Hurricane or Impact Windows - Worth It?

[Bocaratonhomes]

FHA is great. I have a person I deal with there. Stephen Smizik. He is not high pressured and will give you a fair price. They tend to be higher than most but their lifetime warranty is awesome. They will literally replace your window glass if it breaks. Good luck

[PCakes572]

Okay, thanks for the responses!

[FloridaHawkeye]

My advice would be to call at least 5 window/door companies. There are several glass manufacturers. A quote for a PGT can be variant of 5k from company to company.

PGT going to be the most popular. CGI is another manufacturer. Make sure to not only get examples of the windows but of the window locks and also the screen doors. Some use really cheap screen doors and some have really nice ones.

[BillieUSA]

We bought our windows from a factory in Delray Beach. We love them, and their customer service is awesome. You can go to the factory and look at everything. The name is SIW, Security Impact Windows. They measure, manufacture, install, come in a flash if you see a problem. We dealt with Abe, I think he is the owner. We looked at many others before this, and were blown away by the factory. Other dealers could not deal with peculiarities of window shape. SIW can do it.

[Lee Colson]

I have small home near the beach that has seems to have more windows than walls. I upgraded to impact windows and I'm very happy not only for the wind protection but the added security and less noise and heat. My insurance didn't go down because I already had the "max" discount from my roof. Keep in mind you also have to do the doors if you want the insurance discount (at least that is what I was told). The resale value depends on other factors but I saw some numbers that suggest you can recover about 80% of the cost. Sears sold and installed mine.

[Oberon476]

Originally Posted by PCakes572

To TriMt7:
Can I ask where you got your windows, what kind they are and what company did the install? I am considering replacing all my windows (house was built in '83). My biggest reason is for noise reduction as I live next to a busy street but, the security factor would be a bonus. Thanks!

PCakes,

I am a little late to this discussion, but if your primary concern is noise reduction then make sure that the laminated glass in the windows you purchase use PVB and not SGP as the interlayer (the plastic between the two sheets of glass).

The advantage of laminated glass in sound blocking applications is due to the damping effect caused by using the more viscous (compared with glass) plastic material between the two lites. PVB is much "softer" and more flexible than is SGP. SGP is very rigid and while it is a tougher product than PVB in hurricane impact applications, it does almost nothing to improve sound performance over regular glass while glass laminated using PVB results in substantial improvement.

[PCakes572]

Thanks for all the great information everyone. Oberon, that's a good point about using PVB rather than SGP, I'm going to do more research on that. And yes my insurance co. has told me I would have to also get new doors in order to get the discount, just like Lee said. I spoke briefly with someone from FHA but, like Hawkeye suggests, I will call around for different prices. I haven't bought the windows yet…hope to by early 2015. Thanks again everyone. :-)