Hurricane resistant impact windows and doors go through a series of rigorous tests. These tests are performed using the following six criteria’s airinfiltration, water resistance, forced entry, wind resistance, flying debris, impact resistance and 9,000 internal/external pressure cycles. This type of cycling simulates the buffeting effect of hurricane force winds after the window is impacted and typically broken. The objective of these tests is to ensure that the impact resistant products, which are considered to be the weakest part of a building structure, will not be compromised or fail during the course of a hurricane.
Non-Impact products are products that have not met the required criteria as set forth above and have not met the hurricane building codes established by the State of Florida.