STS Impact Windows, Doors & Roofing is a veteran-owned company based in South Florida that specializes in premium hurricane protection solutions, including impact windows, doors, custom storefronts, and roofing. Combining over 25 years of industry experience with military precision, STS provides expert installation, full transparency, and outstanding customer service, backed by a leading 3-year installation warranty. Their comprehensive services ensure security and peace of mind for both residential and commercial clients, with a strong focus on quality, reliability, and efficiency.
View on Google MapsSTS Impact Windows and Doors specializes in hurricane protection solutions, offering high-quality impact windows, storm-resistant doors, custom storefronts, and professional roofing services. With expert installation, full transparency, and outstanding customer service, the company ensures homes and businesses stay secure and energy-efficient.
STS Impact Windows and Doors is located at 1000 Holland Dr Suite 10, Boca Raton, FL 33487, United States. The company proudly serves residential and commercial clients across Florida and throughout the United States, delivering reliable storm protection solutions. View their location on Google Maps.
Yes, STS Impact Windows and Doors is a veteran-owned company recognized for its dedication, integrity, and service to the community. This background adds an extra level of trust and reliability for homeowners and businesses seeking storm protection solutions.
STS Impact Windows and Doors provides a wide range of services including the installation of hurricane impact windows, impact doors, custom commercial storefronts, and roofing services. Each project is backed by expert craftsmanship, a 3-year installation warranty, and over 25 years of industry experience.
The company proudly serves both residential homeowners and commercial property owners. From protecting family homes to fortifying businesses with hurricane-rated storefronts, STS Impact Windows and Doors delivers customized solutions that ensure safety, durability, and efficiency.
Clients benefit from the company’s focus on quality, reliability, and efficiency. Their impact-resistant windows and doors not only enhance security and hurricane protection but also improve energy efficiency, reduce noise, and increase property value. With a 3-year installation warranty, customers can trust in long-term performance and peace of mind.
STS Impact Windows and Doors has been recognized with multiple industry honors, including the South Florida Veteran Owned Business Excellence Award, Best Hurricane Protection Provider 2023 Florida, and the Angi’s Super Service Award for Window Installation. These awards highlight their commitment to excellence, customer satisfaction, and industry leadership.
You can reach STS Impact Windows and Doors by phone at 561-600-1018 or visit their website at stswindows.com. They are open Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm and are available on Facebook and Instagram for updates and project showcases.
Business Name: STS Impact Windows & Doors
Address: 1000 Holland Dr #10, Boca Raton, FL 33487, United States
Phone: (561)-600-1018
Hurricane season shapes life along Florida's coasts. You feel it in the method next-door neighbors track tropical waves, the pre-storm rush to stock up, and the routine of hauling ladders to mount panels. After twenty years defining, installing, and fixing structure envelopes from Key Largo to Palm Beach, I've seen what holds up and what doesn't. When the objective is genuine defense with year-round convenience, Miami-Dade authorized, energy‑efficient impact windows outperform shutters in manner ins which exceed storm day. They alter how a home feels in August, how peaceful your living-room remains on a Saturday night, and how positive you are when a storm line spins up quicker than predicted.
This is a practical take a look at why lots of South Florida property owners are moving from shutters to hurricane impact-resistant windows, how to check out the standards behind "Miami-Dade approved," what products matter, and how to get the installation right the very first time.
Miami-Dade County's Item Control Division sets among the most difficult criteria in the nation for developing parts exposed to windborne particles. Approval is not a marketing sticker label. It is made through particular lab tests that replicate genuine typhoon conditions.
First comes large rocket effect. A 9-pound 2x4 is contended the glass at approximately 34 miles per hour. That mimics roof tiles, branches, or pieces of fencing that fly in the eyewall. After the impact, the exact same unit faces cyclic pressure loading, thousands of pressurization and depressurization cycles that mimic quick wind gusts over hours. If the glass stays in the frame without letting the envelope breach, it passes. The distinction in between "meets Florida building regulations windows" and "Miami-Dade approved windows" often lives in these test thresholds. Miami-Dade is merely stiffer, particularly in High Speed Cyclone Zone requirements, which include Miami-Dade and Broward.
Wind scores vary by opening size and style pressures, denoted as PSF worths. On ocean-facing homes or high-rises, I typically define units ranked at +60/ -80 PSF or greater. Inland or in more protected direct exposures, rankings in the +45/ -60 PSF range can suffice, but you size and spec based on the site's wind map, constructing height, and surrounding structures. A professional understands that a corner exposure at the 2nd story needs various support than a sheltered window under a deep porch.
Hurricane shutters vs impact 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 caution and the forecast track tightens, the last thing you want is a ladder, a dead cordless drill, and a missing wing nut.
Impact windows live in place. You get continuous defense, even if a pop-up storm surprises you while you're stuck on US 1. You likewise get benefits 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 resistant interlayer, usually PVB interlayer glass or SentryGlas. That interlayer damps sound. On tasks along busy passages like Biscayne Boulevard or near flight paths, I have actually determined interior sound drops in the 5 to 10 decibel variety, often more when paired with insulated glass units.
Security enhances because laminated glass withstands required entry. A burglar can shatter the external lite with a hammer, but the interlayer holds the fragments. They meet a sticky, stubborn membrane instead of a fast course inside. Insurance coverage underwriters understand this, which is why policies typically use credits for effect windows and doors. In my tasks, premiums typically drop 10 to 25 percent, depending upon the provider and the number of openings are protected.
Energy performance is the 3rd pillar. Energy-efficient effect windows with modern-day low-E effect glass and warm-edge spacers can cut solar heat gain while preserving noticeable light. That suggests less a/c need, specifically on west and south direct exposures where the afternoon sun penalizes interiors. In one Coral Gables retrofit, we changed 1980s single-pane sliders with laminated low-E impact units. Summer season afternoon peak load stopped by approximately a lots of cooling, and the home's annual electrical power usage fell between 12 and 18 percent. Outcomes vary with shading, attic insulation, and HVAC effectiveness, but the direction is consistent.
Laminated impact glass is the heart of the system, however not all laminated products are equal.
Most property hurricane windows use a PVB interlayer glass stack, typically 0.030 to 0.090 inches thick in single or multiple plies. Thicker interlayers improve effect resistance and sound control, however they include weight and expense. For oceanfront or tall openings, you might see SGP (ionoplast) interlayers, which are stiffer and more powerful than PVB, permitting thinner sections to achieve higher style pressures. For noise-sensitive websites, acoustic PVB formulas fine-tune the polymer to much better take in noise in the 1,000 to 3,000 Hz range, where traffic and voices sit.
Tempered glass windows show up often in conversations because tempered glass is stronger in bending than annealed glass. That holds true, and tempered lites are commonly utilized as the outer or inner ply in an effect system. But tempered alone is not impact-resistant in the cyclone sense. When it fails, it explodes into little cubes and falls out of the frame, which leaves the opening susceptible. The effect efficiency originates from laminated construction, not tempering by itself. Numerous 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 finishes matter for convenience. A soft-coat low-E tuned for South Florida typically targets a solar heat gain coefficient in the 0.25 to 0.35 range while keeping visible light transmission around 50 percent or higher. Go too low on SHGC and the glass can look gray or green, especially in larger openings. The sweet area depends on your exterior orientation and shading. On east and west elevations, I typically tighten SHGC and accept a minor tint to manage early 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 dominate here because they manage large openings and won't swell. Thermal breaks and enhanced glazing gaskets have actually narrowed the energy space with vinyl. Premium vinyl effect frames, when reinforced correctly, can carry out well for standard-sized openings and have better insulating worths, however I prevent them for very wide sliders or tall storefront-style windows in high-wind zones. Wood-clad units look stunning in older Mediterranean Revival homes, however they require careful maintenance and clever flashing. The Florida sun ruins cheap vinyl and chalks low-grade aluminum surfaces rapidly. Look for powder-coated finishes rated for coastal exposure, and request written warranty information in salt-air environments.
Window setup can make or break performance. An expensive system installed like a handyman swap-out will not pass a storm's stress test. The load course is the core. Impact forces have to take a trip from the glass through the frame, to the anchors, into the substrate, and then into the structure's framing or masonry.
In cinder block building and construction, you desire stainless or hot-dipped galvanized anchors embedded into solid 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 homes, structural screws must bite into strong 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 develop a durable, flexible seal that deals with thermal growth. Too small a bead and it tears under motion. Too huge and it remedies Boca Raton commercial window installation badly. On seaside tasks, I never ever pair dissimilar metals without a barrier, and I always 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 combination with the water-resistive barrier are crucial. If you rely on sealant alone, water will find its way in. That moisture may disappoint up as a drip. It may rot a sill plate slowly, then betray itself as a buckling flooring or a musty smell two typhoon seasons later.
I have absolutely nothing versus properly designed shutters. Accordion shutters that are maintained and oiled, roll-down shutters with battery backups, and even detachable panels stored carefully can safeguard homes efficiently. They also assist in particular cases.
Second homes or seasonal leasings where budget is tight sometimes lean on shutters to fulfill the Florida building code windows requirement for protected openings. On specialized openings like a lanai that is rarely utilized in summer season, a tidy motorized roll-down can be reasonable, specifically if pairing with impact windows and doors in other places worries the budget. For homeowners who prepare to move within a year, shutters can be a brief bridge to compliance before a sale.
But shutters bring trade-offs. They darken the house when released, and they require action at specifically the time you are handling insurance documents, gas cans, and family logistics. During Hurricane Irma, I enjoyed a next-door 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 urgent care waiting room. He survived with stitches. His living room window did not. Shutters likewise rattle and can vibrate under continual winds, often loosening fasteners in time if not maintained.
For long-term owners who want to set it and forget it, impact windows provide cyclone evidence windows protection while preserving daytime and view. The convenience grows important once you've experienced one storm season with absolutely no preparation beyond locking the sash.
South Florida homes combat two battles: hidden load from humidity and sensible load from direct solar heat gain. Effect glass upgrades can help both if specified intelligently.
Low-E impact glass uses microscopically thin metal layers to reflect infrared energy while letting noticeable light through. With the ideal finish stacks, you can obstruct a big part of radiant heat and UV. UV blockage in laminated systems comes mainly from the interlayer itself, which normally filters 95 to 99 percent of UV, minimizing fading of materials and flooring. Add the low-E, and you curb the solar heat that drives your AC insane midafternoon.
 
I examine glass specs with three numbers: U-factor, SHGC, and VT. While U-factor matters more up north, it still helps here by reducing nighttime heat circulation and keeping the interior glass temperature level closer to room temperature level, which lowers condensation risk. SHGC drives how much solar heat enters. VT influences how brilliant the interior feels. Balance is crucial. Some property owners want the crisp, clear look of greater VT, even if it implies accepting a few degrees more heat in late afternoon, since their landscaping and roof overhangs currently do some shading. Others prefer a stronger tint for glare control on waterside lots that reflect extreme light.
In useful terms, going from clear single-pane sliders to modern-day 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 heating and cooling, and you start to construct strength. If the grid decreases and you change to a generator, a lower cooling load means a smaller generator and less gallons of fuel.
Miami-Dade Notice of Approval, or NOA, is the document you request. It details the authorized setups, sizes, anchors, and pressures checked. It is not enough to hear "these are Miami-Dade authorized windows" in a display room. Confirm the NOA matches the exact design and options you are buying, consisting of the glazing makeup and hardware. If you are in Broward or Miami-Dade, your permitting workplace will desire this paper trail.
Statewide, the Florida Product Approval system offers FL numbers that show code compliance. In the rest of the state outside the High Speed Typhoon Zone, Florida building regulations windows can depend on Florida Item Approval without Miami-Dade specific NOAs. Numerous top manufacturers carry both. Where budgets allow, I choose NOA products even outside the zone since the testing is stiffer.
NFRC labels handle energy metrics. They won't inform you effect efficiency, but they reveal U-factor, SHGC, VT, and air leak. Go for air leakage at or listed below 0.3 cfm/ft ². Tighter is better for humidity control, however make certain your home still has stabilized ventilation. Sealing the envelope and ignoring fresh air is a recipe for indoor air quality complaints.
Impact windows cost more upfront than shutters. There's no spin around that. Installed expenses vary with size, shape, surface, and gain access to. On simple single-family homes, per-opening costs typically land in between 1,200 and 3,000 dollars for standard sizes. Large multi-panel sliders, custom-made arches, and coastal-grade finishes raise the numbers quickly.
Where you recover worth:
If you prepare to own the residential or commercial property for 5 years or more, the math typically tilts in favor of effect windows, particularly when you factor the intangible of assurance. If you prepare to offer within a year and require to show compliance rapidly, shutters might make more short-term sense. Context matters.
I pay attention to hardware and devices. Multi-point locks on sashes and awnings improve seal compression and security. For sliders, robust tandem rollers in stainless housings slide smoother and last longer on sandy outdoor patios. Look at the sill style on moving doors. Weep systems ought to 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 run afoul of neighborhood watch or produce mirror-like glare towards neighboring homes. In seaside ecosystems, extremely reflective glass can confuse birds or sea turtles in some jurisdictions. Local pros understand which finishes balance efficiency with compliance.
Color stability is a huge offer. Dark bronze or black frames look wonderful on modern-day homes, but in Florida sun low-cost surfaces chalk and fade. AAMA 2605-rated finishes offer the very best color retention and chalk resistance. I specify them for seaside direct exposures whenever budgets allow.
Historic districts often need profiles that imitate old wood sash sightlines. There are impact-rated windows that fit these requirements, but lead times lengthen and costs climb. Expect additional review by architectural boards, and line up a professional familiar with these submissions.
Condos have another layer of governance. Associations in some cases specify a narrow list of authorized items for harmony. They also care about noise control between systems. If your structure sits straight on Collins Opportunity or deals with a busy beach boardwalk, push for acoustic laminated options. Deal with building 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, need special attention in style pressure, deflection, and operating hardware. Not every system that looks strong in a showroom meets the wind loads on a ninth-floor terrace. Do not depend on brochure optimum sizes. Use the NOA tables that correspond to your website's zone, favorable and unfavorable pressures, and mullion combinations if any.
The best projects start with a measured study and exposure analysis. You map each opening, note the substrate, and identify any framing irregularities or settlement cracks. Throughout proposal, the professional reveals you the NOA and the Florida Item Approval, lists anchor types, and explains 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 get rid of one opening at a time to keep the house safe and secure. They protect floors, draw back window treatments, and cap sprinklers. Old frames come out with care to maintain interior surfaces. New units get dry-fit, shimmed, and anchored per the schedule. The team checks squareness and diagonals before setting sealant. They photograph anchors for the license file, particularly if they will be hidden. After glazing, they water-test with a controlled spray to confirm drain courses and seals. The inspector sees a neat jobsite, clear labels, and paperwork in order.
Six months later on, your windows still close with 2 fingers, locks bite efficiently, best window installation options and there is no mystery rattle during thunderstorms. You did not need to call for a roller adjustment after the first week. That is the standard.
Impact rating does not equal breakproof. Laminated glass can split under severe effects, but it must remain in the frame and hold together. After a storm that sends out debris into the glass, you may see star cracks or spidering. The window did its job. Replace the sash or IGU after the event.
Window films do not convert non-impact windows into hurricane impact-resistant windows. They can include shatter resistance, however they do not alternative to a checked, anchored system. Your insurer and building department will not count films as protected openings.
Interior humidity matters. Tight, energy-efficient impact windows lower air leak. That's terrific, but it increases the significance of a properly sized a/c with great dehumidification. If your system is large, the thermostat satisfies rapidly and stops working to pull enough moisture from the air. Ask your a/c pro to examine sensible heat ratio, airflow, and run time. You desire steady, longer cycles, not short bursts.
Maintenance is simple however not optional. Tidy weep holes on sliders, wash salt spray from frames, and lube hardware every year with a silicone-based item that will not gum up in heat. Small routines extend lifespan.
There are genuine factors to mix options. A pair of seldom utilized garage windows can keep removable panels to shave spending plan. A deep-set porch with minimal sun exposure may do fine with accordion shutters if you focus on other upgrades like a new roofing system deck accessory or a fortified 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 manual bypasses for roll-downs make a difference. Designate responsibility for implementation and practice as soon as beyond a storm watch. Inventory your hardware. The day you need 32 wing nuts is not the early morning you want to find you have 29.
Impact windows are not just about enduring the huge one. They improve daily living. The living room stays cooler and quieter. The air conditioner 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 much shorter. You lock the sashes, set storm mode on the alarm, and concentrate on individuals instead of panels.
For a number of my clients, that intangible is the deciding aspect. They understand storms will come. They likewise know life in South buy impact windows Florida is too excellent to live inside a fortress that just awakens in August. Miami-Dade approved windows give you both: a clear view of Biscayne Bay on a breezy February early morning and peaceful self-confidence when the spaghetti models point our way in September.
If you are weighing the option, start with a site-specific evaluation. Match your exposures to develop pressures, select the right laminated glass stack for wind and heat, select frames that fit the architecture and conditions, and work with a team that respects the load path. Done right, energy‑efficient effect windows provide what shutters can not: defense that never requests a ladder and a much better home every day of the year.