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 neighbors track tropical waves, the pre-storm rush to stockpile, and the routine of hauling ladders to install panels. After twenty years specifying, installing, and troubleshooting building envelopes from Secret Largo to Palm Beach, I've seen what holds up and what does not. When the goal is real defense with year-round comfort, Miami-Dade authorized, energy‑efficient effect windows surpass shutters in ways that surpass storm day. They change how a house feels in August, how quiet 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 look at why numerous South Florida house owners are moving from shutters to cyclone impact-resistant windows, how to read the requirements behind "Miami-Dade approved," what materials matter, and how to get the installation right the very first time.
Miami-Dade County's Product Control Division sets one of the most difficult criteria in the country for constructing elements exposed to windborne debris. Approval is not a marketing sticker. It is made through specific laboratory tests that mimic genuine cyclone conditions.
First comes big rocket impact. 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 very same unit deals with cyclic pressure best hurricane proof windows Boca Raton loading, thousands of pressurization and depressurization cycles that simulate rapid wind gusts over hours. If the glass remains in the frame without letting the envelope breach, it passes. The distinction between "fulfills Florida building regulations windows" and "Miami-Dade approved windows" typically resides in these test thresholds. Miami-Dade is just stiffer, particularly in High Speed Cyclone Zone requirements, which include Miami-Dade and Broward.
Wind ratings vary by opening size and design pressures, represented as PSF worths. On ocean-facing properties or high-rises, I often specify systems rated at +60/ -80 PSF or higher. Inland or in more protected direct exposures, scores in the +45/ -60 PSF range can be adequate, however you size and spec based upon the site's wind map, constructing height, and surrounding structures. An expert 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 comparison. Shutters can meet code, and they're better than absolutely nothing. But they ask you to do work at the worst possible time. When a watch turns to a caution and the forecast 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 continuous defense, 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 advantage. Laminated impact glass is essentially a sandwich: 2 panes of glass bonded by a resilient 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 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 resists required entry. An intruder can shatter the external lite with a hammer, however the interlayer holds the shards. They meet a sticky, persistent membrane rather of a fast path inside. Insurance underwriters understand this, which is why policies frequently provide credits for effect doors and windows. In my tasks, premiums generally drop 10 to 25 percent, depending upon the carrier and how many openings are protected.
Energy efficiency is the third pillar. Energy-efficient impact windows with contemporary low-E impact glass and warm-edge spacers can cut solar heat gain while protecting noticeable light. That suggests less air conditioning demand, specifically on west and south exposures where the afternoon sun punishes interiors. In one Coral Gables retrofit, we replaced 1980s single-pane sliders with laminated low-E effect systems. Summer season afternoon peak load come by approximately a ton of cooling, and the home's yearly electricity usage fell between 12 and 18 percent. Outcomes vary with shading, attic insulation, and heating and cooling effectiveness, but the direction is consistent.
Laminated effect glass is the heart of the system, however not all laminated items are equal.
Most property typhoon windows use a PVB interlayer glass stack, typically 0.030 to 0.090 inches thick in single or several plies. Thicker interlayers enhance effect resistance and sound control, but they add weight and cost. For oceanfront or high openings, you may see SGP (ionoplast) interlayers, which are stiffer and more powerful than PVB, permitting thinner areas to attain greater style pressures. For noise-sensitive websites, acoustic PVB solutions fine-tune the polymer to much better absorb sound in the 1,000 to 3,000 Hz range, where traffic and voices sit.
Tempered glass windows come up often in discussions because tempered glass is stronger in flexing than annealed glass. That holds true, and tempered lites are typically utilized as the outer or inner ply in an impact system. But tempered alone is not impact-resistant in the typhoon sense. When it fails, it blows up into little cubes and falls out of the frame, which leaves the opening susceptible. The impact performance comes from laminated building and construction, not tempering by itself. Lots of systems use a tempered outer lite laminated to a hardened inner lite, or both tempered, but constantly bonded through a PVB or ionoplast interlayer.
Low-E finishings matter for comfort. A soft-coat low-E tuned for South Florida typically targets a solar heat gain coefficient in the 0.25 to 0.35 variety while keeping noticeable light transmission around half or greater. Go too low on SHGC and the glass can look gray or green, especially in bigger openings. The sweet spot depends upon your façade orientation and shading. On east and west elevations, I frequently tighten up SHGC and accept a minor tint to handle morning and afternoon blasts. On north elevations, I lean toward higher visible transmittance for daylighting.
Frames are the other half of the story. Aluminum frames control here since they manage big openings and will not swell. Thermal breaks and enhanced glazing gaskets have narrowed the energy space with vinyl. Top quality vinyl impact frames, when reinforced correctly, can carry out well for standard-sized openings and have much better insulating worths, but I prevent them for extremely wide sliders or high storefront-style windows in high-wind zones. Wood-clad units look stunning in older Mediterranean Revival homes, however they demand mindful maintenance and wise flashing. The Florida sun ruins cheap vinyl and chalks low-grade aluminum surfaces quickly. Search for powder-coated finishes ranked for coastal direct exposure, and demand written guarantee information in salt-air environments.
Window installation can make or break performance. An expensive unit set up like a handyman swap-out will not pass a storm's stress test. The load course is the essence. Impact 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 and construction, you want stainless or hot-dipped galvanized anchors embedded into strong product. Hollow cells should be grouted or you need to hit the bond beam. Tapcons in soft, unfilled block are a failure waiting to take place. In wood-framed homes, structural screws should bite into strong trimmers, not simply sheathing. Shimming and plumb positioning matter so the locks engage cleanly and the weatherstripping compresses evenly.
The sealant joint is not just visual. An effectively sized backer rod and top quality polyurethane or silyl-modified polymer sealant develop a resilient, flexible seal that deals with thermal growth. Too little a bead and it tears under movement. Too huge and it treatments badly. On coastal jobs, I never match different metals without a barrier, and I constantly define corrosion-resistant fasteners. Ten years later, you will see who took shortcuts.
Flashing is the other non-negotiable. Pan flashing at sills, self-adhered membranes at jambs and heads, and integration with the water-resistive barrier are important. If you depend on sealant alone, water will find its way in. That wetness may not show up as a drip. It might rot a sill plate slowly, then betray itself as a buckling flooring or a musty odor 2 hurricane seasons later.
I have absolutely nothing versus properly designed shutters. Accordion shutters that are kept and lubed, roll-down shutters with battery backups, and even removable panels kept thoroughly can protect homes successfully. They likewise help in certain cases.
Second homes or seasonal leasings where spending plan is tight often lean on shutters to satisfy the Florida building code windows requirement for safeguarded openings. On specialized openings like a lanai that is seldom used in summer season, a clean motorized roll-down can be reasonable, particularly if coupling with impact doors and windows elsewhere worries the budget plan. For house 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 require action at exactly the time you are handling insurance documents, gas cans, and household logistics. During Hurricane Irma, I enjoyed a neighbor try 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 room. He made it through with stitches. His living-room window did not. Shutters likewise rattle and can vibrate under sustained winds, sometimes loosening up fasteners over time if not maintained.
For long-lasting owners who want to set it and forget it, impact windows give hurricane proof windows protection while protecting daytime and view. The convenience grows valuable once you have actually experienced one storm season with zero preparation beyond locking the sash.
South Florida homes combat two battles: hidden load from humidity and sensible load from direct solar heat gain. Impact glass upgrades can assist both if specified intelligently.
Low-E impact glass utilizes microscopically thin metallic layers to show infrared energy while letting noticeable light through. With the right finishing stacks, you can block a large part of radiant heat and UV. UV obstruction in laminated units comes largely from the interlayer itself, which generally filters 95 to 99 percent of UV, reducing fading of materials and flooring. Add the low-E, and you curb the solar heat that drives your air conditioning insane midafternoon.
I examine glass specs with 3 numbers: U-factor, SHGC, and VT. While U-factor matters more up north, it still assists here by minimizing nighttime heat flow and keeping the interior glass temperature closer to space temperature level, which decreases condensation danger. SHGC drives how much solar heat goes into. VT affects how bright the interior feels. Balance is residential hurricane proof windows essential. Some property owners want the crisp, clear look of greater VT, even if it indicates accepting a couple of degrees more heat in late afternoon, due to the fact that their landscaping and roof overhangs currently do some shading. Others choose a more powerful tint for glare control on waterfront lots that show harsh light.
In practical 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 finishes, and an effectively sized variable-speed HVAC, and you begin to construct resilience. If the grid goes down and you switch to a generator, a lower cooling load indicates a smaller sized generator and fewer gallons of fuel.
Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance, or NOA, is the document you ask for. It information the approved setups, sizes, anchors, and pressures checked. It is inadequate to hear "these are Miami-Dade authorized windows" in a display room. Verify the NOA matches the specific design and alternatives you are buying, consisting of the glazing makeup and hardware. If you are in Broward or Miami-Dade, your permitting office will want this paper trail.
Statewide, the Florida Item Approval system offers FL numbers that reveal code compliance. In the rest of the state outside the High Velocity Typhoon Zone, Florida building code windows can rely on Florida Item Approval without Miami-Dade specific NOAs. Many leading manufacturers carry both. Where budgets enable, I choose NOA products even outside the zone because the screening is stiffer.
NFRC labels deal with energy metrics. They won't tell you effect efficiency, however they show U-factor, SHGC, VT, and air leakage. Aim for air leak at or listed below 0.3 cfm/ft ². Tighter is much better for humidity control, however make sure your home still has actually stabilized ventilation. Sealing the envelope and overlooking fresh air is a recipe for indoor air quality complaints.
Impact windows cost more upfront than shutters. There's no spin around that. Set up expenses vary with size, shape, finish, and gain access to. On straightforward single-family homes, per-opening costs frequently land between 1,200 and 3,000 dollars for basic sizes. Large multi-panel sliders, custom-made arches, and coastal-grade finishes raise the numbers quickly.
Where you recoup worth:

If you prepare to own the home for 5 years or more, the mathematics often tilts in favor of impact windows, particularly when you factor the intangible of comfort. If you prepare to offer within a year and need to reveal compliance quickly, shutters may make more short-term sense. Context matters.
I focus on hardware and devices. Multi-point locks on casements and awnings improve seal compression and security. For sliders, robust tandem rollers in stainless real estates glide smoother and last longer on sandy patios. Take a look at the sill style on sliding doors. Weep systems must be crafted to drain pipes heavy rainfall without letting wind-driven water blow back in. Ask to see a cutaway sample in the showroom.
Tint colors and reflectivity are more than style. Reflective movies can run afoul of neighborhood associations or produce mirror-like glare toward neighboring homes. In seaside environments, extremely reflective glass can puzzle birds or sea turtles in some jurisdictions. Regional pros understand which coatings balance performance with compliance.
Color stability is a huge deal. Dark bronze or black frames look fantastic on modern-day homes, but in Florida sun inexpensive finishes chalk and fade. AAMA 2605-rated coatings provide the best color retention and chalk resistance. I define them for seaside exposures whenever budgets allow.
Historic districts often require profiles that imitate old wood sash sightlines. There are impact-rated windows that fit these requirements, however lead times extend and costs climb. Anticipate extra evaluation by architectural boards, and line up a specialist familiar with these submissions.
Condos have another layer of governance. Associations often define a narrow list of authorized products for uniformity. They likewise care about sound control between systems. If your building sits straight on Collins Avenue or deals with a hectic beach boardwalk, push for acoustic laminated options. Deal with structure management on staging and lift access. Weekend work windows and restricted parking can include days and dollars.
Large openings, like a 16-foot-wide slider, require special attention in style pressure, deflection, and operating hardware. Not every system that looks durable in a display room fulfills the wind loads on a ninth-floor balcony. Do not rely on catalog maximum sizes. Utilize the NOA tables that represent your website's zone, favorable and unfavorable pressures, and mullion mixes if any.
The best jobs start with a determined survey and direct exposure analysis. You map each opening, note the substrate, and determine any framing irregularities or settlement cracks. Throughout proposition, the contractor shows you the NOA and the Florida Item Approval, lists anchor types, and describes how each opening will be flashed and sealed. They plan for stucco or drywall repairs, not pretend no damage will occur.
On install day, they get rid of one opening at a time to keep the house protected. They protect floors, draw 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 license file, particularly if they will be hidden. After glazing, they water-test with a regulated spray to confirm drain courses and seals. The inspector sees a neat jobsite, clear labels, and paperwork in order.
Six months later, your windows still close with two fingers, locks bite efficiently, and there is no secret rattle during thunderstorms. You did not have to call for a roller change after the very first week. That is the standard.
Impact rating does not equivalent breakproof. Laminated glass can break under serious effects, but it should remain in the frame and hold together. After a storm that sends out particles into the glass, you might see star cracks or spidering. The window did its job. Change the sash or IGU after the event.
Window films do not transform non-impact windows into hurricane impact-resistant windows. They can add shatter resistance, however they do not alternative to a checked, anchored system. Your insurance company and building department will not count movies as protected openings.
Interior humidity matters. Tight, energy-efficient effect windows minimize air leakage. That's great, but it increases the value of an appropriately sized HVAC with excellent dehumidification. If your system is large, the thermostat pleases rapidly and stops working to pull enough moisture from the air. Ask your heating and cooling pro to inspect reasonable heat ratio, air flow, and run time. You want consistent, longer cycles, not short bursts.
Maintenance is simple but not optional. Clean weep holes on sliders, wash salt spray from frames, and oil hardware each year with a silicone-based product that will not gum up in heat. Small routines extend lifespan.
There are genuine reasons to blend solutions. A pair of seldom used garage windows can keep detachable panels to shave spending plan. A deep-set patio with minimal sun direct exposure may do fine with accordion shutters if you prioritize other upgrades like a new roofing deck attachment or a prepared garage door. Shutters can also safeguard outside kitchens or cabana openings where grease and smoke would age elegant hardware prematurely.
If you pick shutters, buy quality. Stainless fasteners, smooth tracks, and motors with handbook overrides for roll-downs make a distinction. Designate duty for deployment and practice when beyond 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 only about surviving the big one. They reshape daily living. The living-room remains cooler and quieter. The air conditioning cycles calmly instead of racing at 4 p.m. You sleep without freight trains of wind sound when a squall line passes at 2 a.m. When a cyclone threatens, your preparation list gets shorter. You lock the sashes, set storm mode on the alarm, and focus on people instead of panels.
For much of my clients, that intangible is the choosing factor. They understand storms will come. They likewise know life in South Florida is too great to live inside a fortress that just awakens in August. Miami-Dade approved windows provide you both: a clear view of Biscayne Bay on a breezy February morning and quiet confidence when the spaghetti designs point our way in September.
If you are weighing the option, start with a site-specific evaluation. Match your direct exposures to develop pressures, pick the right laminated glass stack for wind and heat, choose frames that fit the architecture and conditions, and work with a crew that respects the load course. Done right, energy‑efficient effect windows provide what shutters can not: defense that never ever asks for a ladder and a better home every day of the year.
