As of March 1st, 2002, the state of Florida is requiring impacted resistant windows in designated areas (if not all of Florida). There seems to be a lack of information about the availability of such windows. Almost all the window manufacturers claim to have a line of windows which meets the current Dade county requirements that will be applied to the rest of the state (at least patially), but very few companies will show any documentation pertaining to the certification tests with their impact resistant windows. Much less do any of the companies supply information with regard to energy efficiency. The only exception that I can find is the Pella Window company that has a book listing all the important information.
1.) Does anyone have a listing of the window companies that supply approved windows for new construction in Florida?
2.) Does anyone have any information about energy efficiency with regard to impact resistant windows, or has everyone ignored that aspect of building just to comply with the new standards?
Sincerely,
— John Roy
Replies
Try to get your hands on the PGT WinGuard folder. It gives the testing standards for impact-resistant windows & doors. Myself, I will option for a window with a lower U factor and use storm shutters.
While slightly tangential to your question, when I did a web search a while back on window films, I noticed a number of companies advertising window films for reducing hurricane damage. You might do a Google search on something like "Florida impact window film" or some better search terms and see what you get. I do remember that the impact resistant film was rather pricey. Might be affordable for retrofitting, but I am sure that the difference between the regular and impact resistant new windows would be less than buying the film. The following are a couple of web sites discussing window films giving impact resistance:
http://www.buildings.com/Articles/detail.asp?ArticleID=655
http://www.impactdistributing.com/FilmDistributing/ScotchShield.cfm
http://www.3m.com/us/arch_construct/scpd/windowfilm/jhtml/p_index.jhtml
This is a discussion of a conference, I don't know if it will help but you might find some of the comments interesting.
http://www.nibs.org/BETEC/Spring98.PDF
Some of these may be of at least a little help:
http://lgic.glass-info.com/codes/impact.asp
http://lgic.glass-info.com/press/profiles.asp
http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/~fen/Q-A.htm (The info on impact resistant windows is near the bottom.)
http://www.toolbase.org/tertiaryT.asp?DocumentID=2023&CategoryID=1117
Edited 5/16/2002 4:05:22 PM ET by CaseyR