Should You Install Toughened or Laminated Safety Glass in Your Aluminium Windows?

If you're installing expansive aluminium windows or glass doors in your home, you might be required to fit safety glass. You may have heard that you can use either laminated or toughened glass but are unsure which one is best. Here's some information about these two options to help you decide. However, your window installer can offer specific expert advice.

Toughened Glass

Toughened glass undergoes a unique quenching process whereby it's heated and cooled to render the glass pane about four times stronger than a standard window pane. Using this safety glass, a window is unlikely to break.

Additionally, you have less chance of being injured if it does so. This is because toughened glass doesn't break into large pointy pieces but instead crumbles into rounded cubes. Thus, it will take a big impact to break it, and everyone nearby will be safer than if it were a standard float pane.

However, because the glass crumbles to the floor, an opening will be left for anyone to trespass into your home until you replace the glass. Also, bear in mind that this glass can't be trimmed after the toughening process, as this will cause it to shatter. Toughened glass is perfect for large windows and doors, and it comes in different thicknesses. Your contractor can recommend what's best.

Laminated glass

Another kind of safety glass that you can use for a wide window or door in your home is laminated glass. This glass consists of a sandwich of two glass panes fused together with a vinyl interlayer. It's also more robust than ordinary window glass and less likely to break. Additionally, the plastic film in the middle tends to hold the glass together even if it fractures into a spiderweb pattern after an impact. Thus, there will be no loose pieces of glass to cause injury. Also, the security of your home will be maintained to some degree as the window or door won't offer a large gap. Laminated glass is used in car windscreens because of how it tends to remain intact even when damaged.

You can use different types of glass within the windows. For example, you could use a toughened glass sheet, which will make the laminated part ultra strong. The resin interlayer can also help to block noise and filter UV rays, thus offering additional benefits.

Like toughened glass, laminated glass is ideal for large windows and glass doors, especially if toughened glass panes are inserted within the layers. Reach out to a window professional for more information about the types of glass that can go into aluminium windows


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