Impact Windows in North Miami Beach, FL

When North Miami Beach owners call about impact windows, we also ask about the front door, because it is the opening most people forget. North Miami Beach sits between I-95 on the northwest and Biscayne Boulevard on the east, with the Intracoastal and Sunny Isles Beach across the water. A lot of its homes still have an original wood or hollow steel entry door, sometimes with decorative glass, that was never tested for wind or debris.

What an impact entry door is

An impact front door is a complete unit: a reinforced slab of fiberglass, steel or aluminum, a frame designed to resist the slab being pushed in, multi-point locks that latch at the top and bottom as well as the middle, and laminated glass in any lites or sidelites. In Miami-Dade, doors need a current Notice of Acceptance just as windows do. Outswing doors are common in South Florida because wind pushes them tighter into the frame, but inswing units are approved too. We will tell you which one your opening and porch allow.

French doors and side doors

Many houses here have a set of French doors to the patio or a side door to the carport. Double doors are a weak point because the two leaves only meet each other in the middle. Impact French doors use a fixed astragal and bolts into the head and sill to hold the inactive leaf in place. If you open those doors often, ask about hardware that makes the inactive leaf easy to release.

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A city reshaped by the 1926 storm

The area was platted in 1881 as Fulford-By-The-Sea, named for Coast Guard Captain William H. Fulford. In the 1920s Carl Fisher built the all-wood Fulford-Miami Speedway here, and it ran just one race before the September 1926 hurricane destroyed it. That storm ended the boom, residents formed the Town of Fulford to recover, and the city took the name North Miami Beach in 1931. It no longer has any beach inside its limits.

Then the windows

With 17,126 housing units counted in 2020, the housing stock runs from small mid-century block homes to townhouses and condos along the main roads. For houses, we usually replace windows and doors in one permit so inspections happen together. For condos, the association often controls frame color and glass tint, and the building may have its own installation rules. Bring those to us before choosing a product.

The monastery and the river

North Miami Beach is also home to the Ancient Spanish Monastery, a 12th-century cloister from Segovia that William Randolph Hearst bought in the 1920s and that was rebuilt here in the 1950s. Oleta River State Park is nearby. Homes on lots close to the water get more wind and salt exposure, so we look at frame finish and stainless fasteners there.

Garage doors

Homes with attached garages should treat the garage door as part of the same plan. An impact garage door with reinforced sections and a tested track system closes the largest opening on the house.

Permits

North Miami Beach has its own building department. Check its current window and door submittal requirements; we prepare the product approvals and opening schedule.