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 two decades defining, installing, and fixing building envelopes from Key Largo to Palm Beach, I have actually seen what holds up and what doesn't. When the objective is real protection with year-round comfort, Miami-Dade authorized, energy‑efficient impact windows outshine shutters in ways that surpass storm day. They change how a house feels in August, how quiet your living-room stays on a Saturday night, and how confident you are when a storm line spins up faster than predicted.
This is a useful take a look at why many South Florida house 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 Department sets one of the most difficult benchmarks in the country for developing parts exposed to windborne debris. Approval is not a marketing sticker label. It is earned through particular laboratory tests that mimic genuine typhoon conditions.
First comes large rocket impact. A 9-pound 2x4 is shot at the glass at approximately 34 miles per hour. That mimics roofing system tiles, branches, or pieces of fencing that fly in the eyewall. After the impact, the same system faces cyclic pressure loading, thousands of pressurization and depressurization cycles that simulate rapid wind gusts over hours. If the glass remains in the frame without letting the envelope breach, it passes. The difference between "fulfills Florida building code windows" and "Miami-Dade authorized windows" frequently lives in these test limits. Miami-Dade is just stiffer, particularly in High Speed Typhoon Zone requirements, which include Miami-Dade and Broward.
Wind scores vary by opening size and style pressures, represented as PSF values. On ocean-facing residential or commercial properties or high-rises, I often define units rated at +60/ -80 PSF or greater. Inland or in more safeguarded direct exposures, scores in the +45/ -60 PSF variety can be enough, but you size and spec based on the website's wind map, building height, and surrounding structures. A professional knows that a corner exposure at the 2nd story needs different reinforcement than a protected window under a deep porch.
Hurricane shutters vs effect windows is not a one-to-one contrast. Shutters can meet code, and they're better than absolutely nothing. But they ask you to do operate at the worst possible time. When a watch turns to a warning and the forecast track tightens up, the last thing you want is a ladder, a dead cordless drill, and a missing wing nut.
Impact windows live in place. You get constant security, even if a pop-up storm surprises you while you're stuck on United States 1. You also get advantages every day of the year.
Noise control is the most underappreciated advantage. Laminated effect glass is essentially a sandwich: two panes of glass bonded by a resilient interlayer, normally PVB interlayer glass or SentryGlas. That interlayer damps sound. On jobs along hectic passages like Biscayne Boulevard or near flight paths, I have actually measured interior noise drops in the 5 to 10 decibel variety, in some cases more when coupled with insulated glass units.
Security enhances since laminated glass resists required entry. A burglar can shatter the outer lite with a hammer, however the interlayer holds the fragments. They satisfy a sticky, stubborn membrane instead of a quick path inside. Insurance coverage underwriters know this, which is why policies often use credits for effect doors and windows. In my tasks, premiums usually drop 10 to 25 percent, depending upon the provider and the number of openings are protected.
Energy efficiency is the 3rd pillar. Energy-efficient effect windows with contemporary low-E impact glass and warm-edge spacers can cut solar heat gain while maintaining visible light. That means less air conditioning need, especially 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 impact systems. Summer season afternoon peak load come by roughly a ton of cooling, and the home's annual electricity use fell in between 12 and 18 percent. Outcomes vary with shading, attic insulation, and a/c efficiency, but the instructions is consistent.
Laminated effect glass is the heart of the system, however not all laminated items are equal.
Most residential typhoon windows use 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, but they include weight and expense. For oceanfront or tall openings, you might see SGP (ionoplast) interlayers, which are stiffer and more powerful than PVB, permitting thinner areas to attain higher style pressures. For noise-sensitive websites, acoustic PVB formulas modify the polymer to much better take in noise in the 1,000 to 3,000 Hz variety, where traffic and voices sit.

Tempered glass windows come up frequently in conversations since tempered glass is stronger in bending than annealed glass. That's true, and tempered lites are typically utilized as affordable window installation the outer or inner ply in an effect unit. However tempered alone is not impact-resistant in the typhoon 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 building and construction, not tempering by itself. Numerous systems use a tempered external lite laminated to an annealed inner lite, or both tempered, however always bonded through a PVB or ionoplast interlayer.
Low-E coatings 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 50 percent or greater. Go too low on SHGC and the glass can look gray or green, especially in larger openings. The sweet spot depends on your façade orientation and shading. On east and west elevations, I frequently tighten SHGC and accept a slight tint to handle morning and afternoon blasts. On north elevations, I lean toward higher noticeable transmittance for daylighting.
Frames are the other half of the story. Aluminum frames control here due to the fact that they manage large openings and will not swell. Thermal breaks and improved glazing gaskets have actually narrowed the energy space with vinyl. Premium vinyl impact frames, when reinforced correctly, can perform well for standard-sized openings and have much better insulating worths, however I prevent them for extremely broad sliders or high storefront-style windows in high-wind zones. Wood-clad units look beautiful in older Mediterranean Revival homes, however they require cautious upkeep and smart flashing. The Florida sun damages inexpensive vinyl and chalks low-grade aluminum finishes quickly. Search for powder-coated finishes rated for seaside exposure, and request composed service warranty information in salt-air environments.
Window setup can make or break efficiency. An expensive unit installed like a handyman swap-out will not pass a storm's stress test. The load path is the crux. Effect 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 concrete block building and construction, you want stainless or hot-dipped galvanized anchors embedded into solid material. Hollow cells need to 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 must 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 simply aesthetic. A properly sized backer rod and high-quality polyurethane or silyl-modified polymer sealant produce a long lasting, versatile seal that deals with thermal growth. Too small a bead and it tears under movement. Too big and it treatments improperly. On seaside tasks, I never ever pair different metals without a barrier, and I constantly define corrosion-resistant fasteners. 10 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 combination with the water-resistive barrier are crucial. If you depend on sealant alone, water will discover its method. Boca Raton residential window installation That wetness may not show up as a drip. It might rot a sill plate gradually, then betray itself as a buckling flooring or a moldy odor 2 hurricane seasons later.
I have absolutely nothing against properly designed shutters. Accordion shutters that are kept and oiled, roll-down shutters with battery backups, and even removable panels kept thoroughly can protect homes successfully. They likewise assist in particular cases.
Second homes or seasonal leasings where spending plan is tight sometimes lean on shutters to fulfill the Florida building code windows requirement for safeguarded openings. On specialized openings like a lanai that is hardly ever used in summer, a clean motorized roll-down can be sensible, specifically if coupling with impact doors and windows somewhere else stresses the budget. For property owners who prepare to move within a year, shutters can be a short bridge to compliance before a sale.
But shutters bring trade-offs. They darken your house when released, and they need action at exactly the time you are juggling insurance papers, gas cans, and household logistics. During Hurricane Irma, I watched a neighbor attempt to install steel panels hours before landfall. The ladder sank in saturated soil, a panel slipped, and we invested the next hour in the urgent care waiting room. He endured with stitches. His living-room window did not. Shutters likewise rattle and can vibrate under continual winds, sometimes loosening fasteners in time if not maintained.
For long-term owners who want to set it and forget it, impact windows provide cyclone proof windows coverage while maintaining daylight and view. The benefit grows important once you've experienced one storm season with no prep beyond locking the sash.
South Florida homes fight 2 battles: hidden 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 reflect infrared energy while letting visible light through. With the right finishing stacks, you can obstruct a large portion of convected heat and UV. UV obstruction in laminated systems comes mainly from the interlayer itself, which usually filters 95 to 99 percent of UV, reducing fading of fabrics and floor covering. Include the low-E, and you suppress the solar heat that drives your AC insane midafternoon.
I assess glass specifications with three numbers: U-factor, SHGC, and VT. While U-factor matters more up north, it still helps here by minimizing nighttime heat circulation and keeping the interior glass temperature level closer to room temperature, which lowers condensation threat. SHGC drives how much solar heat goes into. VT influences how brilliant the interior feels. Balance is crucial. Some house owners want the crisp, clear appearance of higher VT, even if it means accepting a few degrees more heat in late afternoon, due to the fact that their landscaping and roof overhangs already do some shading. Others choose a stronger tint for glare control on waterside lots that reflect extreme light.
In practical terms, going from clear single-pane sliders to modern low-E laminated double-glazed units can decrease peak solar gains by 30 to half 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 strength. If the grid goes down and you switch to a generator, a lower cooling load suggests a smaller generator and fewer gallons of fuel.
Miami-Dade Notification of Acceptance, or NOA, is the file you request for. It details the authorized setups, sizes, anchors, and pressures evaluated. It is not enough to hear "these are Miami-Dade approved windows" in a display room. Validate the NOA matches the exact model and alternatives you are buying, consisting of the glazing makeup and hardware. If you remain in Broward or Miami-Dade, your allowing workplace will want this paper trail.
Statewide, the Florida Item Approval system offers FL numbers that reveal code compliance. In the remainder of the state outside the High Speed Cyclone Zone, Florida building regulations windows can depend on Florida Item Approval without Miami-Dade particular NOAs. Lots of top producers bring both. Where budget plans enable, I prefer NOA products even outside the zone because the testing is stiffer.
NFRC labels deal with energy metrics. They won't inform you effect performance, but they show U-factor, SHGC, VT, and air leak. Aim for air leakage at or listed below 0.3 cfm/ft ². Tighter is better for humidity control, but ensure your home still has actually balanced ventilation. Sealing the envelope and ignoring 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 vary with size, shape, surface, and access. On uncomplicated single-family homes, per-opening costs typically land between 1,200 and 3,000 dollars for basic sizes. Big multi-panel sliders, customized arches, and coastal-grade surfaces raise the numbers quickly.
Where you recover worth:
If you prepare to own the home for five years or more, the math frequently tilts in favor of effect windows, especially when you factor the intangible of comfort. If you prepare to offer within a year and require to show compliance rapidly, shutters might make more short-term sense. Context matters.
I take note of hardware and accessories. Multi-point locks on sashes and awnings enhance seal compression and security. For sliders, robust tandem rollers in stainless real estates move smoother and last longer on sandy outdoor patios. Look at the sill design on sliding doors. Weep systems should 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 fashion. Reflective films can contravene of neighborhood watch or produce mirror-like glare towards surrounding residential or commercial properties. In coastal communities, highly reflective glass can confuse birds or sea turtles in some jurisdictions. Regional pros know which coverings balance performance with compliance.
Color stability is a huge deal. Dark bronze or black frames look wonderful on modern-day homes, however in Florida sun low-cost finishes chalk and fade. AAMA 2605-rated coverings offer the best color retention and chalk resistance. I specify them for coastal direct exposures whenever spending plans allow.
Historic districts frequently require profiles that mimic old wood sash sightlines. There are impact-rated windows that fit these requirements, however lead times extend and costs climb. Expect extra evaluation by architectural boards, and line up a specialist acquainted with these submissions.
Condos have another layer of governance. Associations sometimes specify a narrow list of authorized products for uniformity. They likewise appreciate sound control in between units. If your structure sits straight on Collins Avenue or faces a busy beach boardwalk, push for acoustic laminated options. Deal with building management on staging and lift gain access to. Weekend work windows and minimal parking can include days and dollars.
Large openings, like a 16-foot-wide slider, need special attention in design pressure, deflection, and operating hardware. Not every unit that looks strong in a showroom fulfills the wind loads on a ninth-floor veranda. Do not count on brochure maximum sizes. Utilize the NOA tables that correspond to your site's zone, positive and negative pressures, and mullion combinations if any.
The best tasks begin with a measured survey and exposure analysis. You map each opening, note the substrate, and recognize any framing abnormalities or settlement cracks. During proposition, the contractor shows you the NOA and the Florida Item Approval, lists anchor types, and discusses how each opening will be flashed and sealed. They plan 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 your home protected. They safeguard floorings, draw back window treatments, and cap sprinklers. Old frames come out with care to maintain interior surfaces. New systems get dry-fit, shimmed, and anchored per the schedule. The team checks squareness and diagonals before setting sealant. They photo anchors for the permit file, particularly if they will be concealed. After glazing, they water-test with a regulated spray to verify drain courses and seals. The inspector sees a neat jobsite, clear labels, and documents in order.

Six months later, your windows still close with two fingers, locks bite smoothly, and there is no secret rattle during thunderstorms. You did not need to call for a roller modification after the very first week. That is the standard.
Impact rating does not equivalent breakproof. Laminated glass can break under serious impacts, however it needs 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. Change the sash or IGU after the event.
Window films do not transform non-impact windows into hurricane impact-resistant windows. They can include shatter resistance, but they do not replacement for an evaluated, anchored system. Your insurance provider and structure department will not count movies as protected openings.
Interior humidity matters. Tight, energy-efficient impact windows decrease air leak. That's fantastic, however it increases the significance of a correctly sized heating and cooling with great dehumidification. If your system is extra-large, the thermostat pleases quickly and fails to pull enough moisture from the air. Ask your HVAC pro to examine reasonable heat ratio, air flow, and run time. You want steady, longer cycles, not brief bursts.
Maintenance is uncomplicated but not optional. Clean weep holes on sliders, wash salt spray from frames, and lube hardware annually with a silicone-based item that will not gum up in heat. Little practices extend lifespan.
There are genuine reasons to mix services. A pair of rarely utilized garage windows can keep removable panels to shave budget plan. A deep-set patio with very little sun direct exposure might do great with accordion shutters if you focus on other upgrades like a new roofing deck accessory or a prepared garage door. Shutters can also secure outdoor cooking areas 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 bypasses for roll-downs make a difference. Designate duty for implementation and practice when outside of a storm watch. Inventory your hardware. The day you require 32 wing nuts is not the early morning you want to find you have 29.
Impact windows are not only about enduring the huge one. They reshape daily living. The living room stays cooler and quieter. The AC cycles calmly rather 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 much shorter. You lock the sashes, set storm mode on the alarm, and focus on individuals instead of panels.
For a number of my clients, that intangible is the choosing factor. They know storms will come. They likewise understand life in South Florida is too excellent to live inside a fortress that just gets up in August. Miami-Dade approved windows provide you both: a clear view of Biscayne Bay on a breezy February early morning and quiet self-confidence when the spaghetti designs point our way in September.

If you are weighing the choice, begin with a site-specific evaluation. Match your Boca Raton window installation experts exposures to design pressures, pick the best 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 impact windows provide what shutters can not: security that never requests for a ladder and a better home every day of the year.