Glass. Glazed windows.

The glass may have many different functions, which will make your home more comfortable, safer, more personal, and more practical. Window replacement or installation of new ones will make the building visually more attractive, as well as will save energy and provide more comfort. To be easier to choose the most suitable products, every advantage offered by the glass must be considered.

Maintaining heat indoors. It is important to ensure that your home does not lose the heat through windows. Qualitative glass will reduce the heating costs and make the house warmer.

Nowadays, windows and window doors must meet certain energy-saving efficiency norms. It is possible to evaluate, how effective is the window, holding the out-flowing heat, by the thermal insulation coefficient, the so-called U-value. The type of glass used in glass packages for energy-saving windows is widely known as selective or low-E glass. Traditionally, the conventional glass-improvement is achieved by applying a fine coating layer on the glass. Such glazing improves the energy efficiency both in dwelling, and commercial buildings, providing also the possibility of greater use of glazing and benefit from solar thermal radiation.

Due to a growing awareness of environmental issues, the energy-saving methods both for residential and commercial buildings are increasingly highlighted. New regulations have been introduced in recent years that impose minimal energy efficiency requirements. In this event, the glass is important.

Low emission. The development of low emission (low-E) glass technologies has allowed the windows to make a significant contribution in the energy conservation and comfort by reducing the heat loss and internal condensation. The amount of heat loss is usually expressed by the U value, which is a measure of heat loss in watts per square meter per one Kelvin degree of internal and external temperature difference (expressed as W/m2K). The lower the U value, the better the insulation product.

Operating principles. Low-emission glass actually reflects the energy back into the building, providing a much lower heat loss than through ordinary glass. Moreover, different types of low-emission glass provide different degrees of passive obtaining of the solar heat that allows the reduction of heating requirements and costs, especially in the coldest months.

To maximize energy efficiency throughout the year, often the ideal way the glazing solution balances the performance of solar energy control and low emission.

Protection from solar heat. Too much heat or light coming through the window can create as many difficulties as attempts to maintain the heat in the room. Anyone, who has created a large size glass (windows) in the southern wall of the building, will confirm that the large burden is caused by excessive heat. Fortunately, you do not have to sacrifice the benefit of energy efficiency to reduce the heat flowing from the sun, as it is possible to combine both features in one product.

Solar heat radiation can be adjusted in several ways. The most common technique is the use of tinted glass. A similar effect can be achieved by using multi-laminated glass with a tinted interlayer. For the more effective results the glass coating can be used, which may be both colourless, and toned. You just have to decide what is the required solar light and energy transmission rate.

As the glass is used increasingly in the modern architecture, it has become an important criterion for assessing comfort of those people, who are in the building. Glass with a sun beam alignment function can be an attractive building element, which at the same time reduces the necessity to use the air conditioning system, thereby reducing operating costs of the building and saving energy.

Operating principles. Glass controls the solar heat radiation by reflection, transmission and absorption. In connection with solar energy control, these concepts can be defined by the following parameters.

• Reflection - solar radiation, part of which is reflected back into the atmosphere.
• Direct transmission - solar radiation, part of which immediately gets through the glass.
• Absorption – the part of solar radiation that the glass absorbs.
• Total permeability (also called the g factor value, or the sun factor) – the part of solar radiation, that gets through the glass to the interior. It consists of the direct permeability of the radiation together with the absorbed radiation, which is further radiated to the interior.
• Overall ratio of shading - proportional transmittance of the total solar heat of the sun in comparison with the same indicator of the conventional 3 mm thick glass.
• Selectivity index - the balance between light transmission and total solar heat transmittance.

Reduction of noise level. If you live near a busy road, rail or airline vicinity, you may need to use glazing to reduce noise till the acceptable level. This can be achieved in different ways depending on the required reduction of noise level, including the help of a specially designed laminated glass. Installation of a new glass package reduces noise levels at home.

A very common mistake in the selection of acoustic level is to try to reduce ambient noise to a zero level. Even in the bedroom, there must be a background noise, otherwise the house noises, such as central heating pump hum, can become troublesome.

Security glass, for protection against accidents. If double-glazed windows are installed from floor level (both windows, doors, and partition glazing), prudential standards must be observed to protect against accidental collisions, for example, from such as children frolic, awkward moving of objects, etc. There are three general types of safety glasses:

• Tempered glass, which is up to five times stronger than ordinary glass and which breaks in tiny, harmless particles.
• Laminated glass which consists of two glass sheets that are bonded together with a transparent plastic interlayer, so at breaking it cracks, but remains in a place, thereby reducing the risk of injury.
• Reinforced safety glass, in which the wire mesh is forged, and that at the breakage only cracks like the laminated glass.

The glass position and size determine the classification of applicable impact resistance.

Glass can be used to achieve the additional security of the building. By using laminated glass that in the case of impact remains in the frame, you can protect against deliberate attacks or intrusion attempts. Laminated glass is available in various thicknesses, determined by your chosen glass-crash level. Using laminated glass for Windows, bear in mind the necessity to escape from upstairs rooms.

Breaking through the laminated glass is just as hard as breaking into, but this possibility can be ensured by a special adaption of the window frame design. A glass resistance against the intrusion can be complemented by a carefully made design of a frame and lock system, thus providing a maximum safety.

Decoration and privacy. If you want to get more privacy or more light in darker areas, we offer an attractive decorative glass of different designs:

• Texture glass, in the surface of which there is a print of any ornament;
• Frosted glass, which passes through the light, similarly providing an excellent privacy;
• Laminated glass with a possibility to choose the intermediate layers of different colours including white, light-permeable. Coloured glass interlayer is located between two glass sheets with a smooth surface, so it is not too absorbing to the dirt.

Protection against fire. There can be objects, for which due to various reasons a requirement to install fire-resistant glass for windows and window structures (partitions) is determined. They can be buildings of different meaning: residential buildings, hotels and guest houses, where safety zones or emergency exits are setup.

 The functionality of fire resistant glass is determined by the properties of different retention of different properties for a determined time commitment. The most common characteristic is integrity, which determines how long the glass will detain flames and hot gases. Statutory minimum of time is 30 minutes. Another feature is insulation with a minimum duration in case of fire is also 30 minutes. Isolation of glass in addition is the ability to retain heat in the fire, maintaining a glass surface temperature below a certain level. Note that any fire-resistant glass must be installed in the frame, which, together with the glass, ensures all activities of the construction in accordance with the standard.