Windows in Florida lose to heat first and to wind and water on the bad days. The afternoon sun loads glass on the west and south until the room is ahead of the air conditioner. Driven rain finds a tired sill, a clogged weep, or a flange that was never tied into the wall. On the coast, salt pits hardware, stains aluminum, and seizes an operator that worked last season. Inland, the enemy is heat and water more than corrosion. Start with the city, the count of openings, and whether the frame is soft, the glass is fogged, or the unit simply will not lock.
Impact glass and shutters are a coastal conversation that sometimes travels inland, and they are not a decoration. A house that already has them should say so. A house that does not should say what the openings are: old aluminum sliders, wood double-hung, single-pane jalousies, or a newer unit that has already hazed. Fog between panes means the seal failed, which humidity encourages. That can be a glass replacement or a sign the whole frame is done. Ask which one someone is actually proposing before the opening is torn out.
Insert work leaves the old frame in place and is the wrong move when that frame is rotten or racked. Full-frame work opens the wall and shows whether the sill and the weather barrier are sound. That difference matters in a block house and in a wood-frame house, and Florida has plenty of both. Ask how the sill sheds water and how the gap around the new unit is closed up. A pretty flange that is not integrated with the wall is a future leak.
Tie the window call to the house, not to a brochure. Say which rooms bake, which sills stain, and which units face the water or a wide open yard. If you are also talking about a policy, a deductible, or a claim, keep that honest: opening protection is something you may need to document, and it is not a promise that a claim will resolve a certain way. Wind through a broken opening and flood through a door are still different. Tell the truth about the frames. Call the number on this page.