Whether you’re a homeowner or a business owner, investing in safety glass is an important decision; this can help put a barrier up to protect your home from strong winds and home invasions. Two of the most popular forms of safety glass are tempered and laminated glass. Let’s keep reading to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of both laminated and tempered glass!
What is Laminated Glass?
Laminated glass is a type of safety glass that is commonly used for things such as skylights, glass floors, and automobile windshields. It is composed of two or more glass panels joined together by a layer of either polyvinyl butyral (PVB) or plastic. The pressure and heat bond it together like a glass sandwich.
Blocking up to 97% of UV radiation, laminated glass is ideal to use for rooms that get a lot of sun. Laminated glass is also very energy efficient, as it can block unwanted heat from entering your home. Although originally designed for car windshields, laminated glass can be used for several things, including security glass, shower doors, windows, and partition walls.
Pros and Cons of Laminated Glass
There are several advantages of using laminated glass in your business or home. With laminated glass, you can customize whether you want it to be clear or tinted. One of the biggest benefits of laminated glass is that if it were to break, the broken glass pieces stay in place sticking to the plastic rather than falling to the floor. It also aids in the screening of UV radiation. Laminated glass is also beneficial for soundproofing.
As for the cons of laminated glass, if it is not properly installed, it can lead to a number of issues. It is best to have a professional install laminated glass. Another downside of laminated glass is that it is typically more expensive than tempered glass due to the materials involved and the complexity of the manufacturing process.
What is Tempered Glass?
Tempered glass is ordinary glass that goes through a heating and cooling procedure, also known as “tempering”. Heating the glass and cooling it immediately allows the outside of the glass to harden quicker than the center. This tempering process leaves the center in tension, resulting in the glass being on average 4 to 7 times stronger and more durable than ordinary glass.
Unlike laminated glass, tempered glass is just a single piece of glass. It is commonly used in phone or computer screens, skyscrapers, in-home appliances, mirrors and more.
Pros and Cons of Tempered Glass
Just like with laminated glass, there are pros and cons to using tempered glass in your home or business. Unlike laminated glass, tempered glass has more tensile strength, meaning that it can bend easier without breaking. However, if it were to break, tempered glass shatters into rounded cubes rather than shards of glass. Tempered glass is also extremely durable and can survive big storms and strong winds.
A disadvantage of tempered glass is that once the glass has been through the tempering process, it can no longer be cut and processed. Unlike laminated glass, tempered glass cannot be repaired. Tempered glass should also be installed by a professional.
Let Our Experts at Hiegel Glass Help You
When buying or replacing glass for your home or business, quality is top priority. Our team of professional glaziers can work with you to select the best fit for you and your budget. For expert glass installation and repairs for your residential or commercial needs, contact our team of professionals at Hiegel Glass today!
When it comes to building safety and security, glass windows and doors are a top concern. Since regular, annealed glass shatters so easily, it is a prime target for intruders and can be a source of danger in extreme weather circumstances when the glass may shatter, leaving sharp edges that can harm those nearby.
Fortunately, there are solutions to fortify glass windows and doors and improve overall safety and security. One of the solutions often offered is tempered glass. While tempered glass is useful in some scenarios, it isn’t the best solution in others. Here, we’ll explain what is tempered glass, what is tempered glass used for, and the best alternatives to tempered glass.
When regular, annealed glass breaks, it shatters into sharp, dangerous glass shards and leaves behind ragged edges in the window frame. The broken pieces are collectively referred to as spall. In extreme weather or bomb blasts, these sharp pieces often fly through the air and injure those nearby. Spall is one of the leading causes of injuries related to bomb blasts.
To mitigate these injuries, scientists came up with a way to strengthen regular glass in the manufacturing process through intense heating, called tempering, to prevent spall.
The glass is heated to extreme temperatures and then rapidly cooled via blasts of air which causes the outside layers of the glass to solidify before the inside layers do. As the inside layers cool, they pull at the outer layers, creating tension and changing the properties of the glass.
Instead of shattering into dangerous pieces, when tempered glass is struck, it shatters into small, dull cubes which is much safer for those nearby.
While tempered glass is very useful in many situations, it’s not the best solution when trying to increase security. Instead, you’re likely to find tempered glass used in other ways. It’s frequently used in mobile phones, phone screen protectors, kitchen appliances, and vehicle windows. In residential and commercial settings, here are the recommended uses of tempered glass:
Tempered glass, or some form of safety glass, is recommended in commercial settings and under certain circumstances in residential settings, depending on the size of the window and its proximity to walking surfaces.
Any swinging, sliding, or bifold door should use tempered glass, regardless of size.
Glass in wet areas like shower doors in bathrooms and doors and windows around swimming pools and saunas should be made of tempered glass due to the increased risk of falls.
Building codes require that glass near or adjacent to stairs and glass used for stair rails should use some form of safety glass, like tempered glass. Steps with glass surfaces should also be made using some form of safety glass.
Now that you know some of the better uses of tempered glass, here are some of the disadvantages so you can better understand if tempered glass windows and doors are right for you:
As we stated above, tempered glass is not the best solution to increase security in areas prone to smash and grab attempts. Although it is much stronger than conventional glass, when tempered glass does break it will completely shatter. This leaves you even more vulnerable to forced entry since criminals are so easily able to gain access by damaging just one piece of glass.
Tempered glass can’t be adjusted once it has undergone the tempering process, which means each piece of glass has to be custom manufactured. This makes it much more expensive to install than some other options, like security window films.
Impurities in tempered glass can cause it to spontaneously explode, creating dangerous openings and raining glass on anyone nearby.
Since any small injury to the window causes the entire window to break apart, it can be costly to maintain tempered glass windows since the entire window has to be replaced after any sort of impact or serious damage.
Fortunately, there are solutions available that can both increase security and prevent dangerous shattered glass: security window films and polycarbonate security shields.
While tempered glass would require the replacement of the entire window, security films, sometimes known as safety films, are an option for those that are looking for a faster and more affordable solution. They are made out of multiple layers of ultra-thin plastics and adhesives which, when installed properly over the existing window, hold the glass together upon impact. This simultaneously slows criminals to prevent theft and also keeps those inside safe and protected from dangerous flying debris.
Much like security films, polycarbonate security shields like DefenseLite are a retrofit solution which means they are applied over your existing windows. However, polycarbonate shields create a ventilated buffer zone to protect the original glass which saves you the hassle of a full replacement when damaged. Our engineered ventilation system protects windows from condensation, eliminating the need for costly maintenance.
These smash-proof polycarbonate panels deflect energy away, slowing criminals down and causing them to flee the scene. Since the original glass is left unharmed, there are no costly replacements with polycarbonate panels. This is a permanent solution, so the glass is always protected, keeping people nearby protected from dangerous glass debris in extreme weather or bomb blasts. They also provide additional benefits like noise reduction, UV protection, and temperature regulation. Installed by certified and trained professionals, DefenseLite retrofit panels are covered under warranty.
Hopefully, you’ve found some answers to your questions about tempered glass and how it should be used. If you’re looking for a way to increase both safety and security in your residential or commercial building, contact us at DefenseLite for more information about our custom engineered polycarbonate panels.