NOA & Impact Product Compliance: Permitting Guide

NOA & product approval

The short answer

Who issues the approval

Two approval systems, one standard

Windows, doors, shutters, skylights and roofing are “product approval” products under section 553.842, Florida Statutes: a manufacturer tests a product once, then every contractor and building department in the state can rely on that one approval instead of re-testing the product on every job.

Either document, for a given product, lists the design pressure rating, the sizes and configurations it covers, and the approved installation detail: the anchor type, the minimum embedment, and the maximum spacing for each substrate the manufacturer tested (concrete, masonry, wood buck, metal stud). A product approved for one substrate is not automatically approved for another.

Impact criteria

What the approval actually tests

In the HVHZ, section 1626.1 of the Florida Building Code requires exterior walls, doors, skylights and glazing to “meet impact test criteria or be protected with an external protection device that meets the impact test criteria.” The test depends on how high the opening sits above grade:

Outside the HVHZ but inside the wind-borne debris region — which covers all of Palm Beach County, where every design-wind zone on the county map is 150 mph or higher — FBC-Residential R301.2.1.2 requires the same protection, tested to the ASTM E1996/E1886 large-missile standard instead of the HVHZ-specific TAS protocols. The residential code also allows precut, permanently-hardwared wood structural panels on houses 33 ft or under as a lower-cost protection option there.

Design pressure

The approval has to match the wind zone

The design wind speed sets the pressure an opening must resist, and that pressure climbs sharply with the wind speed because it grows with the square of the speed. A product rated for a Palm Beach County lot is not automatically rated for a Miami-Dade lot a few miles south.

The engineer of record calculates the required design pressure (DP) for each opening from its wind zone, the building height and exposure, and the opening’s location on the wall. The product’s approval then has to be rated for a DP at or above that number, in the size being installed — a larger window typically carries a lower rated DP than a smaller one of the same product line.

Anchorage

Installed exactly the way the approval says

The approval document is not just a rating; it includes the tested installation detail for each substrate the product was proven against: the anchor type and diameter, the minimum embedment into the substrate, and the maximum spacing between anchors. Installing the same window with a different anchor, a shallower embedment, or wider spacing than the approval specifies voids the rating, whatever the product itself is capable of in a lab.

Our impact window installation page covers the install itself; this page is about the paperwork and the permit that has to match it.

Submittal

What the permit application needs

Local building departments cannot require a product to be re-tested once it carries a valid statewide or Miami-Dade approval (section 553.842). What they do check at permit intake and again at inspection is that the specific approval number on the plans matches the product being installed, that its rated design pressure covers the opening, and that the installation detail on site matches the one in the approval. A mismatch — the wrong approval number, a size outside the tested range, or a different anchor pattern — is the most common reason an impact-window or door permit gets held up or fails inspection.

Existing buildings

Replacing windows or doors in an existing house

Window and door replacement is covered by the Existing Building code (707.4): a replacement has to meet today’s wind and impact rules, using a current approval, not whatever standard the original window met when the house was built. There is one narrow exception in the HVHZ, for one- and two-family homes built under codes before September 1, 1994, when no more than 25% of the glazed area is replaced within 12 months. Outside that narrow case, every replacement opening needs its own current, matching approval and anchor detail, the same as new construction.

Interactive checklist

Before you sign a contract or pull the permit: a checklist

Our process

How we plan the approvals before we permit

On impact window and impact door projects, we match each opening’s required design pressure to a product with a current, HVHZ-validated approval before we submit the permit, and we install to the anchor schedule in that approval, not a generic detail. For new construction, see our architectural and permitting services and our hurricane-resistant construction guide for how the openings fit into the whole wind-load design. Tell us about your project and we will walk you through which approvals apply to your address.