While some basic windows are made using annealed glass, higher-quality ones use tempered glass. In addition, the other uses inside your home generally call for tempered glass. Not only might you choose tempered glass for safety reasons, but also to be in accordance with most building codes. At Residential Building Specialties, Inc., we believe you and your family deserve the safest option possible. When we handle your home improvements related to glass, we’ll always choose quality tempered glass crafted by the most reliable glassmakers.
Whether you are looking for mirrors, such as a full-length wall mirror or decorative mirror, glass shelves, tabletop glass, shower doors, shower panels, shower enclosures, or other glass products, you can be confident that they will be made of high-quality tempered glass if you come to us at Residential Building Specialties, Inc.
What is Tempered Glass?
While standard glass is produced in a process where it is slowly cooled during formation, tempered glass goes through a rapid heating and cooling process that makes it stronger. You may have noticed that it doesn’t take much effort to break a window pane of annealed glass, but you rarely break a shower door made of tempered glass. While tempered glass can still break, it doesn’t break in quite the same way. Instead of sharp pieces that would undoubtedly cut you if you fell through it, with tempered glass, it breaks into smooth, rounded pieces that are less likely to cut. While an injury can still occur with broken tempered glass, it is usually far less damaging than with annealed glass.
While on the topic, if you’ve ever wondered why stunt men can crash through a glass door or onto a glass tabletop without injury, it isn’t because it is tempered glass. They used to use what is referred to as sugar glass because it doesn’t cut. That isn’t practical for your home, however, as it melts when it gets wet and becomes very brittle shortly after it is made. In fact, it is so brittle that sugar glass is rarely used anymore, as another option has been found, namely synthetic resins, which incidentally do not work for home use either.
How to Tell if You Have Tempered Glass
While you can always count on us to provide you with real tempered glass, if you have made purchases in the past and want to know if you have tempered glass or a less costly substitute, there are two ways to tell that don’t require you to break the glass. The first is to look for an etched stamp. If you find it, you know it is tempered glass. However, if you don’t, it might just not have gotten etched or the etching is hidden in the frame. The next thing to do is look at the glass with polarized sunglasses on. You should see some lines across the glass from the rollers used during production. You won’t notice these lines normally, but they are distinctive when looking through polarized sunglasses.
If you would like to know more about tempered glass for your Winston-Salem, North Carolina home, or you would like to learn about products for your home using tempered glass, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
At Residential Building Specialties, Inc., we offer tempered glass products to builders and contractors in Winston-Salem, Mebane, Statesville, Burlington, Greensboro, Clemmons, Bermuda Run, Advance, Mocksville, Cool Springs, and Graham, North Carolina.