Laminated security glass consists of two or more layers of glass glued together using one or more plastic interlayers using high heat and pressure. The glass and interlayers can be made in all sorts of colors, performance characteristics and thickness in order to provide the desired performance and appearance. Although laminated glass can be broken, its fragments tend to adhere to the plastic interlayer (PVB) and remain mostly intact, reducing the risk of injury. Next, we explain the difference between laminated and tempered glass. Although tempered glass and laminated glass are very similar, they do have some different properties that set them apart. Tempered glass is a type of safety glass made with the aid of high heat or chemicals used to strengthen the glass. Tempered glass is usually four times stronger than regular glass of the same size and thickness. Laminated glass is made by bonding multiple layers of glass together under high pressure and heat. This technique makes a single sheet of glass with multiple layers. The PVB (polyvinyl butyral) resin used as the bonding material keeps the glass from breaking apart easily and provides great sound insulation.
Laminated glass is also very flexible – it will flex before shattering into pieces. It is also worth mentioning that laminated glass blocks 99% of ultraviolet transmission. Moving on to the advantages of laminated glass.
#1 – Laminated Glass Is Less Dangerous When Broken If you are concerned about break-ins in your neighbourhood, regular safety-standard glass is liable to break quite easily when impacted. This means, in one swift blow, a burglar could have access to your home. Not only that, but if your window were to break for any reason at all, the way in which is breaks is far more dangerous with normal glass and can lead to serious injury. With laminated glass windows, the chances of being cut by the glass if its broken is greatly reduced. This is due to the fact that the inner vinyl protective layer prevents the glass from shattering and being scattered across your floor or yard. Similar to safety glass, the shards of glass will stick to the vinyl.
#2 – Burglars Can’t Use Glass Cutters Because laminated glass can’t be cut from the outside, this makes it impossible for a burglar to use a tool like a glass cutter to gain access to your home, and greatly reduces the risk of burglary in this way.
#3 – Less Sound Transfer If sound is a concern of yours, consider the fact that laminated glass greatly reduces sound going in or out of your house as it passes through a laminated glass window. If you live in a neighbourhood with plenty of traffic, whether it be planes, trains, automobiles, or people, we all know that these things can be very annoying and sometimes the noise can be distracting, to say the least. Laminated glass windows can really help with this type of problem. On the other hand, maybe it is your house that produces a lot of noise and you want to keep it in. Does your offspring practice a musical instrument? Laminated glass is equipped with sound-deadening features that acts as sound insulation for whatever room you use it with. Laminated glass windows are also great for blocking the sound of neighbours if your houses happen to be close together. Pro Tip – Try using two panes instead of one per window, and create a pocket of air in between them. This is an old soundproofing technique which works extremely well with two panes of laminated glass.
#4 – UV Protection As you probably know, ultra-violet light from the sun has a way of fading some of our favourite things, such as carpets, curtains, and furniture. When we use normal, non-laminated glass windows, this will allow for the UV rays to come through and fade everything there is to fade. Of course, you can always close the curtains, but something else you can do is install laminated glass windows, which contains a special film that blocks most of the UV light from coming in.
#5 – Impact Resistant Depending on where you live, there are certain threats posed by nature which can sometimes shatter a normal window with ease. We’re talking about forces of nature, such as a tornado, a hurricane, or even a thunderstorm. With laminated glass windows, you are provided with the maximum amount of protection that a residential window can offer. Also, if your window does break, it won’t be in such a dangerous manner as we explained early when discussing impact resistance and shattering. Laminated glass has a tendency to stay in one piece due to the inner lining, and hence you don’t have the same concerns as you would with normal glass. For professional help,
Please contact Wood Windows and Doors:
info@woodwindowsndoors.com www.woodwindowsndoors.com 510 363-3242
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