Broward's first incorporated town has boundaries that zigzag
The area began in the late 1800s as a settlement called Modello. In 1904 it incorporated as the Town of Dania, named for the Danish ancestry of most of its 35 residents, and it was the first incorporated community in what is now Broward County. In 1926 Dania voted to join Hollywood, then most of it left again after the hurricane that September. The parts that stayed in Hollywood are why Dania Beach's city limits are not continuous. The city changed its name to Dania Beach in 1998 and annexed more unincorporated land in 2001.
That patchwork matters when you replace a door. Two houses a few blocks apart can fall under different city building departments. Before ordering a new door, confirm with the city which department your address belongs to and whether the work needs a permit.
Between the airport, the port and the mangroves
Dania Beach borders Fort Lauderdale to the north, Hollywood to the south, and Davie and the Seminole Hollywood Reservation to the west. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport sits next to it, and Port Everglades lies just north. Harbour Towne Marina is just south of the Port Everglades inlet, and on the barrier island the Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park runs along A1A. A colony of vervet monkeys has lived in the mangroves around the city since the mid 20th century.
Homes near the airport often ask about noise. Laminated impact glass generally damps sound better than a single sheet of tempered glass, so upgrading an old single-pane slider to an approved impact door can make a room quieter as well as safer. On the water side, neighborhoods such as Melaleuca Gardens include homes with private docks, where salt reaches the door hardware every day.
Antique Row houses and canal homes wear their doors differently
Dania was once called the Tomato Capital of the World, then the Antique Capital of the South for the shops along Federal Highway. The older houses inland were built long before impact glass was common, and many have aluminum sliders added or replaced over the decades. Because one house may have had two or three different doors in its life, the parts on it do not always match the frame. A roller from one maker in a track from another wears fast and rides crooked. Part of the job on these houses is working out what is actually installed before ordering anything, which is why a clear photo of the bottom of the panel and the end of the track helps so much.
- Inland, older homes: rollers worn flat, latches that no longer reach the keeper because the door has dropped, and tracks bent by years of use. These are often a roller repair plus a lock adjustment.
- Marina and canal homes: salt corrosion of steel parts and pitting on the track. A track repair with a stainless cap is common.
- Beach-side condos: fine sand in the bottom channel. Vacuum it out often and never lubricate the track with oil or grease, which turns sand into paste.
Dania Beach doors must meet the High Velocity Hurricane Zone standard
Every city in Broward, Dania Beach included, is in the HVHZ of the Florida Building Code. A new slider for an Antique Row cottage or a canal home here needs a Miami-Dade NOA or a Florida Product Approval written for the zone. Ask any installer for the approval number, and look for the permanent product label on the frame of the door you buy.
Dania Beach doors should be checked before June. If a storm or a break-in leaves a panel shattered, the first job is to make the opening secure; that is emergency glass repair. The permanent fix, a new panel or a new door, follows once the right approved product is ordered.
Nearby: Hollywood, our base, and Fort Lauderdale. All cities are listed on the Broward County page.