There's another major storm, Hurricane Milton, bearing down on Florida's Gulf Coast this week, which means residents are boarding up windows yet again, loading up on essentials and evacuating to safer areas.
Millions of people and thousands of homes in Florida are at risk. Debris from Hurricane Helene is still piled along roads, prompting the state to have crews collecting trash 24 hours a day to try to keep that debris from being turned into deadly projectiles by Milton's winds, which could be a Category 4 status when it reaches the coast on Wednesday.
Another line of defense increasingly being used to combat hurricane-force winds? Impact-resistant windows with an inner layer of plastic film, usually polyvinyl butyral (PVB) — the same film used in automotive windshields — that are now required in many areas of Florida. It's a growing product line in hurricane regions.
I mention this not as a swipe at private companies that have found success in a new market, but to recognize that it's a product whose demands build with every storm and likely will continue to grow. And on a personal note, I have family in St. Petersburg, Fla. — luckily they live on high ground — who were able to install impact-resistant windows thanks to state and local government grants a few years ago. They make a big difference to livability in that area as well as peace of mind.
PGT Inc., a maker of impact-resistant windows based in Venice, Fla., says those windows make up the majority of its net sales. The company has multiple production sites in Florida and was acquired by competitor Miter Brands early in 2024.
That acquisition came shortly after the late 2023 purchase of impact-resistant window and door maker Eastern Architecture Systems of Fort Myers, Fla., by Cornerstone Building Brands Inc.
