Some projects might rely on specialized glass packages to meet the needs of the homeowner or local building codes, and in those instances, Viwinco’s specialty glass for windows and doors offerings have you covered.
Specialty Glass for Windows and Doors
Safety Glass
Typically used in storm-prone areas, high traffic areas, or in large windows or doors, safety glass is designed to offer enhanced protection compared to your standard annealed glass. The two types of safety glass in our offerings are: Laminated Glass and Tempered Glass.
Laminated Glass
Comprised of a thin layer of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) sandwiched between two clear glass lites, the laminated glass is designed to protect the building envelope from being penetrated by airborne projectiles during an extreme storm. When struck by a heavy force, the laminated glass may shatter, but will remain intact due to the strong PVB interlayer.
PVB is an opaque, plastic-like material that after being run through our infrared oven, and a pressure cycle in our autoclave, fuses with the two clear glass lites. The resulting product is a transparent, highly durable piece of glass.
Benefits of Laminated Glass
In addition to enhanced durability and the capacity to withstanding hurricane conditions, our laminated glass also offers additional benefits over standard glass packages.
- Reduction in sound transmission — noise from outside is significantly reduced
- Enhanced security — Laminated glass creates a powerful barrier, minimizing risk of forced entry
- Energy efficiency — Resists the impact of the sun, leading to maximum energy efficiency
- Lower UV exposure to the home — Our laminated glass package results in drastically lower amounts of harmful UV lighting entering the home preventing furniture and carpets from fading
Tempered Glass
Through a series of intense cycles of heating and cooling, the surfaces and edges of annealed glass lites are compressed, resulting in tempered glass. Through compression comes strength—tempered glass is four to five times stronger than annealed glass. Having a surface compression of 10,000 psi (or more) and an edge compression of 9,700(or more), ensures that if the glass does break, it will fracture into tiny rounded cubes referred to a “dice”. Whereas when annealed glass breaks it creates jagged shards that can cause serious lacerations, dice created by broken tempered glass are much smaller and more rounded, reducing the likelihood of severe injuries. Tempered glass is typically required in large pieces of glass such as patio doors or high traffic commercial areas.
Specialty Glass
In addition to our safety glass offerings, our specialty glass for windows and doors options for glazing also include obscure and gray-tinted glass.
Obscure Glass
Commonly used in bathrooms, obscure glass has a frosted look to it and allows natural light to pass through while providing a comforting level of privacy.
Obscure Glass
Gray Glass (Turtle Glass)
Our gray glass provides visible light transmittance of ≤ 45%, it meets Turtle Glass requirements.
Gray Glass
| Colored Glass |
|---|
| S-SERIES NEW CONSTRUCTION |
| AVAILABLE on hung, sliding, hinged, fixed windows and patio doors |
| CAMBRIDGE REPLACEMENT |
| AVAILABLE on hung, sliding, hinged, and fixed windows |
| EDGEMONT REPLACEMENT |
| AVAILABLE on hung, sliding, hinged, fixed, and bay and bow windows |
| OCEANVIEW IMPACT NEW CONSTRUCTION & REPLACEMENT |
| AVAILABLE on hung, sliding, hinged, fixed windows and patio doors |
| PATIO DOOR + MULTITRACK 650 DOOR |
| AVAILABLE |