What is Tempered Glass?

Have you ever asked yourself, “What is Tempered Glass?” Since you are reading this post, my guess is you have! It is not a complicated question to answer. The easiest explanation would be that it is safety glass. Here is Wikipedia’s description on tempered glass. But not all safety glass is tempered glass. Tempered glass is a specific kind of safety glass that when it breaks it breaks into little pieces instead of large pieces. Don’t get me wrong it can still cut you. Chances are you will not be maimed like with a large falling piece of glass. Here is an image of what tempered glass looks like when broken and what regular glass looks like when broken.

tempered glass

 

Tempered glass is now required by law in many applications. If you are installing a shower door you will need tempered glass. 99.9% of shower doors are made like this. However an occasional piece of glass will fall through the cracks. No pun intended. If you would like to know if a piece is tempered or not you an simply inspect the corners for a tempered logo. All pieces that have been tempered are required to be stamped. A stamp is normally no larger than an inch and looks like sand blasting. Here is a picture of a tempered logo below.

Tempered glass

Other area that are required to be tempered include:

• Entry & Exit Doors

• Glass next to an entry or exit door.

• Any window or glass in a Bathroom

• Sliding glass doors.

• Car windows (except windshields, those are laminated safety glass)

You can request that a tempered piece of glass be made without a tempered logo. In some cases a logo may take a way from the over all looks of an application. In this situation a company should provide paper work with the glass stating that it is tempered. You may need this if you are trying to pass inspection. If a logo is needed to pass inspection, most logos can be removed with a certain type of chemical similar to an acetone.

Still reading? I thought I might have lost you at the glass pun. If you are in the Bonita Springs Naples area and are interested in a certain type of glass project we encourage you to give us a call. We have a beautiful state of the art showroom with all types of designer glass products. Give us a call today. We hope to see you soon.