Posted on December 12, 2023 in Blog
Choosing the right glass for your project can be a daunting experience with so many options to choose from. There’s always a balance between light transmittance and heat gain/loss. All Glazing Vision glass comes with a Low E coating which helps with heat loss. But we are often asked for special requirements from walk on to heated glass and many other examples which you can read about below.
Posted on December 12, 2023 in Blog
When choosing the correct glass for your project there are a number of things to consider
What is going underneath is one of the biggest things to consider says our Managing Director, Jon Shooter “its often a balancing act between light transmittance and heat gain/loss. If you are using lots of glass on the property then heat gain becomes a potential issue. Of course this can be overcome by ventilating the area.”
Mark Brawn, Technical Specification Manager “we always specify solar control glass to reduce heat gain, one of the main reasons is to stop thermal heat stress. As the skylights are being installed on a roof, invariably you’ll get various shading on the skylight and this can cause the glass to crack. Using a Solar control glass and a heat-strengthened inner pane, you can reduce the risk of thermal heat stress”
Another factor can be the curb that the skylight is going to be attached to. If the curb is too big you can get trapped air and heat between the glass and the curb and this can also cause thermal heat stress and condensation.
Jon Shooter continued . . .”glass types and thicknesses have changed enormously in the 20 years I have been in the industry. We used to choose between around 10 different specifications, now there are hundreds of options. Whether that’s for solar control, strength (fall protection) walkable glass or even drive over glass!”
We have sourced all sorts of glass from various manufacturers around the world. Contact our Glazing Vision team about your requirements, they’ll be more than happy to assist.
We have used Okalux glass in museums/art galleries and in universities. Is is great at diffusing the light and creating a spread of natural light. It contains fabric and capillary tubes within the cavity which take out the radiation from the sunlight. Therefore anything below the glass will not discolor over time.
We have installed heated glass where a client has wanted to melt the snow/ice on the outer pane of glass but also above swimming pools when keeping the humidity dew off the glass.
‘How It Works? The specialist Heated Glass is coated with a transparent metal oxide coating. When electricity is passed through the coating it radiates heat. The heated glass can be set at different temperatures from 68 degrees Fahrenheit to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Most applications do not require that much heat just enough to melt snow and ice and prevent condensation.
For more information on heated glass visit HeatVision
The main consideration is what type of traffic you are going to be getting on the Skylight. If purely for domestic home residential then we use loadings of 100 psf (concentrated load) and 450 lbf (point load). The loading requirements can change state by state, or even by boroughs in the Case of New York, Brooklyn for instance requires 40 psf (concentrated load). These are actually lower than European standards, so we wouldn’t use these as we prefer to use the higher specifications. The code also requires that a triple glass ply is used If on a public or commercial skylight then the loadings are likely to increase and so will the glass thickness. As the glass gets thicker then the weight becomes a major consideration. Not only for installation where invariably a crane will be required but also the structural support required in the building.
Sam Pearcy (International Manager) “one of my favourite projects was working with a client for a ‘drive over’ skylight for his vintage car collection, he had a grand hall in his house and when he was entertaining he wanted to be able to drive a car onto the glass as a showpiece. Guests could then peer down into the museum below and the rest of his collection.”
The picture is of a custom walk on glass specification including LED lighting which changed colors. The glass is punctured with holes to allow the light to transmit through it, the holes get larger as you get to the middle of the glass to ensure that the light level is the same all the way through the glass.
Flushglaze Walkable Skylight
We often get asked to manufacture large glass skylights in one piece of glass. The picture is for a large glass skylight measuring 95-1/4" (span) x 91-1/2" (width)
The insulated glass unit was comprised of:
1-17/32" double glazed unit (silicone sealed) comprising of 5/16" HST Tempered Solar Control (LT40) 45/64" Argon, Black warm edge spacer, silicone sealed 1/4" - 030 - 1/4" HST Tempered PVB Laminated
This was for a project in Texas, its always worth looking at whether the glass can be manufactured in fewer pieces. It does mean that the glass will get heavier as the glass needs to be thicker to achieve the size.
Lunch & Learn
A great way to achieve obscurity within the glass is by changing the color of the laminated interlayer within an Insulated Glass Unit (IGU).
There are various different types of plastic interlayers, ionomer interlayers are used for strength they can give as much as five times the shear strength and up to 100 times the rigidity of conventional PVB interlayer. Acoustic laminated interlayers which provide sound reducing qualities and different colors of laminates. In the picture a ruby red interlayer was used and was simply a client preference.
Flushglaze Fixed SkylightBy providing this information, it allows us to forward your inquiry on to your local Technical Specification Manager and enables them to provide you with a formal quotation quicker.