FAQs
Where is your showroom located?
Our showroom is located at 2119 W. Columbus Dr., Tampa, FL 33607. Click here for directions. Call us at (813) 908-0131, (727) 493-7896 or (941) 231-6418 to schedule an appointment. Our showroom is open Monday through Friday 9-5, Saturday and Sunday by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, please give our office a call.
Do I need to come to your showroom or can Weather Tite Windows meet with me at my home?
We travel throughout Tampa Bay and Central Florida to meet customers at their homes including: Tampa, New Tampa, Wesley Chapel, Land ‘O’ Lakes, Lakeland, Brandon, Valrico, Clearwater, Largo, Pinellas Park, Seminole, St. Petersburg, Gulf Beaches, Bradenton, Sarasota, and more.
What is your Price-Match Guarantee and how does it work?
Our Price-Match Guarantee was created to give our customers the most competitive pricing available on all window and door products. It’s simple: If a competitor provides you with a quote for a product and installation that is less than ours, we will beat it by $100. You must provide a written estimate from the competitor to receive the discount, and products must be of equal or greater value.
How does your Lifetime Warranty program work?
On installations with our lifetime warranty just call the office and we will help you resolve your issue.
Are there electric company rebates available?
Electric company rebates are available. Please contact your local electric company for the most current rebates available or contact Weather Tite Windows.
Impact Resistant Windows & South Florida Building Code
Significant code changes have been made in recent years in response to hurricane damage, requiring building envelopes to be more weatherproof and impact resistant. The damaging effects of extreme winds and flying debris have been so widely documented that the entire Atlantic Coast has been declared a hurricane-prone region.
In 1992, shortly after Hurricane Andrew, South Florida enacted the first hurricane-resistant building codes and standards. Following the devastation, engineers discovered that the vast majority of the damage was caused by windborne debris and fluctuating pressures. They concluded that the “single-gust concept” of design was inadequate to protect against sustained, turbulent winds, which is exactly how Hurricane Andrew caused so much damage.
Based upon these findings, new codes were developed with the intention of reducing the damage caused by hurricane winds and flying debris.
The original test standards or protocols: TAS 201, TAS 202, and TAS 203 were developed by the state of Florida. After that, ASTM developed two standards, E1886 and E1996, which have actually been adopted by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the Intl. Building Code (IBC).
ASCE 7 says that only buildings constructed in designated “windborne-debris regions” (which are clearly outlined) are required to have impact-resistant glazing to prevent wind from entering the structure, or be designed to withstand increased loads resulting from internal pressurization.
Testing Impact Resistance
For a glazing product to qualify as impact resistant, it must be demonstrated through various tests test, that the system meets specific standards:
- Impact with projectiles representing windborne debris – either large missile (projectile is a 9-pound, 2×4 timber) for systems in the lower 30 feet of a building, or small missile (projectiles are 10 2-gram steel balls) for systems 30 feet and above.
- Followed by cyclic structural loading (9,000 positive and negative static pressure loads) representing fluctuating wind pressures.
Products are qualified based upon their ability of three test samples to resist large- or small-missile impacts, or both, without penetrating the inner plane of the glazing infill, and resist the cyclic pressure loading with no tear longer than 5 inches and wider than 1⁄16 inches through which air can pass. Test reports or product approval documents indicate a description of the test specimen and components, the maximum size, the pressure rating, and type of impact for which the product is approved.
Some Common Glazing Materials
- Traditional PVC laminated glass – good for small-missile impact-resistance
- glass-clad polycarbonate / PET laminated glass – good for large-missile impact-resistant systems.
To Retrofit or not?
It’s not always practical for existing window/wall frames to be retrofitted and be certified as impact resistant. Nevertheless, it’s far more cost effective to replace the entire unit with pre-tested, rated, and approved systems.
If you have any further questions on impact resistant windows, don’t hesitate to contact Weather Tite Windows, your Central Florida hurricane window pros!