Impact glass, shutters, and what the code actually asks of you

A house survives a hurricane largely by staying closed. When a window or door fails in high wind, the building goes from a sealed box to a pressurised one, and the loads that then act on the roof and walls are far higher than the ones acting on them a second earlier. That is why the code cares so much about openings specifically: they are the weak point that turns a survivable storm into a structural failure.

"Opening protection" is the general term for stopping that. It can mean impact-rated glazing that is built to survive a strike and keep the opening sealed even when the glass is cracked, or it can mean a shutter system that covers ordinary glass before the storm. Both are recognised approaches. Neither is a guarantee, and anyone who tells you their product makes a house hurricane-proof has told you something about themselves rather than about the product.

The Florida Building Code requires buildings in a wind-borne debris region to protect glazed openings. Whether a given property sits inside that region is decided by mapping — distance from the coast and the design wind speed at that location — not by which city the mail goes to. Two houses a few streets apart can genuinely fall on different sides of a line.

Volusia County publishes wind-speed and wind-borne-debris mapping for exactly this reason. Look your own address up rather than taking anyone's word for it, including ours: Volusia County wind speed and debris region mapping.

In Daytona Beach the practical shape of this is unsurprising — the closer to the Atlantic, the more likely the requirement — but "unsurprising" is not the same as "assume it". Check the map. It takes a minute and it changes what you are buying.

This is the part homeowners are most often caught by. Volusia County is explicit that replacement windows and doors must meet the wind loading of the current edition of the Florida Building Code, and that meeting it may include shutter requirements. In other words, you do not get to install a like-for-like copy of a 1974 window simply because a 1974 window is what is there now.

That is also why replacement is a permitted activity. Volusia handles residential alteration permits through its permit centre, and the county publishes a permit guide covering what is required: Volusia County permit and zoning centre. If your address is inside Daytona Beach city limits, the city building division may be the authority instead — confirm which one before anyone orders product.

Impact glazing is permanent. Nobody has to be home, nothing has to be deployed, and it does the rest of its job year-round: it is harder to break through, it cuts outside noise noticeably, and laminated glass blocks most ultraviolet light. It costs considerably more up front and it is a construction project, not a purchase.

Shutters cost less and can protect openings that would be awkward or expensive to reglaze. The trade-off is that they only work when someone puts them up, which is a real consideration for a second home, a rental, or anyone who may not be in town when a storm is named.

For a beachside condo the choice is often made for you by the building. For a mainland single-family house it is genuinely a budget and lifestyle decision, and a mixed approach — impact glazing on the openings you look through, shutters on the rest — is common and legitimate.

Current as of August 2026. This page is general information about opening protection under the Florida Building Code and the permitting of replacement windows and doors in Volusia County. It is not a code interpretation, a permit determination, or advice about a specific property. Building codes are amended, wind maps are redrawn, and the rules that apply turn on your exact address and the age of the structure.

Before you commit to any glass or opening work, confirm the requirements with the building department that has jurisdiction over your address, and confirm any contractor's licence directly with the state. Links to both are on this page.