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 neighbors track tropical waves, the pre-storm rush to stock up, and the routine of hauling ladders to install panels. After 20 years defining, setting up, and repairing structure envelopes from Secret Largo to Palm Beach, I've seen what holds up and what doesn't. When the goal is genuine protection with year-round convenience, Miami-Dade approved, energy‑efficient impact windows outshine shutters in ways that go beyond storm day. They change how a house feels in August, how quiet your living room commercial window installation remains on a Saturday night, and how confident you are when a storm line spins up faster than predicted.
This is a practical look at why numerous South Florida property owners are moving from shutters to typhoon impact-resistant windows, how to read the standards behind "Miami-Dade authorized," what products matter, and how to get the installation right the very first time.
Miami-Dade County's Product Control Division sets among the hardest standards in the country for building components exposed to windborne particles. Approval is not a marketing sticker label. It is earned through particular laboratory tests that mimic genuine cyclone conditions.
First comes large rocket effect. A 9-pound 2x4 is contended the glass at approximately 34 miles per hour. That mimics roofing tiles, branches, or pieces of fencing that fly in the eyewall. After the impact, the very same system deals with cyclic pressure loading, thousands of pressurization and depressurization cycles that mimic fast wind gusts over hours. If the glass stays in the frame without letting the envelope breach, it passes. The difference between "meets Florida building regulations windows" and "Miami-Dade approved windows" frequently resides in these test limits. Miami-Dade is simply stiffer, particularly in High Speed Cyclone Zone requirements, which include Miami-Dade and Broward.
Wind rankings vary by opening size and style pressures, signified as PSF worths. On ocean-facing properties or high-rises, I often define systems rated at +60/ -80 PSF or higher. Inland or in more safeguarded direct exposures, rankings in the +45/ -60 PSF range can be sufficient, but you size and specification based on the website's wind map, constructing height, and surrounding structures. A professional knows that a corner exposure at the 2nd story demands various support than a sheltered window under a deep porch.
Hurricane shutters vs impact windows is not a one-to-one contrast. Shutters can satisfy code, and they're much better than nothing. But they ask you to do work at the worst possible time. When a watch turns to a caution and the projection 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 protection, even if a pop-up storm surprises you while you're stuck on US 1. You also get advantages every day of the year.

Noise control is the most underappreciated benefit. Laminated impact glass is basically a sandwich: two panes of glass bonded by a durable interlayer, typically PVB interlayer glass or SentryGlas. That interlayer damps sound. On jobs along busy corridors like Biscayne Boulevard or near flight courses, I've determined interior noise drops in the 5 to 10 decibel variety, often more when coupled with insulated glass units.
Security enhances due to the fact that laminated glass resists forced entry. A burglar can shatter the external lite with a hammer, but the interlayer holds the shards. They meet a sticky, stubborn membrane instead of a quick course inside. Insurance coverage underwriters understand this, which is why policies frequently provide credits for impact doors and windows. In my tasks, premiums usually drop 10 to 25 percent, depending upon the carrier and the number of 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 preserving visible light. That implies less a/c need, particularly 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 effect units. Summer afternoon peak load stopped by approximately a ton of cooling, and the home's annual electrical energy usage fell in between 12 and 18 percent. Results differ 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 products are equal.
Most domestic cyclone windows use a PVB interlayer glass stack, commonly 0.030 to 0.090 inches thick in single or multiple plies. Thicker interlayers improve effect resistance and sound control, but they add weight and cost. For oceanfront or high openings, you may see SGP (ionoplast) interlayers, which are stiffer and more powerful than PVB, enabling thinner areas to accomplish greater style pressures. For noise-sensitive sites, acoustic PVB formulas 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 come up frequently in discussions because tempered glass is stronger in flexing than annealed glass. That's true, and tempered lites are quality hurricane proof windows commonly utilized 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 blows up into small cubes and falls out of the frame, which leaves the opening vulnerable. The impact efficiency comes from laminated construction, not tempering by itself. Many systems use a tempered outer lite laminated to a hardened inner lite, or both tempered, however constantly bonded through a PVB or ionoplast interlayer.
Low-E coatings matter for comfort. 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 noticeable light transmission around half or greater. Go too low on SHGC and the glass can look gray or green, specifically in larger openings. The sweet spot depends upon your exterior orientation and shading. On east and west elevations, I often tighten SHGC and accept a small tint to manage early morning and afternoon blasts. On north elevations, I favor higher visible transmittance for daylighting.
Frames are the other half of the story. Aluminum frames dominate here due to the fact that they deal with large openings and won't swell. Thermal breaks and improved glazing gaskets have narrowed the energy gap with vinyl. Top quality vinyl impact frames, when enhanced appropriately, can carry out well for standard-sized openings and have much better insulating values, but I avoid them for very broad sliders or high storefront-style windows in high-wind zones. Wood-clad systems look gorgeous in older Mediterranean Revival homes, but they require careful maintenance and smart flashing. The Florida sun damages cheap vinyl and chalks low-grade aluminum finishes rapidly. Try to find powder-coated surfaces rated for seaside direct exposure, and demand composed guarantee details in salt-air environments.
Window setup can make or break performance. An expensive system set up like a handyman swap-out will not pass a storm's tension test. The load course is the core. Effect forces need 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 concrete block building and construction, you desire stainless or hot-dipped galvanized anchors embedded into solid product. Hollow cells must be grouted or you require to strike the bond beam. Tapcons in soft, unfilled block are a failure waiting to happen. In wood-framed houses, structural screws should 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 just visual. A correctly sized backer rod and premium polyurethane or silyl-modified polymer sealant develop a durable, flexible seal that manages thermal growth. Too little a bead and it tears under motion. Too huge and it cures inadequately. On seaside jobs, I never ever combine different metals without a barrier, and I always specify corrosion-resistant fasteners. 10 years later, you will see who took shortcuts.

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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 rely on sealant alone, water will find its way in. That wetness might disappoint up as a drip. It might rot a sill plate slowly, then betray itself as a buckling flooring or a moldy odor 2 cyclone seasons later.
I have nothing versus properly designed shutters. Accordion shutters that are kept and oiled, roll-down shutters with battery backups, and even detachable panels kept thoroughly can secure homes effectively. They also help in particular cases.
Second homes or seasonal leasings where budget is tight often lean on shutters to satisfy the Florida building code windows requirement for safeguarded openings. On specialized openings like a lanai that is hardly ever used in summertime, a clean motorized roll-down can be affordable, particularly if pairing with effect doors and windows in other places worries the budget. For homeowners who plan to move within a year, shutters can be a brief bridge to compliance before a sale.
But shutters bring compromises. They darken your home when deployed, and they require action at exactly the time you are handling insurance coverage papers, gas cans, and family logistics. Throughout Typhoon Irma, I watched a next-door neighbor attempt to install 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 made it through 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-lasting owners who want to set it and forget it, effect windows provide hurricane proof windows coverage while protecting daytime and view. The convenience grows valuable once you have actually experienced one storm season with absolutely no preparation beyond locking the sash.
South Florida homes fight 2 battles: hidden load from humidity and reasonable load from direct solar heat gain. Impact glass upgrades can assist both if specified intelligently.
Low-E impact glass uses microscopically thin metallic layers to reflect infrared energy while letting visible light through. With the ideal finish stacks, you can block a big part of convected heat and UV. UV clog in laminated units comes mainly from the interlayer itself, which usually filters 95 to 99 percent of UV, lowering fading of materials and flooring. Add the low-E, and you curb the solar heat that drives your a/c insane midafternoon.
I evaluate glass specs with three numbers: U-factor, SHGC, and VT. While U-factor matters more up north, it still helps here by lowering nighttime heat circulation and keeping the interior glass temperature level closer to room temperature level, which decreases condensation danger. SHGC drives just how much solar heat enters. VT affects how brilliant the interior feels. Balance is key. Some property owners desire the crisp, clear appearance of greater VT, even if it indicates accepting a couple of degrees more heat in late afternoon, because their landscaping and roofing overhangs currently do some shading. Others prefer a more powerful tint for glare control on waterside lots that reflect extreme light.
In useful terms, going from clear single-pane sliders to contemporary low-E laminated double-glazed units can reduce peak solar gains by 30 to 50 percent on the most exposed sides. Couple that with tuned overhangs, light-colored exterior surfaces, and a correctly sized variable-speed heating and cooling, and you begin to construct strength. 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 document you request. It details the approved setups, sizes, anchors, and pressures tested. It is inadequate to hear "these are Miami-Dade authorized windows" in a display room. Confirm the NOA matches the specific model and alternatives you are purchasing, consisting of 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 show code compliance. In the remainder of the state outside the High Speed Typhoon Zone, Florida building code windows can rely on Florida Item Approval without Miami-Dade specific NOAs. Numerous top manufacturers bring both. Where budgets enable, I prefer NOA products even outside the zone since the screening is stiffer.
NFRC labels deal with energy metrics. They will not tell you effect performance, however they reveal U-factor, SHGC, VT, and air leak. Go for air leak at or listed below 0.3 cfm/ft TWO. Tighter is much better for humidity control, however make sure 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 upfront than shutters. There's no spin around that. Installed costs vary with size, shape, surface, and access. On simple single-family homes, per-opening costs often land in between 1,200 and 3,000 dollars for basic sizes. Large multi-panel sliders, customized arches, and coastal-grade surfaces raise the numbers quickly.
Where you recover worth:
If you prepare to own the property for 5 years or more, the mathematics often tilts in favor of effect windows, especially when you factor the intangible of assurance. If you plan to sell within a year and require to reveal compliance rapidly, shutters may 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 patios. Take a look at the sill style on sliding doors. Weep systems ought to be crafted 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 run afoul of neighborhood watch or produce mirror-like glare toward neighboring residential or commercial properties. In seaside ecosystems, extremely reflective glass can confuse birds or sea turtles in some jurisdictions. Regional pros understand which coatings balance performance with compliance.
Color stability is a big deal. Dark bronze or black frames look great on modern homes, but in Florida sun inexpensive surfaces chalk and fade. AAMA 2605-rated coatings supply the best color retention and chalk resistance. I specify them for seaside direct exposures whenever spending plans allow.
Historic districts typically require profiles that simulate old wood sash sightlines. There are impact-rated windows that fit these requirements, however lead times extend and costs climb. Expect additional review by architectural boards, and line up a specialist familiar with these submissions.
Condos have another layer of governance. Associations often define a narrow list of approved products for uniformity. They also care about sound control in between units. If your building sits directly on Collins Opportunity or deals with a busy beach boardwalk, push for acoustic laminated options. Work with structure management on staging and lift access. Weekend work windows and minimal parking can include days and dollars.
Large openings, like a 16-foot-wide slider, require special attention in style pressure, deflection, and running hardware. Not every unit that looks strong in a showroom satisfies the wind loads on a ninth-floor terrace. Do not depend on catalog optimum sizes. Utilize the NOA tables that correspond to your website's zone, favorable and negative pressures, and mullion combinations if any.
The finest jobs begin with a determined survey and direct exposure analysis. You map each opening, keep in mind the substrate, and recognize any framing abnormalities or settlement fractures. During proposal, the specialist shows you the NOA and the Florida Item Approval, notes anchor types, and describes how each opening will be flashed and sealed. They prepare for stucco or drywall repair work, 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 bring out care to preserve interior finishes. New units get dry-fit, shimmed, and anchored per the schedule. The team checks squareness and diagonals before setting sealant. They photo anchors for the authorization file, particularly if they will be hidden. After glazing, they water-test with a regulated spray to confirm drain courses and seals. The inspector sees a cool jobsite, clear labels, and documentation in order.
Six months later, your windows still close with two fingers, locks bite smoothly, and there is no secret rattle throughout thunderstorms. You did not have to require a roller adjustment after the very first week. That is the standard.
Impact ranking does not equal breakproof. Laminated glass can break under extreme effects, however it must stay in the frame and hold together. After a storm that sends out debris into the glass, you might see star fractures or spidering. The window did its task. Change the sash or IGU after the event.
Window movies 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 insurance provider and building department will not count films as safeguarded openings.
Interior humidity matters. Tight, energy-efficient impact windows minimize air leakage. That's terrific, but it increases the importance of an appropriately sized heating and cooling with good dehumidification. If your system is large, the thermostat pleases rapidly and fails to pull enough moisture from the air. Ask your heating and cooling pro to examine reasonable heat ratio, air flow, and run time. You want constant, longer cycles, not short bursts.
Maintenance is uncomplicated however 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 factors to mix services. A pair of hardly ever used garage windows can keep detachable panels to shave budget plan. A deep-set patio with very little sun exposure might do great with accordion shutters if you prioritize other upgrades like a brand-new roofing system deck attachment or a fortified garage door. Shutters can also secure outside cooking areas or cabana openings where grease and smoke would age fancy hardware prematurely.
If you choose shutters, invest in quality. Stainless fasteners, smooth tracks, and motors with handbook bypasses for roll-downs make a distinction. Appoint responsibility for implementation and practice once beyond a storm watch. Inventory your hardware. The day you require 32 wing nuts is not the early morning you wish to discover 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 air conditioner 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 concentrate on individuals instead of panels.
For many of my customers, that intangible is the deciding aspect. They know storms will come. They also know life in South Florida is too excellent to live inside a fortress that only 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 designs point our method September.
If you are weighing the option, begin with a site-specific assessment. Match your direct exposures to create pressures, pick the ideal laminated glass stack for wind and heat, choose frames that fit the architecture and conditions, and work with a crew that appreciates the load path. Done right, energy‑efficient impact windows provide what shutters can not: defense that local window installation experts never asks for a ladder and a much better home every day of the year.