Weathering the Storm: How Impact Windows Protect You and Your Home

When a severe weather event hits your area, nothing is more important than your safety and the safety your loved ones. And equipping your home with the tools it needs to help withstand a storm will not only help protect you. It can protect your most prized investment—your home—as well as the property inside it.

Over the last quarter century, windows have proven to be critical in helping your home stand up to extreme weather such as a hurricane, or in some cases, a tornado.

A Brief History

Impact-resistant windows have come on strong over the past two decades, largely following trends coming from the hurricane-savvy South Florida region.

The massive destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Andrew in 1992 placed immediate attention on the need for structural improvement of homes in hurricane-prone areas. Windows were a key focus.

A broken window or door failure during a high air-pressure event can compromise the integrity of a home and send dangerous debris—including broken glass—through the building at high speeds. This kind of force can be so extreme that it actually blows the roof off the house.

After Hurricane Andrew, local building codes officials in South Florida soon demanded more stringent window strength requirements. Many state, national and international building codes followed suit. The building code in South Florida requires all homes constructed after July 2001 use hurricane shutters or impact-resistant glazing for their exterior openings.

Over time, window companies have continued to improve their products to accommodate this. Many now even exceed requirements and standards related to impact-resistant windows. So while options such as installing temporary plywood or permanent hurricane shudders are common, impact window technology—which continues to improve every year—provides homeowners with a real solution.

Get an Estimate


Note: The terms “hurricane windows” and “impact-resistant windows” are often used interchangeably, and sometimes for windows that don’t actually meet impact standards. So for this purpose, we are using the terms “impact windows” and “impact-resistant windows” without the word “hurricane.”

How They Did It

The windshield industry has long taken advantage of laminated glass technology. This is a glass fabrication method in which two piece of glass are sandwiched together with a plastic interlayer in between. The interlayer helps keep the glass in place and holds it together when it is impacted.

This technology came to the forefront of the development of higher impact-resistant windows. However, the glass isn’t the only factor. Impact windows require a much sturdier frame than your average window in order to keep the glass inside it, and to prevent the frame itself from coming apart. The frames typically are made of metal, wood or vinyl and may use additional materials to further strengthen the window.

Varying levels of protection and strength are available on the door and window market depending the application and requirements. Some home windows will use thicker glass, a thicker interlayer, or both. Others may even include other reinforcement materials such as polycarbonate.

Testing Methods

How do window manufacturers prove that their products are in fact impact-resistant? Well, they undergo rigorous third-party testing to ensure the windows are up to the task.

The most common type of test is a missile test, in which a nine-pound two-by-four piece of wood is launched at 34 miles per hour at the center of the window. Some codes require even higher testing standards, with a faster missile test speed and/or the addition of a wind pressure cycle, which simulates high wind speeds after the window is hit.

These stringent guidelines are based on standards from ASTM, which develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems and services.

Positive Side Effects

Because of their make-up, impact-resistant doors and windows actually provide a range of additional benefits aside from guarding your home against extreme weather.

Since impact-resistant windows usually are made of laminated glass, this provides added security to your home, because laminated glass is more difficult to break through and is often used for security applications. It also provides a safety element, since the glass will not shatter into multiple pieces but instead is designed to hold together if someone were to run into it.

Additionally, the plastic interlayer that is used as lamination has sound-dampening properties. This gives a level of protection against outside noise. The interlayer also can lessen the degree of ultraviolet light from the sun that can provide damage or fading to materials in your home.

Good Variety

The beautiful thing about impact windows are that because they’re so prevalent in modern day home building and design, they come in all shapes, sizes and forms.

The leading manufacturers in the industry produce everything from casement windows that swing open and fixed windows that stay shut to hung windows that slide up or down and rolling windows that slide side-to-side.

Varying Levels of Impact-Resistance

In recent years, the glass and window industries have given more attention to how their product could hold up in a tornado situation. Testing is being developed for this reason, but it is much more stringent than the standard impact-resistant requirements we referenced earlier.

In a future blog post, we will explore this and other development in “storm windows.”


Copyright © Inc. All Rights Reserved. No reproduction without expressed written permission. Questions? Contact


By Nick St. Denis

Nick St. Denis currently serves as the director of research for Key Media & Research and is formerly the editor of USGlass Magazine. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the State University of New York where he studied journalism and is currently working on earning his Master’s Degree in survey research.

Nick has a passion for sports including football, hockey, and golf. He enjoys playing ice hockey in a local men’s league and cheers on the New York Islanders when not on the ice himself. He was actually a sports reporter for a New York newspaper and also worked at a country club in Virginia. Most notably, Nick is husband to his wife Tammy, and father to his son Carter.

  • Thanks for this. My dad is starting up a glass business. We are now looking up at some glass fabrication machine for his business.

  • My friend is moving out of state and his realtor recommended that he find something with impact windows. I’m glad that she passed along this recommendation because it seems like it will benefit from more than just bad storms. It’s great that they’ll also be able to reduce noise, since he tends to get headaches really easily when there’s a lot of noise around.

  • That’s good to know that laminated glass is a lot harder to break through which is why it’s used in an impact window. My husband and I want to replace our windows since we live in a really stormy area and we want ones that are durable and will help us be safe so I started looking at these. It’d be super helpful if we had these since these windows would make it harder to break in and shatter so we’ll have to look for these and find a style we like so we can make our home safer against any accidents.

  • I recently moved to an area where there is extreme weather and I am thinking of getting storm windows. You make a great point that storm and impact-resistant windows come in many different shapes and sizes because this means that I can find windows that will match the style of my home. Also, the fact that storm windows add security as well as safety because the glass is more difficult to break through gives me peace of mind that my family would be as safe as possible.

  • It sure is nice to hear that the glass and window industries have given more attention to how their product could hold up in a tornado situation. My windows have served me well for the past decades, and It’s a bit sad thinking that it’s time have them replaced. I’ll be sure to look for window replacement companies that can set me up with impact-resistant windows that can safeguard my home should a tornado come our way.

  • One of my friends has family living near the coast, and they’ve been worried about the increase of storms. It’s so cool that impact windows are made of impact resistant glass, so they can add security to your home and keep thieves out. What tips do you have for choosing a great hurricane window installer in my friend’s area?

  • I loved it when you mentioned that hurricane impact windows are also effective in deterring robbers because they are a lot harder to break than the normal windows. Aside from this, I did hear that these types of windows stay in place when broken, so the robber still can’t get it. I will mention this to my hubby since he said that he wants to improve the safety of the house for the kids when they’re alone.

  • >