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 ritual of transporting ladders to install panels. After twenty years specifying, setting up, and troubleshooting structure envelopes from Key Largo to Palm Beach, I have actually seen what holds up and what does not. When the goal is real defense with year-round convenience, Miami-Dade authorized, energy‑efficient effect windows outshine shutters in manner ins which exceed storm day. They alter how a house feels in August, how quiet 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 practical look at why numerous South Florida property owners are moving from shutters to cyclone impact-resistant windows, how to read the standards 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 among the most difficult benchmarks in the country for building elements exposed to windborne debris. Approval is not a marketing sticker label. It is earned through specific lab tests that simulate real typhoon conditions.
First comes big missile effect. A 9-pound 2x4 is shot at the glass at approximately 34 miles per hour. That mimics roof tiles, branches, or pieces of fencing that fly in the eyewall. After the effect, the same system faces cyclic pressure loading, thousands of pressurization and depressurization cycles that imitate quick wind gusts over hours. If the glass stays in the frame without letting the envelope breach, it passes. The distinction in between "satisfies Florida building regulations windows" and "Miami-Dade authorized windows" typically resides in these test limits. Miami-Dade is just stiffer, particularly in High Velocity Cyclone Zone requirements, that include Miami-Dade and Broward.
Wind ratings vary by opening size and design pressures, represented as PSF worths. On ocean-facing residential or commercial properties or high-rises, I frequently define units rated at +60/ -80 PSF or higher. Inland or in more protected exposures, ratings in the +45/ -60 PSF range can suffice, however you size and spec based upon the website's wind map, constructing height, and surrounding structures. An expert understands that a corner exposure at the 2nd story demands different reinforcement than a sheltered window under a deep porch.
Hurricane shutters vs impact windows is not a one-to-one comparison. Shutters can meet code, and they're better than nothing. However they ask you to do work 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 reside in place. You get constant 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 benefit. Laminated impact glass is essentially a sandwich: 2 panes of glass bonded by a resistant interlayer, generally PVB interlayer glass or SentryGlas. That interlayer damps sound. On jobs along hectic corridors like Biscayne Boulevard or near flight courses, I've measured interior sound drops in the 5 to 10 decibel variety, often more when coupled with insulated glass units.
Security enhances since laminated glass withstands required entry. A robber can shatter the outer lite with a hammer, however the interlayer holds the shards. They satisfy a sticky, stubborn membrane instead of a quick course inside. Insurance underwriters know this, which is why policies frequently provide credits for effect windows and doors. In my projects, premiums usually drop 10 to 25 percent, depending upon the carrier and how many openings are protected.
Energy efficiency is the 3rd pillar. Energy-efficient impact windows with modern low-E impact glass and warm-edge spacers can cut solar heat gain while preserving visible light. That indicates less cooling demand, particularly on west and south direct exposures where the afternoon sun punishes interiors. In one Coral Gables retrofit, we replaced 1980s single-pane sliders with laminated low-E impact systems. Summer afternoon peak load stopped by approximately a ton of cooling, and the home's annual electrical power usage fell in between 12 and 18 percent. Outcomes differ with shading, attic insulation, and a/c performance, however the instructions is consistent.
Laminated effect glass is the heart of the system, but not all laminated custom window installation services items are equal.
Most domestic cyclone windows use a PVB interlayer glass stack, frequently 0.030 to 0.090 inches thick in single or multiple plies. Thicker interlayers enhance 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, enabling thinner sections to attain higher design pressures. For noise-sensitive sites, acoustic PVB formulas modify the polymer to better soak up noise in the 1,000 to 3,000 Hz range, where traffic and voices sit.
Tempered glass windows show up frequently in discussions because tempered glass is more powerful in bending than annealed glass. That's true, and tempered lites are commonly used as the outer or inner ply in an impact unit. But tempered alone is not impact-resistant in the cyclone sense. When it stops working, it takes off into small cubes and falls out of the frame, which leaves the opening susceptible. The effect performance originates from laminated building and construction, not tempering by itself. Numerous systems use a tempered outer lite laminated to an annealed inner lite, or both tempered, but constantly bonded through a PVB or ionoplast interlayer.
Low-E finishings 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 variety while keeping noticeable light transmission around half or greater. Go too low on SHGC and the glass can look gray or green, particularly in larger openings. The sweet spot depends upon your façade orientation and shading. On east and west elevations, I often tighten up SHGC and accept a slight tint to manage early morning and afternoon blasts. On north elevations, I favor greater visible transmittance for daylighting.
Frames are the other half of the story. Aluminum frames control here since they manage large openings and will not swell. Thermal breaks and improved glazing gaskets have actually narrowed the energy gap with vinyl. High-quality vinyl impact frames, when enhanced appropriately, can perform well for standard-sized openings and have much better insulating worths, but I avoid 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 demand cautious maintenance and clever flashing. The Florida sun damages inexpensive vinyl and chalks low-grade aluminum surfaces rapidly. Try to find powder-coated surfaces rated for seaside exposure, and request written service warranty information in salt-air environments.
Window installation can make or break performance. An expensive unit installed like a handyman swap-out will not pass a storm's stress test. The load path is the essence. Impact forces need to take a trip from the glass through the frame, to the anchors, into the substrate, and after that into the structure's framing or masonry.
In cinder block construction, you desire stainless or hot-dipped galvanized anchors embedded into solid material. Hollow cells need to be grouted or you require to hit the bond beam. Tapcons in soft, unfilled block are a failure waiting to happen. In wood-framed houses, structural screws must bite into solid trimmers, not simply sheathing. Shimming and plumb positioning matter so the locks engage cleanly and the weatherstripping compresses evenly.
The sealant joint is not simply aesthetic. An appropriately sized backer rod and premium polyurethane or silyl-modified polymer sealant develop a resilient, flexible seal that manages thermal expansion. Too small a bead and it tears under motion. Too big and it treatments inadequately. On coastal jobs, I never combine dissimilar metals without a barrier, and I always specify 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 integration with the water-resistive barrier are essential. If you depend 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 2 typhoon seasons later.
I have nothing against properly designed shutters. Accordion shutters that are preserved and oiled, roll-down shutters with battery backups, and even removable panels kept thoroughly can safeguard homes effectively. They likewise help in specific cases.
Second homes or seasonal leasings where budget plan is tight in some cases lean on shutters to meet the Florida building code windows requirement for safeguarded openings. On specialized openings like a lanai that is seldom utilized in summer, a tidy motorized roll-down can be sensible, specifically if coupling with effect doors and windows elsewhere stresses 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 compromises. They darken the house when released, and they need action at specifically the time you are juggling insurance coverage documents, gas cans, and family logistics. Throughout Typhoon Irma, I enjoyed a next-door neighbor try to install steel panels hours before landfall. The ladder sank in saturated soil, a panel slipped, and we invested the next hour in the immediate care waiting space. He survived with stitches. His living-room window did not. Shutters likewise rattle and can vibrate under continual winds, sometimes loosening fasteners with time if not maintained.
For long-lasting owners who want to set it and forget it, effect windows provide hurricane proof windows protection while preserving 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 battle two battles: hidden load from humidity and practical load from direct solar heat gain. Impact glass upgrades can help both if defined intelligently.
Low-E impact glass utilizes microscopically thin metal layers to reflect infrared energy while letting noticeable light through. With the right covering stacks, you can block a big part of convected heat and UV. UV blockage in laminated units comes mostly from the interlayer itself, which usually filters 95 to 99 percent of UV, lowering fading of fabrics and floor covering. Include the low-E, and you curb the solar heat that drives your air conditioning crazy midafternoon.
I assess glass specifications with 3 numbers: U-factor, SHGC, and VT. While U-factor matters more up north, it still assists here by reducing nighttime heat flow and keeping the interior glass temperature closer to space temperature, which decreases condensation risk. SHGC drives just how much solar heat enters. VT affects how intense the interior feels. Balance is crucial. Some house owners desire the crisp, clear appearance of greater VT, even if it suggests 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 severe light.
In useful terms, going from clear single-pane sliders to contemporary low-E laminated double-glazed systems can lower peak solar gains by 30 to half on the most exposed sides. Couple that with tuned overhangs, light-colored exterior surfaces, and an appropriately sized variable-speed heating and cooling, and you start to build 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 Notice of Approval, or NOA, is the document you request for. It information the approved configurations, sizes, anchors, and pressures evaluated. It is not enough to hear "these are Miami-Dade authorized windows" in a showroom. Validate the NOA matches the precise design and options you are purchasing, including the glazing makeup and hardware. If you remain in Broward or Miami-Dade, your permitting workplace 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 Hurricane Zone, Florida building code windows can depend on Florida Item Approval without Miami-Dade particular NOAs. Many top producers bring both. Where budget plans allow, I choose NOA products even outside the zone since the screening is stiffer.
NFRC labels handle energy metrics. They won't inform you effect performance, but they show U-factor, SHGC, VT, and air leakage. Go for air leakage at or listed below 0.3 affordable impact windows cfm/ft ². Tighter is much better for humidity control, however ensure your home still has actually stabilized ventilation. Sealing the envelope and ignoring fresh air is a dish for indoor air quality complaints.
Impact windows cost more in advance than shutters. There's no spin around that. Installed costs differ with size, shape, surface, and gain access to. On uncomplicated single-family homes, per-opening expenses typically land in between 1,200 and 3,000 dollars for standard sizes. Big multi-panel sliders, customized arches, and coastal-grade surfaces raise the numbers quickly.
Where you recoup worth:
If you plan to own the residential or commercial property for 5 years or more, the math typically tilts in favor of impact windows, impact windows features particularly when you factor the intangible of peace of mind. If you prepare to offer within a year and require to reveal compliance rapidly, shutters may make more short-term sense. Context matters.
I pay attention to hardware and accessories. Multi-point locks on sashes and awnings improve seal compression and security. For sliders, robust tandem rollers in stainless real estates slide smoother and last longer on sandy patios. Take a look at the sill style on moving doors. Weep systems should be engineered to drain 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 associations or produce mirror-like glare towards surrounding properties. In seaside environments, highly reflective glass can puzzle birds or sea turtles in some jurisdictions. Regional pros understand which coverings balance performance with compliance.
Color stability is a big deal. Dark bronze or black frames look fantastic on modern-day homes, however in Florida sun inexpensive finishes chalk and fade. AAMA 2605-rated finishes offer the best color retention and chalk resistance. I define them for coastal direct exposures whenever spending plans allow.
Historic districts typically require profiles that imitate old wood sash sightlines. There are impact-rated windows that fit these requirements, but lead times extend and costs climb. Anticipate extra review by architectural boards, and line up a professional knowledgeable about these submissions.
Condos have another layer of governance. Associations in some cases define a narrow list of approved products for harmony. They also care about noise control between systems. If your building sits straight on Collins Avenue or faces a busy beach boardwalk, push for acoustic laminated alternatives. Deal with structure management on staging and lift gain access to. Weekend work windows and limited parking can add days and dollars.

Large openings, like a 16-foot-wide slider, require unique attention in style pressure, deflection, and running hardware. Not every system that looks tough in a showroom satisfies the wind loads on a ninth-floor veranda. Do not count on catalog optimum sizes. Utilize the NOA tables that correspond to your site's zone, favorable and negative pressures, and mullion mixes if any.
The best jobs begin with a determined study and direct exposure analysis. You map each opening, keep in mind the substrate, and identify any framing abnormalities or settlement cracks. During proposal, the contractor shows 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 install day, they remove one opening at a time to keep the house safe and secure. They protect floorings, pull back window treatments, and cap sprinklers. Old frames come out with care to protect interior surfaces. New units get dry-fit, shimmed, and anchored per the schedule. The crew checks squareness and diagonals before setting sealant. They photo anchors for the license file, particularly if they will be hidden. After glazing, they water-test with a regulated spray to confirm drainage courses and seals. The inspector sees a cool jobsite, clear labels, and documents in order.
Six months later on, your windows still close with 2 fingers, locks bite smoothly, and there is no mystery rattle during thunderstorms. You did not need to require a roller adjustment after the very first week. That is the standard.
Impact rating does not equivalent breakproof. Laminated glass can split under severe effects, but it should remain in the frame and hold together. After a storm that sends out debris into the glass, you may see star fractures or spidering. The window did its job. Replace the sash or IGU after the event.
Window movies do not convert non-impact windows into typhoon impact-resistant windows. They can include shatter resistance, but they do not alternative to a checked, anchored system. Your insurance provider and building department will not count films as safeguarded openings.
Interior humidity matters. Tight, energy-efficient effect windows lower air leak. That's great, but it increases the significance of a properly sized heating and cooling with great dehumidification. If your system is extra-large, the thermostat satisfies rapidly and fails to pull enough moisture from the air. Ask your heating and cooling pro to inspect sensible heat ratio, air flow, and run time. You want consistent, longer cycles, not short bursts.

Maintenance is straightforward but not optional. Tidy 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 routines extend lifespan.
There are genuine reasons to mix services. A set of rarely utilized garage windows can keep removable panels to shave budget plan. A deep-set porch with minimal sun direct exposure might do fine with accordion shutters if you prioritize other upgrades like a new roofing system deck accessory or a prepared garage door. Shutters can also secure outdoor kitchen areas or cabana openings where grease and smoke would age elegant hardware prematurely.
If you choose shutters, buy quality. Stainless fasteners, smooth tracks, and motors with handbook overrides for roll-downs make a difference. Appoint obligation for deployment and practice when beyond a storm watch. Inventory your hardware. The day you need 32 wing nuts is not the early morning you wish to find you have 29.
Impact windows are not only about enduring the big one. They improve daily living. The living room stays cooler and quieter. The a/c cycles calmly rather 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 hurricane threatens, your preparation list gets shorter. You lock the sashes, set storm mode on the alarm, and concentrate on people instead of panels.
For a lot of my clients, that intangible is the deciding factor. They understand storms will come. They likewise know life in South Florida is too good to live inside a fortress that only gets up in August. Miami-Dade authorized windows provide you both: a clear view of Biscayne Bay on a breezy February morning and peaceful self-confidence when the spaghetti models point our method September.
![]()
If you are weighing the choice, start with a site-specific evaluation. Match your direct exposures to create pressures, select the best laminated glass stack for wind and heat, choose frames that fit the architecture and conditions, and employ a team that appreciates the load course. Done right, energy‑efficient effect windows deliver what shutters can not: protection that never asks for a ladder and a better home every day of the year.