Palm Beach specifics · The Debris Region
Not HVHZ Does Not Mean Not Required
The second mistake in this county is the opposite of the first. Being outside the High Velocity Hurricane Zone is not being outside the requirement — Palm Beach County sits in the wind-borne debris region, and openings need protecting.
Give us the address. In this county the address decides the pressure, the review, and often the price — before the window does.
Not HVHZ
Palm Beach uses statewide approval, not a Miami-Dade NOA
Still required
The county sits in the wind-borne debris region
Our crews
We measure, we schedule, and our own people install
Licensed
A licensed Florida general contractor
Two symmetrical errors, both expensive
One homeowner overpays for a Miami-Dade product they were never required to buy. The next assumes that because the strictest zone stops at the county line, nothing much applies here. Both are reading a label instead of a requirement. The wind-borne debris region is a separate designation from the HVHZ, it covers this county, and it is the reason opening protection is not optional on work that requires a permit.
What the requirement actually means
- Glazed openings need impact-rated units or approved shutters.
- Impact glazing and shutters are alternative routes to the same requirement.
- The rating has to match the calculated pressure for that opening.
- It applies to the whole envelope, not to the openings you choose.
- Unrated decorative glass beside a rated door still counts as an opening.
Why the region is drawn where it is
The wind-borne debris region is defined by design wind speed and proximity to the coast rather than by county. It covers a broad coastal band of Florida, and effectively all of Palm Beach County sits inside it. The concern it addresses is not the wind itself but what the wind carries: roof tile, gravel, timber and street furniture moving fast enough to breach glass.
That is why protection is framed around openings rather than around walls. A breached window is not primarily a broken window. It is a hole that lets the storm pressurize the inside of the building, and the loads that then act on the roof structure are a different problem entirely.
How we handle it
- 01Establish what the permit will require before specifying anything.
- 02Cover every glazed opening rather than the obvious ones.
- 03Explain the shutter route honestly where it is the better value.
- 04Leave the documentation that the mitigation inspection will ask for.
We raise shutters as a real alternative, which is unusual for a company selling windows. On a rental property, a seasonal house, or a budget that will not stretch across the whole envelope in one go, approved shutters satisfy the same requirement for considerably less money. Protecting every opening with shutters beats protecting half of them with glass, because the envelope does not average out.
Said plainly
Where we stop
We install impact glazing and doors. We are not a shutter contractor and we do not fit them. Where shutters are the better answer for your situation we will say so plainly and you will need someone else for that part, which is worth knowing before you spend an afternoon with us.
FAQ
Common questions
- Are shutters as good as impact glass?
- For meeting the requirement, approved shutters are a recognized route. For living with, they are worse — they have to be deployed before every storm, they darken the house, and they are stored somewhere the rest of the year. The trade is cost against convenience, and for some situations cost genuinely wins.
- Do I have to protect every opening?
- For the envelope to work, yes. Partial protection is where most of the value is lost — one large unprotected opening lets pressure into the building and the rest of the work is doing considerably less than the homeowner believes it is.
- Does this apply if I am only replacing a few windows?
- What triggers requirements is the permit and the scope of work, and that is a question for the municipality rather than for us. What we will not do is fit unrated glazing into a debris region opening because the job was small enough to seem exempt.
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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More palm beach specifics
You Are Not in the HVHZ
The High Velocity Hurricane Zone is Miami-Dade and Broward. It is not Palm Beach. Your openings are governed by statewide Florida Product Approval, which is a wider field, and knowing that changes what you should be quoted.
Read more →
Design Review on the Island
The Town of Palm Beach reviews the appearance of exterior work, and several other municipalities in the county run their own review. Where that applies, the design question is settled before the code question, and the order is not negotiable.
Read more →
The Western Communities
Move inland from the coast and the calculated pressures fall while the houses get larger. That combination changes the economics of a job here more than anything else in the county.
Read more →
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.