What we install · Entry Doors
The Whole Assembly Is Rated, Not the Door
An impact entry door is a rated assembly — slab, frame, hardware and any glazing — approved as a unit.
Your address and a list of openings. We will tell you what each one actually has to resist before anybody quotes a product.
Not HVHZ
Tampa Bay is outside the High Velocity Hurricane Zone
FL approval
Statewide Product Approval is the path here
Design pressure
Set by your address and your opening, not by a brand
Licensed
General contractor, licensed in the state of Florida
Components get mixed
A rated door slab fitted into a non-rated frame, or with hardware other than the approval specifies, is not a rated assembly. The individual parts may all be good products and the combination is not what was tested, which means it is not what was approved.
The substitution usually happens for aesthetic reasons rather than cost. A homeowner chooses a handle set they prefer, or a threshold in a different finish, and nobody involved recognizes that the assembly has just moved outside what was tested. It looks identical and it is documented as something it no longer is.
What the assembly includes
- The slab, frame, hardware and threshold as one approval.
- Sidelights and transoms, which are part of the assembly.
- Anchoring per the approval, into verified substrate.
- Threshold detailing and drainage.
- Multi-point hardware where the approval requires it.
Why the frame matters as much as the door
In an impact event the load on a door is transferred through the slab into the frame, through the frame into the anchors, and through the anchors into the wall. A rated slab in an unrated frame simply moves the failure point to the frame.
That is why approvals cover the assembly rather than the component, and why installing a rated door into an existing frame — which is offered as a cheaper option — does not produce a rated opening.
How we handle it
- 01Install complete approved assemblies, not mixed components.
- 02Include sidelights and transoms within the approval.
- 03Anchor per the installation instructions.
- 04Detail the threshold and its drainage.
- 05Provide approval documentation for permitting.
Keep the assembly intact — slab, frame, hardware and glazing as approved together. Substituting a handle set or a threshold because it looks better is enough to take the assembly outside its approval.
Said plainly
Where we stop
We will not fit a rated slab into an unrated frame or substitute hardware outside the approval. The combination is what was tested.
FAQ
Common questions
- Is the door alone rated?
- No. The assembly — slab, frame, hardware, glazing — is approved together.
- Can we change the handle set?
- Not outside the approval. It takes the assembly out of what was tested.
- Are sidelights included?
- They are part of the assembly and have to be within the approval.
- Does the threshold matter?
- For water, considerably. Detail the drainage.
Tampa Bay specifics
Tampa Bay Is Not HVHZ
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The Wind Zone
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Surge & Water
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Older Housing Stock
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How We Work Here
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Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.