissions.
Condos have another layer of governance. Associations in some cases specify a narrow list of approved products for harmony. They likewise appreciate sound control in between units. If your structure sits directly on Collins Opportunity or deals with a busy beach boardwalk, push for acoustic laminated options. Deal with structure 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 special attention in style pressure, deflection, and operating hardware. Not every unit that looks durable in a display room satisfies the wind loads on a ninth-floor balcony. Do not count on catalog optimum sizes. Use the NOA tables that represent your website's zone, favorable and negative pressures, and mullion mixes if any.
The best jobs start with a determined survey and direct exposure analysis. You map each opening, keep in mind the substrate, and determine any framing irregularities or settlement cracks. Throughout proposal, the contractor reveals you the NOA and the Florida Product Approval, notes 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, they get rid of one opening at a time to keep the house safe and secure. They protect floorings, draw back window treatments, and cap sprinklers. Old frames bring out care to maintain interior surfaces. 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 permit file, particularly if they will be concealed. After glazing, they water-test with a regulated spray to confirm drain paths and seals. The inspector sees a cool jobsite, clear labels, and documents in order.
Six months later, your windows still close with 2 fingers, locks bite smoothly, and there is no mystery rattle throughout thunderstorms. You did not have to call for a roller change after the very first week. That is the standard.
Impact score does not equal breakproof. Laminated glass can crack under severe impacts, however it ought to remain in the frame and hold together. After a storm that sends debris into the glass, you might see star cracks or spidering. The window did its job. Replace the sash or IGU after the event.
Window films do not transform non-impact windows into cyclone impact-resistant windows. They can add shatter resistance, but they do not alternative to a checked, anchored system. Your insurance provider and building department will not count films as secured openings.
Interior humidity matters. Tight, energy-efficient impact windows decrease air leak. That's great, however it increases the importance of a correctly sized HVAC with excellent dehumidification. If your system is oversized, the thermostat satisfies quickly and fails to pull enough moisture from the air. Ask your a/c pro to inspect sensible heat ratio, air flow, and run time. You desire steady, longer cycles, not short bursts.
Maintenance is simple however not optional. Clean weep holes on sliders, wash salt spray from frames, and oil hardware yearly with a silicone-based item that will not gum up in heat. Little practices extend lifespan.
There are genuine factors to blend solutions. A set of hardly ever used garage windows can keep detachable panels to shave spending plan. A deep-set deck with very little sun direct exposure might do fine with accordion shutters if you focus on other upgrades like a brand-new roofing system deck accessory or a fortified garage door. Shutters can also secure outside kitchens or cabana openings where grease and smoke would age fancy hardware prematurely.
If you pick shutters, purchase quality. Stainless fasteners, smooth tracks, and motors with manual bypasses for roll-downs make a difference. Designate obligation for release and practice when beyond a storm watch. Inventory your hardware. The day you require 32 wing nuts is not the early morning you wish to find you have 29.
Impact windows are not just about making it through the big one. They reshape daily living. The living-room stays cooler and quieter. The AC 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 shorter. You lock the sashes, set storm mode on the alarm, and focus on individuals instead of panels.
For many of my clients, that intangible is the deciding aspect. They know storms will come. They also know life in South Florida is too great to live inside a fortress that only wakes up in August. Miami-Dade authorized windows give you both: a clear view of Biscayne Bay on a breezy February early morning and peaceful self-confidence when the spaghetti designs point our method September.
If you are weighing the option, begin with a site-specific assessment. Match your exposures to design pressures, select the ideal laminated glass stack for wind and heat, choose frames that fit the architecture and conditions, and hire a crew that appreciates the load course. Done right, energy‑efficient effect windows deliver what shutters can not: security that never requests for a ladder and a much better home every day of the year.