What we install · Glazing Into Existing Frames
Where the Frames Are Sound, Only the Glass Has to Change
Where existing frames are sound and an approval exists for glazing into them, changing only the glass is cheaper, faster and far less disruptive. On this coast it suits the condominium stock particularly well.
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 cheaper answer that costs a survey to find
Retrofit does not suit every building, and the honest reason it goes unmentioned is partly that it is the smaller sale. There is a second reason too: assessing it properly means opening up and examining fixings and substrate, which takes real time on a survey. Quoting a full replacement is quicker than finding out whether a cheaper answer was available, and nobody is ever going to complain about a job that was done more thoroughly than it needed to be.
What decides it on a building here
- Whether the frames are square, sound and properly anchored.
- Whether an approval exists for that glazing in that frame system.
- Whether the frame will take the thickness and weight of laminated glass.
- Whether the drainage path still runs or was sealed in a past repair.
- Whether the building took water, and how high it reached.
Why it fits the condominium stock here
Naples, Marco Island, Bonita and Fort Myers carry a large stock of low and mid-rise condominium buildings, many built with aluminum frame systems that remain structurally sound even though the glazing in them is original and unrated.
Retrofit has a second advantage on those buildings that has nothing to do with money. Almost nothing visible changes, which makes it a far easier proposition to put to an association that has already declined a full replacement on appearance grounds.
How we handle it
- 01Open up and assess honestly before offering this at all.
- 02Confirm an approval covers this specific retrofit.
- 03Reglaze, reseal, and prove the drainage still works afterwards.
- 04Give a per-elevation answer where the building does not behave as one.
On a multi-unit building the mixed answer is the usual one, and it is perfectly workable — retrofit the elevations where the frames are good and replace where they are not. Applying a single approach uniformly to a building that is not uniform wastes money at one end and cuts corners at the other.
Said plainly
Where we stop
This is not a route around bad frames. Where frames are corroded, distorted or poorly anchored, retrofit stops being the cheaper option and becomes the wrong one, and we will not offer it dressed up as a saving.
FAQ
Common questions
- Is retrofit a lower standard?
- No, where the approval applies and the frames are genuinely sound. It is a narrower scope, not a weaker result. Where the frames are not sound it is not a compromise either — it is simply the wrong answer.
- Our building flooded. Does that rule it out?
- Not by itself, and it does mean the survey has to establish what the water reached and what it left behind. Ground-floor units and upper floors in the same building frequently get different answers.
- Will the association find this easier to approve?
- Very often, because the exterior barely changes. Where a board has already turned down a full replacement on appearance, this is worth putting to them as a genuinely different proposal.
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 Entry Doors
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.
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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.