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 stockpile, and the ritual of transporting ladders to mount panels. After two decades specifying, setting up, and repairing structure envelopes from Key Largo to Palm Beach, I've seen what holds up and what doesn't. When the objective is genuine protection with year-round comfort, Miami-Dade approved, energy‑efficient effect windows surpass shutters in ways that go beyond storm day. They change how a home feels in August, how peaceful your living-room stays on a Saturday night, and how positive you are when a storm line spins up much faster than predicted.
This is a practical take a look at why numerous South Florida property owners are moving from shutters to hurricane impact-resistant windows, how to check out the standards behind "Miami-Dade approved," what materials matter, and how to get the installation right the very first time.
Miami-Dade County's Item Control Department sets one of the toughest criteria in the country for constructing components exposed to windborne debris. Approval is not a marketing sticker. It is earned through particular lab tests that imitate real typhoon conditions.
First comes big missile impact. A 9-pound 2x4 is shot at the glass at approximately 34 miles per hour. That imitates roofing system tiles, branches, or pieces of fencing that fly in the eyewall. After the effect, the exact same unit deals with 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 difference between "meets Florida building code windows" and "Miami-Dade authorized windows" frequently resides in these test limits. Miami-Dade is merely stiffer, especially in High Speed Cyclone Zone requirements, that include Miami-Dade and Broward.
Wind scores differ by opening size and style pressures, denoted as PSF values. On ocean-facing homes or high-rises, I often define units ranked at +60/ -80 PSF or greater. Inland or in more secured exposures, rankings in the +45/ -60 PSF variety can be adequate, but you size and spec based on the site's wind map, constructing height, and surrounding structures. A professional knows that a corner exposure at the 2nd story needs different reinforcement than a protected window under a deep porch.
Hurricane shutters vs impact windows is not a one-to-one contrast. Shutters can fulfill code, and they're better than nothing. However they ask you to do operate at the worst possible time. When a watch turns to a warning and the projection track tightens, the last thing you desire is a ladder, a dead cordless drill, and a missing wing nut.
Impact windows live in location. You get continuous security, even if a pop-up storm surprises you while you're stuck on US 1. You also get benefits every day of the year.
Noise control is the most underappreciated advantage. Laminated impact glass is basically a sandwich: 2 panes of glass bonded by a resistant interlayer, normally PVB interlayer glass or SentryGlas. That interlayer damps noise. On tasks along busy corridors like Biscayne Boulevard or near flight courses, I have actually determined interior noise drops in the 5 to 10 decibel variety, in some cases more when coupled with insulated glass units.
Security enhances because laminated glass withstands forced entry. A robber can shatter the outer lite with a hammer, but the interlayer holds the shards. They meet a sticky, persistent membrane instead of a quick path inside. Insurance underwriters know this, which is why policies frequently offer credits for effect doors and windows. In my projects, premiums normally drop 10 to 25 percent, depending on the provider 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 need, particularly on west and south exposures where the afternoon sun punishes interiors. In one Coral Gables retrofit, we changed 1980s single-pane sliders with laminated low-E effect systems. Summer season afternoon peak load come by roughly a ton of cooling, and the home's yearly electricity use fell in between 12 and 18 percent. Results vary with shading, attic insulation, and a/c efficiency, but the instructions 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, commonly 0.030 to 0.090 inches thick in single or numerous plies. Thicker interlayers improve effect resistance and sound control, however they include weight and cost. For oceanfront or high openings, you may see SGP (ionoplast) interlayers, which are stiffer and stronger than PVB, permitting thinner areas to accomplish greater design pressures. For noise-sensitive websites, acoustic PVB formulations tweak the polymer to better soak up noise in the 1,000 to 3,000 Hz range, where traffic and voices sit.

Tempered glass windows turn up typically in conversations since tempered glass is more powerful in flexing than annealed glass. That holds true, and tempered lites are typically utilized as the external or inner ply in an impact system. However tempered alone is not impact-resistant in the cyclone sense. When it stops working, it explodes into small cubes and falls out of the frame, which leaves the opening susceptible. The impact efficiency comes from laminated construction, not tempering by itself. Numerous systems use a tempered external lite laminated to a hardened inner lite, or both tempered, but always bonded through a PVB or ionoplast interlayer.
Low-E finishes matter for convenience. A soft-coat low-E tuned for South Florida usually targets a solar heat gain coefficient in the 0.25 to 0.35 range while keeping visible 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 area depends on your façade orientation and shading. On east and west elevations, I often tighten SHGC and accept a slight tint to handle morning and afternoon blasts. On north elevations, I lean toward higher noticeable transmittance for daylighting.
Frames are the other half of the story. Aluminum frames control here due to the fact that they deal with large openings and will not swell. Thermal breaks and enhanced glazing gaskets have narrowed the energy space with vinyl. High-quality vinyl effect frames, when strengthened appropriately, can perform well for standard-sized openings and have better insulating values, but I prevent them for extremely large sliders or tall storefront-style windows in high-wind zones. Wood-clad units look gorgeous in older Mediterranean Revival homes, however they require careful upkeep and clever flashing. The Florida sun destroys low-cost vinyl and chalks low-grade aluminum surfaces rapidly. Try to find powder-coated surfaces ranked for seaside exposure, and demand composed service warranty details in salt-air environments.
Window installation can make or break efficiency. A costly unit installed like a handyman swap-out will not pass a storm's tension test. The load course is the core. Impact forces have to travel from the glass through the frame, to the anchors, into the substrate, and then into the structure's framing or masonry.
In cinder block building and construction, 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 happen. In wood-framed homes, structural screws need to bite into solid trimmers, not simply sheathing. Shimming and plumb alignment matter so the locks engage easily and the weatherstripping compresses evenly.
The sealant joint is not simply visual. An effectively sized backer rod and top quality polyurethane or silyl-modified polymer sealant create a durable, versatile seal that deals with thermal growth. Too small a bead and it tears under movement. Too huge and it treatments poorly. On seaside tasks, I never combine different metals without a barrier, and I constantly specify corrosion-resistant fasteners. Ten years later on, 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 important. If you count on sealant alone, water will find its way in. That wetness might disappoint up as a drip. It may rot a sill plate slowly, then betray itself as a buckling floor or a moldy odor two hurricane seasons later.

I have nothing versus well-designed shutters. Accordion shutters that are preserved and oiled, roll-down shutters with battery backups, and even detachable panels saved carefully can protect homes effectively. They also assist in particular cases.
Second homes or seasonal leasings where budget plan is tight in some cases lean on shutters to satisfy the Florida building code windows requirement for safeguarded openings. On specialized openings like a lanai that is rarely used in summertime, a tidy motorized roll-down can be reasonable, specifically if pairing with effect doors and windows somewhere else worries the budget. For property owners 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 house when deployed, and they need action at specifically the time you are juggling insurance documents, gas cans, and household logistics. Throughout Cyclone Irma, I watched a neighbor try 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 also rattle and can vibrate under continual winds, often loosening up fasteners with time if not maintained.
For long-term owners who want to set it and forget it, impact windows offer typhoon proof windows coverage while preserving daylight and view. The convenience grows valuable once you have actually experienced one storm season with zero prep beyond locking the sash.
South Florida homes combat two fights: latent load from humidity and sensible load from direct solar heat gain. Effect glass upgrades can help both if specified intelligently.
Low-E effect glass uses microscopically thin metallic layers to reflect infrared energy while letting visible light through. With the right finish stacks, you can obstruct a big part of radiant heat and UV. UV blockage in laminated systems comes largely from the interlayer itself, which typically filters 95 to 99 percent of UV, minimizing fading of fabrics and floor covering. Add the low-E, and you curb the solar heat that drives your a/c insane midafternoon.
I evaluate glass specifications with three numbers: U-factor, SHGC, and VT. While U-factor matters more up north, it still assists here by reducing nighttime heat circulation and keeping the interior glass temperature level closer to space temperature, which minimizes condensation risk. SHGC drives just how much solar heat goes into. VT influences how intense the interior feels. Balance is essential. Some homeowners want the crisp, clear look of higher VT, even if it implies accepting a few degrees more heat in late afternoon, since their landscaping and roofing system overhangs already do some shading. Others choose a stronger tint for glare control on waterfront lots that show severe 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 50 percent on the most exposed sides. Couple that with tuned overhangs, light-colored outside surfaces, and an effectively sized variable-speed heating and cooling, and you start to develop strength. If the grid decreases and you change to a generator, a lower cooling load indicates a smaller sized generator and less gallons of fuel.
Miami-Dade Notification of Acceptance, or NOA, is the file you request. It information the approved setups, sizes, anchors, and pressures checked. It is insufficient to hear "these are Miami-Dade authorized windows" in a showroom. Confirm the NOA matches the precise model and alternatives you are purchasing, including the glazing makeup and hardware. If you remain in Broward or Miami-Dade, your allowing office will want this paper trail.
Statewide, the Florida Item Approval system offers FL numbers that show code compliance. In the remainder of the state outside the High Velocity Hurricane Zone, Florida building regulations windows can depend on Florida Product Approval without Miami-Dade particular NOAs. Numerous leading manufacturers bring both. Where budget plans permit, I prefer NOA products even outside the zone due to the fact that the screening is stiffer.
NFRC labels handle energy metrics. They will not inform you impact efficiency, but they reveal U-factor, SHGC, VT, and air leakage. Aim 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 stabilized ventilation. Sealing the envelope and overlooking fresh air is a recipe for indoor air quality complaints.
Impact windows cost more in advance than shutters. There's no spin around that. Set up expenses vary with size, shape, finish, and access. On straightforward 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 recover worth:
If you prepare to own the property for five years or more, the mathematics often tilts in favor of effect windows, especially when you factor the intangible of comfort. If you prepare to sell within a year and need to show compliance rapidly, shutters may make more short-term sense. Context matters.
I take note of hardware and accessories. Multi-point locks on sashes and awnings enhance seal compression and security. For sliders, robust tandem rollers in stainless real estates move smoother and last longer on sandy patios. Look at the sill design on sliding doors. Weep systems ought to be crafted 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 films can contravene of neighborhood associations or produce mirror-like glare toward surrounding homes. In coastal communities, extremely reflective glass can confuse birds or sea turtles in some jurisdictions. Local pros know which finishes balance efficiency with compliance.
Color stability is a big offer. Dark bronze or black frames look great on modern-day homes, however in Florida sun cheap finishes chalk and fade. AAMA 2605-rated finishes supply the best color retention and chalk resistance. I define them for coastal exposures whenever budget plans allow.
Historic districts frequently 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 evaluation by architectural boards, and line up a contractor acquainted with these submissions.
Condos have another layer of governance. Associations sometimes specify a narrow list of authorized products for harmony. They likewise care about sound control between systems. If your structure sits directly on Collins Avenue or deals with a hectic beach boardwalk, push for acoustic laminated alternatives. Deal with structure management on staging and lift gain access to. Weekend work windows and minimal parking can include days and dollars.
Large openings, like a 16-foot-wide slider, need unique attention in design pressure, deflection, and running hardware. Not every unit that looks tough in a display room satisfies the Boca Raton impact window options wind loads on a ninth-floor balcony. Do not Boca Raton residential window installation count on brochure optimum sizes. Use the NOA tables that represent your site's zone, positive and negative pressures, and mullion combinations if any.
The best tasks begin with a measured survey and direct exposure analysis. You map each opening, keep in mind the substrate, and identify any framing irregularities or settlement cracks. During proposition, the specialist reveals 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 repairs, not pretend no damage will occur.
On install day, they eliminate one opening at a time to keep your house safe and secure. They safeguard floorings, pull back window treatments, and cap sprinklers. Old frames bring out care to maintain interior finishes. New systems get dry-fit, shimmed, and anchored per the schedule. The team checks squareness and diagonals before setting sealant. They photograph anchors for the authorization file, especially if they will be hidden. After glazing, they water-test with a regulated spray to verify drain courses and seals. The inspector sees a neat jobsite, clear labels, and paperwork in order.
Six months later, your windows still close with two fingers, locks bite smoothly, and there is no mystery rattle during thunderstorms. You did not need to require a roller change after the first week. That is the standard.
Impact rating does not equal breakproof. Laminated glass can split under severe effects, but it should stay in the frame and hold together. After a storm that sends out particles into the glass, you may see star fractures or spidering. The window did its job. Change the sash or IGU after the event.
Window movies do not transform non-impact windows into cyclone impact-resistant windows. They can add shatter resistance, but they do not substitute for a tested, anchored system. Your insurance company and structure department will not count films as safeguarded openings.
Interior humidity matters. Tight, energy-efficient effect windows minimize air leakage. That's terrific, but it increases the significance of an appropriately sized a/c with great dehumidification. If your system is oversized, the thermostat pleases quickly and fails to pull enough moisture from the air. Ask your heating and cooling pro to inspect practical heat ratio, air flow, and run time. You want stable, longer cycles, not short bursts.
Maintenance is uncomplicated but not optional. Clean weep holes on sliders, wash salt spray from frames, and lube hardware each year with a silicone-based product that will not gum up in heat. Small practices extend lifespan.
There are legitimate reasons to blend solutions. A set of seldom used garage windows can keep detachable panels to shave budget. A deep-set deck with minimal sun exposure may do great with accordion shutters if you prioritize other upgrades like a brand-new roofing system deck accessory or a fortified garage door. Shutters can likewise safeguard outdoor kitchens or cabana openings where grease and smoke would age elegant hardware prematurely.
If you choose shutters, purchase quality. Stainless fasteners, smooth tracks, and motors with handbook bypasses for roll-downs make a distinction. Assign duty for release and practice as soon as outside of a storm watch. Inventory your hardware. The day you need 32 wing nuts is not the morning you wish to find you have 29.
Impact windows are not just about surviving the huge one. They improve daily living. The living-room remains 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 people rather than panels.
For a number of my customers, that intangible is the choosing element. They know storms will come. They likewise know life in South Florida is too good to live inside a fortress that just wakes up in August. Miami-Dade authorized windows give you both: a clear view of Biscayne Bay on a breezy February 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 assessment. Match your exposures to develop pressures, select the best laminated glass stack for wind and heat, choose frames that fit the architecture and conditions, and hire a team that appreciates the load path. Done right, energy‑efficient impact windows provide what shutters can not: protection that never ever requests for a ladder and a better home every day of the year.