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 next-door neighbors track tropical waves, the pre-storm rush to stockpile, and the ritual of transporting ladders to mount panels. After two decades specifying, setting up, and repairing structure envelopes from Secret Largo to Palm Beach, I have actually seen what holds up and what doesn't. UV blocking impact windows When the objective is real security with year-round comfort, Miami-Dade authorized, energy‑efficient effect windows outperform shutters in manner ins which surpass storm day. They change 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 much faster than predicted.
This is a useful look at why many South Florida homeowners are moving from shutters to hurricane impact-resistant windows, how to check out the requirements behind "Miami-Dade authorized," what products matter, and how to get the setup right the first time.
Miami-Dade County's Product Control Department sets one of the toughest benchmarks in the nation for constructing elements exposed to windborne particles. Approval is not a marketing sticker label. It is made through specific lab tests that imitate genuine hurricane conditions.
First comes large missile effect. A 9-pound 2x4 is contended the glass at approximately 34 miles per hour. That simulates roofing tiles, branches, or pieces of fencing that fly in the eyewall. After the impact, the same unit deals with cyclic pressure loading, countless pressurization and depressurization cycles that imitate quick 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 authorized windows" frequently resides in these test thresholds. Miami-Dade is just stiffer, especially in High Speed Typhoon 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 define units rated at +60/ -80 PSF or higher. Inland or in more secured exposures, ratings in the +45/ -60 PSF range can be adequate, but you size and specification based upon the site's wind map, developing height, and surrounding structures. An expert understands that a corner exposure at the 2nd story demands various 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 much better than nothing. However they ask you to do operate at the worst possible time. When a watch turns to a warning 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 security, 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 benefit. Laminated impact glass is basically a sandwich: 2 panes of glass bonded by a resilient interlayer, typically PVB interlayer glass or SentryGlas. That interlayer damps noise. On jobs along busy passages like Biscayne Boulevard or near flight courses, I have actually measured interior noise drops in the 5 to 10 decibel range, often more when paired with insulated glass units.
Security improves since laminated glass withstands forced entry. A burglar can shatter the external lite with a hammer, but the interlayer holds the shards. They meet a sticky, persistent membrane instead of a quick path inside. Insurance coverage underwriters understand this, which is why policies typically offer credits for impact windows and doors. In my tasks, premiums normally drop 10 to 25 percent, depending upon the carrier and how many openings are protected.
Energy performance is the 3rd pillar. Energy-efficient impact windows with modern-day low-E impact glass and warm-edge spacers can cut solar heat gain while protecting visible light. That indicates less a/c need, especially on west and south exposures where the afternoon sun penalizes 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 approximately a ton of cooling, and the home's yearly electrical energy usage fell between 12 and 18 percent. Results vary with shading, attic insulation, and a/c effectiveness, however the direction is consistent.
Laminated impact glass is the heart of the system, but not all laminated items are equal.
Most domestic typhoon windows utilize a PVB interlayer glass stack, typically 0.030 to 0.090 inches thick in single or numerous plies. Thicker interlayers enhance effect resistance and sound control, however they add weight and cost. For oceanfront or high openings, you might see SGP (ionoplast) interlayers, which are stiffer and more powerful than PVB, permitting thinner sections to achieve greater style pressures. For noise-sensitive websites, acoustic PVB formulations modify the polymer to better take in noise in the 1,000 to 3,000 Hz variety, where traffic and voices sit.
Tempered glass windows turn up frequently in conversations since tempered glass is stronger in bending than annealed glass. That holds true, and tempered lites are frequently used as the external or inner ply in an effect system. However tempered alone is not impact-resistant in the hurricane sense. When it fails, it takes off into little cubes and falls out of the frame, which leaves the opening susceptible. The effect performance comes from laminated building and construction, not tempering by itself. Lots of systems utilize a tempered external lite laminated to an annealed inner lite, or both tempered, but constantly bonded through a PVB or ionoplast interlayer.
Low-E coverings 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 visible light transmission around 50 percent or higher. Go too short on SHGC and the glass can look gray or green, especially in larger openings. The sweet spot depends on your exterior orientation and shading. On east and west elevations, I typically tighten SHGC and accept a small 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 because they handle big openings and will not swell. Thermal breaks and enhanced glazing gaskets have narrowed the energy space with vinyl. Premium vinyl impact frames, when strengthened properly, can carry out well for standard-sized openings and have better insulating worths, however I prevent them for really wide sliders or tall storefront-style windows in high-wind zones. Wood-clad systems look gorgeous in older Mediterranean Revival homes, but they require careful upkeep and wise flashing. The Florida sun damages cheap vinyl and chalks low-grade aluminum surfaces quickly. Look for powder-coated finishes rated for coastal exposure, and request written service warranty information in salt-air environments.
Window setup can make or break efficiency. A pricey system set up 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 after that into the structure's framing or masonry.
In cinder block building, you desire stainless or hot-dipped galvanized anchors embedded into solid material. Hollow cells must be grouted or you require 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 just sheathing. Shimming and plumb positioning matter so the locks engage cleanly and the weatherstripping compresses evenly.
The sealant joint is not simply visual. An effectively sized backer rod and high-quality polyurethane or silyl-modified polymer sealant develop a durable, flexible seal that manages thermal growth. Too small a bead and it tears under movement. Too huge and it treatments improperly. On seaside jobs, I never match dissimilar metals without a barrier, and I always 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 integration with the water-resistive barrier are vital. If you count on sealant alone, water will discover its way in. That wetness might disappoint up as a drip. It might rot a sill plate gradually, then betray itself as a buckling flooring or a musty odor 2 cyclone seasons later.
I have absolutely nothing versus well-designed shutters. Accordion shutters that are kept and oiled, roll-down shutters with battery backups, and even detachable panels kept thoroughly can secure 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 secured openings. On specialized openings like a lanai that is seldom utilized in summer season, a tidy motorized roll-down can be reasonable, especially if coupling with impact windows and doors elsewhere stresses the spending plan. 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 require action at precisely the time you are juggling insurance papers, gas cans, and household logistics. During Typhoon Irma, I watched 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 urgent care waiting space. He survived with stitches. His living-room window did not. Shutters also rattle and can vibrate under continual winds, often loosening up fasteners over time if not maintained.
For long-lasting owners who wish to set it and forget it, impact windows provide typhoon proof windows protection while preserving daytime and view. The benefit grows important once you've experienced one storm season with zero prep beyond locking the sash.
South Florida homes battle two fights: latent load from humidity and reasonable load from direct solar heat gain. Impact glass upgrades can help both if specified intelligently.
Low-E effect glass utilizes microscopically thin metallic layers to reflect infrared energy while letting noticeable light through. With the ideal finish stacks, you can block a large part of convected heat and UV. UV blockage in laminated systems comes mostly from the interlayer itself, which generally filters 95 to 99 percent of UV, decreasing fading of fabrics and flooring. Include the low-E, and you curb the solar heat that drives your a/c insane midafternoon.
I examine 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 level closer to room temperature level, which minimizes condensation risk. SHGC drives how much solar heat gets in. VT affects how intense the interior feels. Balance is key. Some property owners want the crisp, clear look of higher VT, even if it implies accepting a few degrees more heat in late afternoon, due to the fact that their landscaping and roofing overhangs currently do some shading. Others choose a stronger tint for glare control on waterside lots that show harsh light.
In practical 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 outside finishes, and an appropriately sized variable-speed a/c, and you start to build durability. If the grid decreases and you change to a generator, a lower cooling load indicates a smaller sized generator and fewer gallons of fuel.
Miami-Dade Notification of Approval, or NOA, is the file you request. It details the authorized configurations, sizes, anchors, and pressures tested. It is insufficient to hear "these are Miami-Dade approved windows" in a display room. Validate the NOA matches the precise design and options you are buying, including 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 supplies FL numbers that reveal code compliance. In the rest of the state outside the High Speed Cyclone Zone, Florida building code windows can count on Florida Item Approval without Miami-Dade particular NOAs. Numerous leading manufacturers carry both. Where spending plans allow, I choose NOA products even outside the zone due to the fact that the testing is stiffer.
NFRC labels manage energy metrics. They will not inform you impact efficiency, but they reveal U-factor, SHGC, VT, and air leak. Go for air leakage at or below 0.3 cfm/ft ². Tighter is better for humidity control, however ensure your home still has balanced ventilation. Sealing the envelope and neglecting fresh air is a recipe 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, colonial shutters surface, and gain access to. On simple single-family homes, per-opening costs frequently land in between 1,200 and 3,000 dollars for standard sizes. Large multi-panel sliders, custom-made arches, and coastal-grade surfaces raise the numbers quickly.
Where you recover value:
If you plan to own the property for 5 years or more, the mathematics frequently tilts in favor of effect windows, especially when you factor the intangible of peace of mind. If you plan to sell within a year and need to show compliance rapidly, shutters might make more short-term sense. Context matters.
I take notice of hardware and devices. Multi-point locks on casements and awnings enhance 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 design on moving doors. Weep systems must be engineered to drain heavy rains without letting wind-driven water blow back in. Ask to see a cutaway sample in the showroom.
Tint colors and reflectivity are more than style. Reflective movies can run afoul of neighborhood associations or produce mirror-like glare toward neighboring residential or commercial properties. In seaside ecosystems, highly reflective glass can confuse birds or sea turtles in some jurisdictions. Regional pros know which coatings balance efficiency with compliance.
Color stability is a huge deal. Dark bronze or black frames look wonderful on contemporary homes, however in Florida sun cheap surfaces chalk and fade. AAMA 2605-rated finishings supply the best color retention and chalk resistance. I define them for coastal exposures whenever budget plans allow.
Historic districts frequently need profiles that simulate old wood sash sightlines. There are impact-rated windows that fit these requirements, but lead times extend and costs climb. Anticipate additional evaluation by architectural boards, and line up a contractor acquainted with these submissions.
Condos have another layer of governance. Associations often specify a narrow list of approved items for harmony. They likewise appreciate noise control between systems. If your structure sits directly on Collins Opportunity or deals with a busy beach boardwalk, push for acoustic laminated options. Deal with structure management on staging and lift access. Weekend work windows and limited parking can add days and dollars.
Large openings, like a 16-foot-wide slider, require special attention in design pressure, deflection, and running hardware. Not every unit that looks strong in a showroom satisfies the wind loads on a ninth-floor veranda. Do not rely on catalog optimum sizes. Use the NOA tables that correspond to your site's zone, positive and negative pressures, and mullion combinations if any.
The best projects begin with a measured survey and exposure analysis. You map each opening, keep in mind the substrate, and determine any framing abnormalities or settlement cracks. Throughout proposal, the contractor shows you the NOA and the Florida Product Approval, notes anchor types, and describes solar heat gain coefficient SHGC Florida how each opening will be flashed and sealed. They plan for stucco or drywall repair work, not pretend no damage will occur.

On install day, they eliminate one opening at a time to keep the house safe. They secure floors, draw back window treatments, and cap sprinklers. Old frames come out with care to maintain interior finishes. 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 authorization file, especially 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 documentation in order.
Six months later, your windows still close with 2 fingers, locks bite smoothly, and there is no secret rattle throughout thunderstorms. You did not tempered glass strength rating have to require a roller change after the first week. That is the standard.
Impact score does not equivalent breakproof. Laminated glass can split under extreme impacts, but it needs to remain in the frame and hold together. After a storm that sends 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 transform non-impact windows into hurricane impact-resistant windows. They can add shatter resistance, however they do not alternative to an evaluated, anchored system. Your insurer and structure department will not count movies as safeguarded openings.
Interior humidity matters. Tight, energy-efficient impact windows minimize air leak. That's fantastic, but it increases the value of a correctly sized HVAC with good dehumidification. If your system is large, the thermostat pleases rapidly and fails to pull enough moisture from the air. Ask your HVAC pro to inspect reasonable heat ratio, air flow, and run time. You want stable, 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 blend options. A pair of seldom utilized garage windows can keep removable panels to shave budget. A deep-set porch with minimal sun direct exposure may do great with accordion shutters if you prioritize other upgrades like a brand-new roof deck attachment or a prepared garage door. Shutters can likewise secure outdoor kitchen areas or cabana openings where grease and smoke would age expensive hardware prematurely.
If you choose shutters, buy quality. Stainless fasteners, smooth tracks, and motors with manual overrides for roll-downs make a difference. Assign obligation for deployment and practice when outside of a storm watch. Inventory your hardware. The day you need 32 wing nuts is not the 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 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 typhoon threatens, your preparation list gets much shorter. You lock the sashes, set storm mode on the alarm, and focus on people instead of panels.
![]()
For many of my clients, that intangible is the deciding factor. They understand storms will come. They also know life in South Florida is too excellent to live inside a fortress that just gets up in August. Miami-Dade approved windows give you both: a clear view of Biscayne Bay on a breezy February cost of window installation morning and peaceful self-confidence when the spaghetti designs point our way in September.
If you are weighing the choice, start with a site-specific evaluation. Match your exposures to create pressures, choose the best laminated glass stack for wind and heat, select frames that fit the architecture and conditions, and work with a team that respects the load course. Done right, energy‑efficient impact windows provide what shutters can not: protection that never ever requests a ladder and a better home every day of the year.