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GLASS SPECIFICATIONS
Glass of a High Standard – for Efficiency and Safety
When installing glass panels in your doors, you’re putting it through stresses that glass in windows doesn’t often have to endure – the door is moved constantly and will often have to resist quite high impacts when a door is slammed. All Statesman Doors’ glazing materials comply with Australian Standard AS1288 (Glass in Buildings – Selection and Installation). This standard is primarily concerned with ensuring that selection of glass for installation in buildings is safe. In most situations we will install either laminated or toughened Grade A safety glass.
Choosing the right glass can also have a significant impact on the overall comfort of your home. If you live in the inner suburbs of our major cities you may be impacted by traffic noise and we are all experiencing the rising cost of energy. If you have large areas of glass you may wish to consider (or you may be required by your local building codes) the use of double glazing or some of the more advanced laminated glasses and glasses with special coatings. These can significantly reduce you energy bills and reduce external noise levels.
Choose Your Door Glass
There are many different types of glass that can be used for your door glazing projects. Here are the types of glass that Statesman Doors provide to suit our range of modern and heritage timber doors:
Annealed or Float Glass
A basic glass for many purposes, AS1288 allows its use for domestic construction in windows and doors where the area of an individual pane does not exceed 0.26 m2 or is less than 300 mm wide. However, it is often prudent to use toughened or laminated safety glass in these situations, particularly in high traffic areas, in order to reduce the risks that result if such a pane is broken. The standard annealed glasses we use are either 5 or 6 mm thick. The many small pieces of glass found in traditional leadlight panels is generally glass of this type and does not need to be toughened due to the small sizes of the individual pieces of glass. Annealed glass is also the base material which is used in laminated glass and in the toughening process that transforms it into Grade A safety glass.
Toughened Glass
Produced from annealed glass which is subjected to a thermal tempering process. Tempering puts the outer surfaces into compression and the inner surfaces into tension. Such stresses cause the glass, when broken, to crumble into small granular chunks instead of splintering into jagged shards as occurs when annealed glass breaks. The granular chunks are less likely to cause injury.
Laminated Glass
Constructed by bonding two or more layers of glass together with interlayers of polymeric materials such as Poly Vinyl Butyral (PVB) or Ethyl Vinyl Acetate (EVA). A heavy impact can break laminated glass, but won’t splinter it. This leads to greater safety and security. Clear films are the most commonly used but different coloured interlayers are also available. This is the technique used to manufacture the very popular white translucent glass which provides a high level of privacy whilst at the same time allowing high transmission of a soft diffuse light. Laminated glass can also be effective with UV filtering and noise reduction when compared with standard annealed or toughened glass. The standard laminated glasses are 6.38 mm thick.
Insulating Glass Units (IGU's) / Double Glazing (DGU)
Not so much a type of glass, but a way of combining glazing components. This technique, with very effective results for acoustic and thermal control, involves two or more panes that are bonded to a spacer (made from metal or a thermoplastic material) that runs around the perimeter of a window, leaving a gap in between the panes. The gap contains either air or an inert gas such as Argon. The combination of these two elements provide excellent insulation properties for excessive sound, cold and heat control.
Low emissivity (Low-E) Glass
Short for Low emissivity. Emissivity is a measure of an objects ability to radiate heat. Statesman Doors double glazed doors feature a Low E coating on the inside surface of the glass. In homes where fabric covered furniture or carpets are located close to a window, it’s common to find fading in upholstery colours and powdery brittleness in floor coverings where the sun shines for significant amounts of time. If you experience this in your home, it might be worth considering Low-E glass. Low-E coatings reduce the amount of ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) rays that are transmitted through the glass, while having little impact on the amount of visible light into the premises.
Ask for Glazing Details
If you’d like to know more about Statesman Doors’ choice of glazing supplies and their properties, feel free to call today.