STS Impact Windows, Doors & Roofing is a veteran-owned company based in South Florida that specializes in premium hurricane protection solutions, including impact windows, doors, custom storefronts, and roofing. Combining over 25 years of industry experience with military precision, STS provides expert installation, full transparency, and outstanding customer service, backed by a leading 3-year installation warranty. Their comprehensive services ensure security and peace of mind for both residential and commercial clients, with a strong focus on quality, reliability, and efficiency.
View on Google MapsSTS Impact Windows and Doors specializes in hurricane protection solutions, offering high-quality impact windows, storm-resistant doors, custom storefronts, and professional roofing services. With expert installation, full transparency, and outstanding customer service, the company ensures homes and businesses stay secure and energy-efficient.
STS Impact Windows and Doors is located at 1000 Holland Dr Suite 10, Boca Raton, FL 33487, United States. The company proudly serves residential and commercial clients across Florida and throughout the United States, delivering reliable storm protection solutions. View their location on Google Maps.
Yes, STS Impact Windows and Doors is a veteran-owned company recognized for its dedication, integrity, and service to the community. This background adds an extra level of trust and reliability for homeowners and businesses seeking storm protection solutions.
STS Impact Windows and Doors provides a wide range of services including the installation of hurricane impact windows, impact doors, custom commercial storefronts, and roofing services. Each project is backed by expert craftsmanship, a 3-year installation warranty, and over 25 years of industry experience.
The company proudly serves both residential homeowners and commercial property owners. From protecting family homes to fortifying businesses with hurricane-rated storefronts, STS Impact Windows and Doors delivers customized solutions that ensure safety, durability, and efficiency.
Clients benefit from the company’s focus on quality, reliability, and efficiency. Their impact-resistant windows and doors not only enhance security and hurricane protection but also improve energy efficiency, reduce noise, and increase property value. With a 3-year installation warranty, customers can trust in long-term performance and peace of mind.
STS Impact Windows and Doors has been recognized with multiple industry honors, including the South Florida Veteran Owned Business Excellence Award, Best Hurricane Protection Provider 2023 Florida, and the Angi’s Super Service Award for Window Installation. These awards highlight their commitment to excellence, customer satisfaction, and industry leadership.
You can reach STS Impact Windows and Doors by phone at 561-600-1018 or visit their website at stswindows.com. They are open Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm and are available on Facebook and Instagram for updates and project showcases.
Business Name: STS Impact Windows & Doors
Address: 1000 Holland Dr #10, Boca Raton, FL 33487, United States
Phone: (561)-600-1018
Hurricane season shapes life along Florida's coasts. You feel it in the method next-door neighbors track tropical waves, the pre-storm rush to stock up, and the routine of transporting ladders to install panels. After twenty years specifying, setting up, and repairing structure envelopes from Secret Largo to Palm Beach, I've seen what holds up and what does not. When the goal is real defense with year-round comfort, Miami-Dade approved, energy‑efficient effect windows exceed shutters in manner ins which surpass storm day. They change how a house feels in August, how quiet your living room stays on a Saturday night, and how positive you are when a storm line spins up quicker than predicted.
This is a practical take a look at why numerous South Florida property owners are moving from shutters to hurricane 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 one of the hardest benchmarks in the country for building parts exposed to windborne particles. Approval is not a marketing sticker label. It is made through particular laboratory tests that replicate real typhoon conditions.
First comes big missile impact. A 9-pound 2x4 is shot at the glass at roughly 34 miles per hour. That simulates roofing system tiles, branches, or pieces of fencing that fly in the eyewall. After the effect, the exact same system faces cyclic pressure loading, countless pressurization and depressurization cycles that simulate fast wind gusts over hours. If the glass remains in the frame without letting the envelope breach, it passes. The difference between "satisfies Florida building regulations windows" and "Miami-Dade authorized windows" typically resides in these test limits. Miami-Dade is merely stiffer, especially in High Velocity Cyclone Zone requirements, that include Miami-Dade and Broward.
Wind scores vary by opening size and style pressures, denoted as PSF values. On ocean-facing properties or high-rises, I typically specify units ranked at +60/ -80 PSF or greater. Inland or in more secured exposures, rankings in the +45/ -60 PSF variety can be enough, however you size and specification based upon the website's wind map, constructing height, and surrounding structures. A professional knows that a corner direct exposure at the 2nd story demands various support than a protected window under a deep porch.
Hurricane shutters vs effect windows is not a one-to-one comparison. Shutters can fulfill code, and they're much better than absolutely nothing. However they ask you to do operate at the worst possible time. When a watch turns to a caution and the forecast track tightens up, the last thing you desire is a ladder, a dead cordless drill, and a missing wing nut.
Impact windows reside in location. You get constant 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 effect glass is basically a sandwich: 2 panes of glass bonded by a durable interlayer, usually PVB interlayer glass or SentryGlas. That interlayer damps noise. On tasks along busy passages like Biscayne Boulevard or near flight courses, I've determined interior sound drops in the 5 to 10 decibel variety, often more when paired with insulated glass units.
Security improves because laminated glass resists required entry. A burglar can shatter the outer lite with a hammer, but the interlayer holds the fragments. They meet a sticky, persistent membrane rather of a fast path inside. Insurance coverage underwriters understand this, which is why policies frequently offer credits for effect windows and doors. In my projects, premiums usually drop 10 to 25 percent, depending on the carrier and the number of openings are protected.
Energy efficiency is the 3rd pillar. Energy-efficient impact windows with modern-day low-E effect glass and warm-edge spacers can cut solar heat gain while protecting noticeable light. That indicates less air conditioning need, specifically on west and south direct exposures where the afternoon sun penalizes interiors. In one Coral Gables retrofit, we replaced 1980s single-pane sliders with laminated low-E impact systems. Summer afternoon peak load dropped by approximately a lots of cooling, and the home's yearly electrical energy use fell in between 12 and 18 percent. Outcomes differ with shading, attic insulation, and a/c efficiency, however the instructions is consistent.
Laminated effect glass is the heart of the system, however not all laminated items are equal.
Most residential hurricane windows utilize a PVB interlayer glass stack, typically 0.030 to 0.090 inches thick in single or multiple plies. Thicker interlayers enhance 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 more powerful than PVB, allowing thinner areas to achieve greater design pressures. For noise-sensitive sites, acoustic PVB formulations modify the polymer to better soak up noise in the 1,000 to 3,000 Hz variety, where traffic and voices sit.
Tempered glass windows turn up often in conversations because tempered glass is more powerful in bending than annealed glass. That holds true, and tempered lites are typically utilized as the outer or inner ply in an effect unit. But tempered alone is not impact-resistant in the cyclone sense. When it fails, it blows up into small cubes and falls out of the frame, which leaves the opening vulnerable. The effect performance comes from laminated building and construction, not tempering by itself. Many systems utilize a tempered external lite laminated to an annealed inner lite, or both tempered, but always bonded through a PVB or ionoplast interlayer.
Low-E coverings 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 range while keeping noticeable light transmission around 50 percent or greater. Go too short on SHGC and the glass can look gray or green, particularly in bigger openings. The sweet area depends upon your exterior orientation and shading. On east and west elevations, I often tighten up SHGC and accept a minor tint to handle morning and afternoon blasts. On north elevations, I favor higher noticeable transmittance for daylighting.
 
Frames are the other half of the story. Aluminum frames dominate here since they manage large openings and will not swell. Thermal breaks and improved glazing gaskets have actually narrowed the energy space with vinyl. High-quality vinyl impact frames, when strengthened properly, can perform well for standard-sized openings and have 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 upkeep and clever flashing. The Florida sun ruins low-cost vinyl and chalks low-grade aluminum surfaces quickly. Try to find powder-coated surfaces ranked for coastal exposure, and request composed service warranty details in salt-air environments.
Window installation can make or break efficiency. An expensive system set up like a handyman swap-out will not pass a storm's tension 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 and construction, you desire stainless or hot-dipped galvanized anchors embedded into solid material. Hollow cells must be grouted or you need to hit the bond beam. Tapcons in soft, unfilled block are a failure waiting to happen. In wood-framed houses, structural screws need to bite into solid trimmers, not just sheathing. Shimming and plumb positioning matter so the locks engage cleanly and the weatherstripping compresses evenly.
The sealant joint is not just aesthetic. A properly sized backer rod and premium polyurethane or silyl-modified polymer sealant produce a resilient, versatile seal that handles thermal growth. Too little a bead and it tears under movement. Too big and it cures poorly. On coastal tasks, I never ever pair dissimilar metals without a barrier, and I constantly 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 combination with the water-resistive barrier are crucial. If you rely on sealant alone, water will discover its method. That wetness might not show up as a drip. It might rot a sill plate gradually, then betray itself as a buckling floor or a musty odor 2 hurricane seasons later.
 
I have absolutely nothing against well-designed shutters. Accordion shutters that are kept and lubricated, roll-down shutters with battery backups, and even detachable panels stored carefully can protect homes efficiently. They also help in certain cases.
Second homes or seasonal leasings where spending plan is tight often lean on shutters to meet the Florida building code windows requirement for protected openings. On specialized openings like a lanai that is seldom used in summer season, a clean motorized roll-down can be reasonable, especially if coupling with effect windows and doors somewhere else stresses the budget plan. For house owners who plan to move within a year, shutters can be a brief bridge to compliance before a sale.
But shutters bring trade-offs. They darken the house when deployed, and they need action at precisely the time you are handling insurance coverage papers, gas cans, and family logistics. Throughout Cyclone Irma, I enjoyed a neighbor try to mount 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 room. He endured with stitches. His living room window did not. Shutters likewise rattle and can vibrate under sustained winds, in some cases loosening up fasteners in time if not maintained.
For long-term owners who wish to set it and forget it, impact windows offer hurricane proof windows protection while maintaining daytime and view. The benefit grows valuable once you've experienced one storm season with absolutely no prep beyond locking the sash.
South Florida homes combat 2 battles: latent load from humidity and sensible load from direct solar heat gain. Effect glass upgrades can assist both if defined intelligently.
Low-E impact glass utilizes microscopically thin metal layers to show infrared energy while letting visible light through. With the best finish stacks, you can block a large portion of radiant heat and UV. UV blockage in laminated units comes mainly from the interlayer itself, which normally filters 95 to 99 percent of UV, reducing fading of fabrics and floor covering. Add the low-E, and you suppress the solar heat that drives your air conditioner insane midafternoon.
I assess glass specs with 3 numbers: U-factor, SHGC, and VT. While U-factor matters more up north, it still assists here by minimizing nighttime heat circulation and keeping the interior glass temperature level closer to room temperature, which lowers condensation risk. SHGC drives just how much solar heat gets in. VT affects how bright the interior feels. Balance is crucial. Some homeowners desire the crisp, clear look of greater VT, even if it implies accepting a couple of degrees more heat in late afternoon, because their landscaping and roofing system overhangs already do some shading. Others choose a more powerful tint for glare control on waterfront lots that show severe light.
In practical terms, going from clear single-pane sliders to contemporary low-E laminated double-glazed systems can minimize 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 a/c, and you start to construct durability. If the grid decreases and you change to a generator, a lower cooling load suggests a smaller generator and fewer gallons of fuel.
Miami-Dade Notification of Approval, or NOA, is the document you request for. It information the authorized configurations, sizes, anchors, and pressures tested. It is not enough to hear "these are Miami-Dade authorized windows" in a showroom. Verify the NOA matches the specific model and alternatives you are purchasing, consisting of the glazing makeup and hardware. If you are in Broward or Miami-Dade, your allowing workplace will want this paper trail.
Statewide, the Florida Product Approval system provides FL numbers that show code compliance. In the rest of the state outside the High Speed Cyclone Zone, Florida building code windows can count on Florida Product Approval without Miami-Dade specific NOAs. Many top manufacturers bring both. Where budget plans allow, I choose NOA products even outside the zone because the testing is stiffer.
NFRC labels deal with energy metrics. They won't tell hurricane proof window options you impact performance, 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 better for humidity control, Boca Raton commercial window installation but ensure your home still has balanced ventilation. Sealing the envelope and disregarding fresh air is a dish for indoor air quality complaints.
Impact windows cost more upfront than shutters. There's no spin around that. Installed expenses differ with size, shape, finish, and gain access to. On straightforward single-family homes, per-opening expenses frequently land in between 1,200 and 3,000 dollars for basic sizes. Big multi-panel sliders, custom-made arches, and coastal-grade surfaces raise the numbers quickly.
Where you recoup value:
If you plan to own the home for five years or more, the math frequently tilts in favor of impact windows, particularly when you factor the intangible of comfort. If you plan to offer within a year and need to reveal compliance quickly, shutters might make more short-term sense. Context matters.
I focus on 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 outdoor patios. Take a look at the sill design on moving doors. Weep systems must be crafted to drain heavy rainfall without best window installation options Boca Raton 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 watch or produce mirror-like glare towards neighboring homes. In seaside communities, extremely reflective glass can puzzle birds or sea turtles in some jurisdictions. Regional pros know which coverings balance efficiency with compliance.
Color stability is a big offer. Dark bronze or black frames look wonderful on contemporary homes, however in Florida sun low-cost finishes chalk and fade. AAMA 2605-rated finishings offer the best color retention and chalk resistance. I define them for seaside exposures whenever budgets allow.
Historic districts often require profiles that mimic 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 contractor acquainted with these submissions.
Condos have another layer of governance. Associations often define a narrow list of approved items for uniformity. They also care about noise control in between units. If your structure sits straight on Collins Avenue or faces a hectic beach boardwalk, push for acoustic laminated alternatives. Deal with building management on staging and lift access. Weekend work windows and restricted 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 system that looks durable in a display room meets the wind loads on a ninth-floor terrace. Do not rely on brochure optimum sizes. Use the NOA tables that represent your website's zone, favorable and unfavorable pressures, and mullion mixes if any.
The best projects begin with a determined study and exposure analysis. You map each opening, note the substrate, and identify any framing irregularities or settlement fractures. During proposal, the professional reveals you the NOA and the Florida Item Approval, lists anchor types, and explains how each opening will be flashed and sealed. They prepare for stucco or drywall repairs, not pretend no damage will occur.
On set up day, they eliminate one opening at a time to keep your house safe and secure. They secure floorings, draw 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 license file, specifically if they will be hidden. After glazing, they water-test with a regulated spray to confirm drainage courses and seals. The inspector sees a neat jobsite, clear labels, and documents in order.
Six months later on, your windows still close with two fingers, locks bite smoothly, and there is no mystery rattle during thunderstorms. You did not have to call for a roller change after the first week. That is the standard.
Impact rating does not equal breakproof. Laminated glass can crack under serious effects, but it should stay in the frame and hold together. After a storm that sends debris 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 convert non-impact windows into hurricane impact-resistant windows. They can add shatter resistance, but they do not substitute for an evaluated, anchored system. Your insurer and structure department will not count movies as protected openings.
Interior humidity matters. Tight, energy-efficient effect windows lower air leak. That's excellent, but it increases the importance of a properly sized heating and cooling with great dehumidification. If your system is oversized, the thermostat satisfies quickly and stops working to pull enough moisture from the air. Ask your heating and cooling pro to check practical heat ratio, airflow, and run Boca Raton window installation costs time. You want consistent, longer cycles, not brief bursts.
Maintenance is uncomplicated but not optional. Tidy weep holes on sliders, wash salt spray from frames, and lube hardware annually with a silicone-based product that will not gum up in heat. Little habits extend lifespan.
There are genuine reasons to mix options. A set of seldom utilized garage windows can keep detachable panels to shave budget. A deep-set deck with minimal sun exposure might do fine with accordion shutters if you focus on other upgrades like a brand-new roofing deck attachment or a fortified garage door. Shutters can likewise protect outdoor cooking areas or cabana openings where grease and smoke would age expensive hardware prematurely.
If you select shutters, purchase quality. Stainless fasteners, smooth tracks, and motors with handbook bypasses for roll-downs make a difference. Designate duty for implementation and practice when beyond a storm watch. Inventory your hardware. The day you require 32 wing nuts is not the morning you want to discover you have 29.
Impact windows are not only about surviving the big one. They reshape daily living. The living-room stays cooler and quieter. The air conditioner cycles calmly instead of racing at 4 p.m. You sleep without freight trains of wind noise 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 concentrate on people rather than panels.
For much of my clients, that intangible is the deciding factor. They know storms will come. They also know life in South Florida is too great 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 morning and quiet confidence when the spaghetti models point our method September.
If you are weighing the choice, begin with a site-specific evaluation. Match your exposures to design pressures, select the best laminated glass stack for wind and heat, select frames that fit the architecture and conditions, and hire a team that appreciates the load path. Done right, energy‑efficient effect windows provide what shutters can not: security that never asks for a ladder and a better home every day of the year.