What we install · Impact Entry Doors
Approved as One Assembly, Not as a Door You Like
An approved entry door is a whole assembly — slab, frame, hinges, lock, threshold and any glazing — approved as one thing. On this coast the threshold detail matters more than most people expect.
Tell us the address and whether the property has been repaired since 2022. That second answer decides whether this is a window job or something larger.
50%
The threshold that turns a repair into a compliance project
Wind
Impact glass is a wind product. We will not sell it as flood protection
Our crews
We measure, we schedule, and our own people install
Licensed
A licensed Florida general contractor
The threshold that was set for looks
Entry doors get selected on appearance and specified on hardware, and the part that decides how they perform is the one nobody discusses: the sill pan and the threshold detail underneath. A door set to sit flush and look clean, without a properly formed and flashed pan beneath it, is a door that will pass wind testing on paper and let water track under it in the first hard blow. In a market where ground-floor water is a live memory, that is the wrong corner to cut.
What has to be right underneath the door
- A properly formed sill pan with end dams, not a bead of sealant.
- A drainage path that actually leads somewhere.
- Flashing lapped so water is directed out rather than in.
- A threshold height that suits the opening rather than the look.
- Substrate under the pan that is sound enough to build on.
Why entry doors get more attention here
A front door is a large, comparatively lightly framed opening in the windward face of most houses, and it is the opening most likely to be pushed rather than struck. If it goes, air enters, internal pressure rises, and the loads on the roof and the remaining walls become something the building was not designed against.
It is also frequently the lowest opening in the building. On a ground-floor property in Collier or Lee, the detail beneath the threshold is doing a job that the same detail in a second-floor condominium never has to do.
How we handle it
- 01Treat slab, frame, hardware and glazing as a single approved unit from the start.
- 02Confirm sidelights and transoms sit inside that same approval.
- 03Form and flash the pan before the frame goes anywhere near the opening.
- 04Hand over a door that latches cleanly without being forced.
The pan takes an extra hour and it is invisible the moment the door is in. It is also the difference between a door that keeps water out for twenty years and one that quietly wets the framing behind the jamb from the first season. We do it because we are the ones who would have to come back.
Said plainly
Where we stop
Hardware outside the approval is not something we will fit. If a specific handle set or lock matters more to you than the rating, that is a fair choice — it simply has to be made openly, because it changes what we are able to certify.
FAQ
Common questions
- Can I keep the frame and change just the door?
- Almost never. The approval is granted to the assembly and the anchoring into the structure is part of what was approved. Reusing an old frame generally means what you end up with is no longer the approved thing.
- What is a sill pan and why does it matter here?
- It is a formed tray under the threshold that catches water getting past the door and directs it back out. In a market where ground-floor water intrusion is a live concern, it is the least visible and most useful hour of the whole installation.
- Do sidelights have to be rated?
- Yes. They are glass in the same wall as the door. Rating the door and leaving decorative glass beside it unrated protects very little and will not pass inspection.
Southwest Florida specifics
The 50% Rule
If the cost of repairs or improvements reaches half the structure's value, floodplain rules can require the entire building to be brought into current compliance — which may include elevating it. That is a different project from replacing windows.
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A Two-Year-Old Rebuild
Most Florida markets deal with old repair work of uncertain quality. Here the work is recent, and the problem is the opposite one: it has not had time to settle, and a share of the people who did it are no longer in the state.
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Wind Product, Water Market
Impact glazing is tested against a flying object and a pressure cycle. It is a wind product. In the parts of this region worst hit in 2022, the destroying force was water, and no window on the market addresses that.
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Newer Houses, Shutters
Much of this region's housing stock is recent and was fully code compliant when built — using shutters rather than rated glazing. Owners assume a newer house has protected openings. Often it has panels in the garage instead.
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How We Work Here
We are based in Fort Lauderdale and Southwest Florida is the other side of the state. We work it in planned blocks, which has consequences worth knowing before you call rather than after.
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More what we install
Impact Windows
The core product. In Collier and Lee the common situation is not an old house with old windows — it is a reasonably new house that was built fully compliant using shutters, with glazing that was never rated at all.
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Sliding Glass Doors
On this coast the sliders open onto the lanai and they are the widest thing in the building. On a property that took water in 2022 they are also where the evidence of it is easiest to read.
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Impact Garage Doors
In most houses the double garage door is the widest opening in the whole envelope. In Collier and Lee it is also the one nearest the ground, which drags it into a conversation that has nothing to do with wind at all.
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.