Homeowners protect the windows they look at every day and then meet an inspector who is looking at a skylight over the hall, a glass lite in the garage door, or a sidelight nobody sits next to. On form OIR-B1-1802, opening protection is about every glazed opening. One unprotected opening can keep the credit from applying. The windows can be excellent and the form can still come back without the result you were shown in a sales conversation.
This is not a reason to panic about every piece of glass. It is a reason to walk the house before you sign a scope. Our wind-mitigation guide explains the inspection. The OIR-B1-1802 article explains the form. This is the punch list of openings people forget between those two.
Skylights
A skylight is a glazed opening in the roof. If it is not an impact-rated unit, and it is not covered by an approved shutter that the inspector will accept as installed protection, it sits in the same category as an unprotected window. Tubular skylights and small acrylic domes are the ones that get waved off as "too small to matter." The form does not have a size exemption you should assume. Ask the inspector how that product will be recorded before you spend the window budget and leave the roof glass untouched.
Replacing a skylight is a roofing detail as much as a glass detail. The new unit has to be approved, flashed into the roof covering, and, if the roof is under a warranty, coordinated with whoever warrants that roof. We will tell you if a skylight is outside the window scope so it does not get silently skipped. Ignoring it because it is inconvenient is how the credit gets skipped too. Impact windows on the walls do not wrap a dome on the roof.
Garage lites, sidelights, and transoms
A garage door can be a rated panel and still lose the point because of a decorative window kit somebody added later. Those lites have to be part of a rated assembly. The garage door page is where we send people who discover this at the end of a window project. Sidelights beside an entry door, and transoms above one, are windows. A new impact entry door with the original glass sidelights still in the wall is an unfinished opening. Half-round and elliptical transoms on Mediterranean entries are custom sizes. They take longer, and they still count.
Shower windows, small bath awnings, and the glass in a laundry-room door are on the list too. So is a porch enclosure that was turned into living space without anyone updating the glass. If you can see daylight through it and it is in the building envelope, put it on the schedule. Screened lanais that are truly outside the conditioned house are a different question from a skylight in the roof. Do not let a salesperson lump them together to scare you, and do not let one dismiss a real skylight because the lanai does not count.
Shutters as the leftover solution
Approved shutters can protect an opening you are not ready to replace, if they are the shutter the code and the inspector accept, and if they are actually there. A panel in the garage that nobody can find the hardware for is not installed protection. Mixing new impact glass on the main rooms with shutters on the skylight and the garage can be a legitimate phase. It has to be documented that way. A missing clip or a shutter that does not fit after a reroof is a miss, even if you paid for the windows.
The insurance side of this is easy to overpromise and we will not. Impact glass can help the premium only after a qualified inspector records full opening protection and the carrier applies its own credit. There is no statewide percent we can put in a contract. If a quote promises a specific savings that depends on openings the quote does not include, the quote is wrong.
A 20-minute walk before you sign
Start at the front door and count every lite, including sidelights. Walk each room, including baths and the garage. Look up: skylights, roof windows, and high gable glass over a two-story living room. Look at the garage door from both sides. Photograph anything you are not sure is impact glass. Bring that set to the estimate. We will tell you which of those openings we are pricing and which we are not. A partial scope is acceptable when it is written. It is not acceptable when it is discovered at the inspection.
After the inspection, read the boxes
When the report comes back, do not file it unread. The opening-protection section should tell you whether the inspector treated the house as fully protected or found an opening they could not credit. If a skylight or a sidelight is the holdout, you can price that opening alone instead of redoing work that already passed. If the inspector could not read a label, we can help with the product approval from our job file, but we cannot change a roof note or sign the form. Send the completed report to your agent and ask them to say, in writing, what changed on the premium. That answer is the only savings figure that belongs in your budget. A number from a neighbor with a different roof and a different carrier is not yours.
To do that walk with a measure, request a free estimate or call (754) 600-4876.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a skylight count as an opening on the wind-mitigation form?
Yes. A skylight is a glazed opening. If it is not impact-rated or covered by an approved shutter the inspector accepts, it can keep the house from the opening-protection credit.
Are small garage door windows exempt?
Do not assume a size exemption. Unrated lites in a garage door are a common reason an otherwise protected house misses the credit. They need to be part of a rated assembly.
Can I protect a skylight with a shutter instead of replacing it?
If the shutter is an approved product and it is actually installed in a way the inspector will record, it can be the protection for that opening. A panel in storage does not count.
If I only replace the main windows, do I still get a discount?
Maybe a partial result, and maybe none on opening protection. The carrier uses the form. Full opening protection generally means every glazed opening, not the ones visible from the driveway.