FAQ
Palm Beach County Impact Window Questions
The questions that actually decide a job in this county, answered plainly.
Give us the address. In this county the address decides the pressure, the review, and often the price — before the window does.
FAQ
Questions we are asked most
- Is Palm Beach County in the HVHZ?
- No. The High Velocity Hurricane Zone is defined by county and covers Miami-Dade and Broward only. A house on the Broward side of the line and a house half a mile north in Boca Raton are governed by different approval regimes.
- What governs my windows instead?
- Statewide Florida Product Approval, administered through the state rather than by Miami-Dade County Product Control. The approvals are published and searchable by number, so a quote here is checkable in the same way.
- Does that mean my windows are weaker?
- Not if they meet the calculated design pressure for your opening. The Miami-Dade protocol is a harder test to pass, but the number your opening must hold is derived from your address, exposure and height, and it does not change with the approval system.
- Am I still required to protect my openings?
- Yes. Palm Beach County sits in the wind-borne debris region, so glazed openings need impact-rated units or approved shutters. Being outside the HVHZ does not remove the requirement.
- Are shutters an acceptable alternative?
- For meeting the requirement, approved shutters are a recognized route and considerably cheaper. For living with, they are worse. We do not fit shutters, so if that is the better answer for you we will say so and you will need another contractor.
- Why is my quote so much higher than my neighbor’s?
- Distance from the coast, exposure, height and the size and count of openings all move it. It is also worth asking whether the two quotes were built under the same approval regime, because that alone can account for a large gap.
- Do I need approval before replacing windows?
- If the property is under Town of Palm Beach review, or in a review area in another municipality, appearance is approved before a permit is issued. Check the address against the municipality before selecting anything — it is the cheapest step in the job.
- How far ahead should I book?
- Earlier than most people expect. Made-to-order lead times and design review, where it applies, set the calendar far more than our diary does. Specialty shapes are the units that decide the finish date.
Still not answered?
If your question is not here, call (954) 807-3208. We would rather answer it before you have paid a deposit somewhere.
What we install
Impact Windows
The core product, and in this county the one most often over-specified. Palm Beach is outside the High Velocity Hurricane Zone, so the approved field is wide — and the job is choosing correctly inside it rather than defaulting to the most expensive label.
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Sliding Glass Doors
Sliders are the largest glazed openings in most Palm Beach homes and the ones where a size-based approval limit is most likely to be exceeded. They are also where the structural question above the opening gets skipped.
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Impact Entry Doors
An approved entry door is an assembly. The slab, frame, hinges, lock, threshold and glazing are approved together, and changing one part outside the approval invalidates the whole thing.
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Impact Garage Doors
A double garage door is usually the biggest single opening in the building envelope. It is also the one clients most often leave off a window quote, because it does not feel like a window.
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French & Specialty Shapes
Arched heads, radius tops, oversized fixed glass and French pairs are common on Palm Beach houses and are made to order. They carry the longest lead times on any job and the least flexibility if something is measured wrong.
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Glazing Into Existing Frames
Where the existing frames are structurally sound and an approval exists for glazing into them, replacing only the glass is cheaper, faster and less disruptive than a full replacement.
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Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.