I am going to get an off the shelf, so to speak, patio door, probabley Jeldwen and wondered if a laminated outer pane was worth the extra £250. Seeing how easy it was to shatter a pane of tempered glass in a greenhouse I was wondering if tempered glass was such a good idea.
Kevin
The message from "Kevin" contains these words:
I've my doubts about laminated glass in doors. If you do succeed in breaking it, by, for example, launching a small boy's head at it at speed it'll be like sticking your head in a plastic bag full of long bits of glass.
Toughened will shatter into little bits, which may well leave lots of little scratches, some of them deep, but not life threatening.
I was more worried about the security aspects having seen how easy it was to shatter tempered glass. I can't see how it would offer much deterent to a determined burglar. Surely the whole point of the lamination is to hold the broken glass in a safe state and thus protect any child who happened to run head long into it.
Kevin
The message from "Kevin" contains these words:
I'm not convinced it /is/ a safe state though.
It's pretty good, Mr. King. The glass sticks very well to the "plastic layer" and the shards don't detach at all easily. Getting through the stuff is a nightmare, too. If shards of glass came off easily, Mr. Burglar would laugh at the stuff (but he hates it!).
Psst! Do you know anything about vans and mobility scooters (on a car N/G near you!)?
In message , Kevin writes
I don't know if I'm alone here in being able to claim to having actually gone through tempered (toughened?) glass patio doors head first? All I can say is I sincerely hope that next time it's laminated.
Yeah it was fun (not!). Someone
I went through a window made of plain glass! No damage, very lucky I guess.
What I can't fathom is why it costs an extra £250 - that seems to be exorbitant!
The message from Chris Bacon contains these words:
I'd flog the scooter, get a more modern smaller1 one and buy a cheaper car instead.
You don't need to worry - the glass is far stronger (especially when in a double glazed unit) than the childs head which will crush first. That is true of both laminated and tempered glass.
Laminated is at least as safe, the laminate film is strong and if it deforms enough to encompass the head the owner is dead anyway.
How about if you fired the small boy using a cannon or large catapult though? Wouldn't the extra velocity help?
It would certainly help squash the small boy and make extra red stuff leak out (for a short time).
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