Should you choose toughened glass or laminated glass for your home?
Toughened glass or laminated glass? –
Do you know the difference between toughened glass or laminated glass? Using the wrong type of safety glass can not only cost you time, but money too. Whether you’re upgrading your internal glass doors, extending your home or even building a conservatory, knowing your options can give you the confidence to make the right decisions first time around. As one of the leading toughened glass suppliers in the South East of England, The Glass Warehouse have the skills and knowledge to help you make those big decisions.
For many people, toughened glass or laminated glass often appear as one and the same.
What is toughened glass and how is it made?
You may not realise it, but toughened glass is pretty much everywhere. Sometimes referred to as tempered glass or safety glass, its robust properties mean that it’s commonly used in commercial buildings and interior designs.
But, how do we get glass as you know it to such a high level of strength? To start with we take regular float glass and cut it to the size and shape required. We then heat it up in our state-of-the-art toughening plant to temperatures reaching 680 degrees in order to create a balance in the internal stresses. This ensures that, if the glass was to ever break, it would do so into small less dangerous pieces.
So where in your home would toughened glass work best? If you have children or animals, there is a greater risk of accidental damage. Therefore, toughened glass can make an ideal internal glass door solution. It also works well as a heat resistant and sturdy table top, attractive glass units or even shelving.
Laminated glass is and how it’s made?
Although laminated glass is similar, it has a few key differences from toughened glass.
When creating laminated glass, two regular pieces of float glass are fused together with a vinyl interlayer. This is what makes the laminated glass so robust. We can create clear, acoustic, white or toughened laminated glass, making it a versatile option around your home.
If you are looking for additional security, laminated glass works fantastically in external doors. In the event of breakage laminated glass will hold together rather than shattering into small pieces. It is also great for sound insulation and protecting against UV rays!
Toughened glass or Laminated glass
The benefits of both types of safety glass can help guide you in your decision-making process:
| Toughened Glass |
Laminated Glass |
| Up to 5 times stronger than regular float glass, toughened glass is incredibly difficult to break | Plastic interlay which binds the outer panes of glass together like glue, even if broken. |
| Can withstand surface compression up to around 10,000lbs per square inch | Cost-effective as unlikely to need replacing due to high resistance to breakage |
| When broken, toughened glass shatters evenly into many small pieces to reduce risk | When broken, laminated glass does not create sharp jagged pieces of glass or hundreds of tiny pieces making it a more secure option |
| Resilient against high temperatures | Easy to apply colouring |
How can The Glass Warehouse help?
It is important to recognise your options before making any decisions, and that’s where we can help. The Glass Warehouse can create bespoke pieces so you can be as original as you like with your order. So why not get in touch with us to find out more? Give us a call on 020-8500-1188 or email on [email protected].
