Choosing Impact Doors for Your Miami Home

An impact entry door is a different thing from an ordinary glass door. Its laminated glass is bonded to a tough interlayer, so a blow that cracks the pane leaves it attached to the frame instead of opening a hole someone can reach through. With locks that engage at several points and a frame anchored into the wall, it is far harder to get through than ordinary glass, although its ratings come from storm testing rather than security testing.

It depends on how much room the patio has outside the opening. Outswing French doors need clear space for both leaves to open fully, which a narrow slab between the house and a fence or wall may not have. A sliding door works inside its own frame, so nothing swings into the patio. Some sliding models have wider frames that echo the French look; we can show you what is available.

Sometimes. Approved inswing impact doors exist, but there are fewer of them, and their rated pressures and water resistance are often lower than those of comparable outswing models. Inswing can still make sense when a step, a narrow stoop or a security gate sits right outside the door. We check whether an inswing unit's approval covers the pressure at your entry before suggesting it.

No. An impact door is tested and approved as a complete unit: frame, panel, glass, hinges or rollers, weatherstripping and locks together. Hanging a new panel in an old frame would create an assembly that was never tested and would not satisfy the permit. We remove the old door and its frame and set the complete new unit in the opening.

Not by cutting one in. The approval covers the unit as it was built and tested, and an opening cut into the panel or glass afterward falls outside it. If a pet door or mail slot matters to you, mention it at the estimate. We can look at whether a manufacturer offers a door configured that way, or whether another spot on the house would work better.