Impact Windows in Miami Gardens, FL

Impact Windows for Miami Gardens homes have to meet one of the strictest wind codes in the country. Miami Gardens sits in Miami-Dade County, and Miami-Dade and Broward are the only two Florida counties inside the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, or HVHZ. That means every window, door, garage door and shutter we install has to carry a product approval tested for this zone, and every job goes through the city's Building Services Department for a permit and inspection.

Why North Miami-Dade homes need it

Miami Gardens became a city on May 13, 2003, but most of its neighborhoods, including Carol City, Norland, Andover, Scott Lake and Bunche Park, were built out decades before, much of it after I-95 opened up the area in the late 1960s. A lot of those houses still have windows that were installed long before Florida adopted a single statewide building code in 2002. Older aluminum awning windows, jalousies and plain single-pane glass offer no protection from wind-blown debris unless shutters are up.

The storms are real here. When Hurricane Wilma crossed South Florida on October 24, 2005, the National Weather Service recorded a 105 mph gust at Opa-locka, right next door, and more than 3 million customers lost power. Andrew in 1992 hit hardest in South Dade, but it is the storm that reshaped how Florida builds.

What makes a window an impact window

An impact window uses laminated glass: two layers of glass bonded to a tough plastic interlayer. If a flying object hits it, the glass may crack, but it stays stuck to the interlayer and the opening stays closed. The frame, the glazing bead and the anchors are tested together. For openings up to 30 feet above the ground, the product has to pass large-missile impact testing and then cyclic wind pressure testing. In Miami-Dade, that testing follows the county's TAS protocols, and the approved product gets a Notice of Acceptance (NOA) or a Florida Product Approval that lists its sizes, design pressures and how it must be anchored.

Get a Free Estimate

What changes after the install

• No shutters to hang. Openings are protected all year, including when you are away or a storm speeds up.
• Insurance credit. Opening protection is one of the features on Florida's wind mitigation form, OIR-B1-1802. When every opening is protected, a new inspection can document it for your insurer.
• Quieter rooms. Laminated glass dampens street, stadium and aircraft noise better than a single pane.
• Cooler rooms and less fading. Most impact units can be ordered with Low-E coatings and tints that cut heat and block most UV light.
• Harder to break in. Laminated glass does not shatter out of the frame from one hit.

The permit, in plain terms

The City of Miami Gardens windows and doors checklist asks for a permit application, a floor plan, a uniform window and door schedule, a wind load chart, the product approvals, an inspection procedure form and an HOA affidavit. A Notice of Commencement has to be recorded and posted before the first inspection on any job over $5,000. We prepare all of it. You sign the forms that need an owner signature, and we handle the rest.

One rule surprises people: under Miami-Dade's window and door permitting rules, if you replace more than 25% of the glazed openings in the house, every replaced glazed opening has to meet impact requirements. Bedroom windows also have to keep a legal emergency escape opening. We size and select products with both rules in mind.

Help paying for it

Florida's My Safe Florida Home program offers a free wind mitigation inspection and grants of up to $10,000 toward upgrades that include impact windows and doors and garage door reinforcement. Funding and eligibility change from year to year, so check mysafeflhome.com before you plan around it. If you are approved, we can quote the work the inspector recommended.

Our home base is Miami Gardens, and we work across North Miami-Dade and the southern edge of Broward. The code is the same HVHZ standard everywhere in both counties, but the paperwork is not. Miami Gardens, Opa-locka, Miami Lakes, Hialeah, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Miami Shores, Aventura and Sunny Isles Beach each run their own building department, with their own forms, fees and inspection scheduling. Miramar and Hallandale Beach are in Broward County, where product approvals still have to meet HVHZ rules but permits go through those cities.

The houses differ too. In Miami Gardens, Opa-locka and much of Hialeah, the typical job is a block ranch home with original aluminum windows. Miami Lakes and Miramar have more planned communities where an HOA reviews color and style before the permit. In Aventura, Sunny Isles Beach and Hallandale Beach, closer to the ocean, we see more townhouses and salt air that is hard on hardware, so finish and stainless fasteners get more attention.