Were you told you needed safety glazing for a window in your home during a remodel? Tempered glass window film can be a cost-effective alternative to replacing a window unit. Read more to learn about tempered glass window film and how it can meet the IBC’s Safety Glazing Code requirements.
What is Safety Glazing?
When it comes to the safety of your home, windows are often an overlooked area. While they let in natural light and offer beautiful views, standard glass windows can pose significant risks in certain areas of your house, particularly where accidents are more likely to occur.
Safety glazing refers to window glass that has been manufactured to reduce the risk of injury from glass breakage. Safety glazing or glass has two properties that make it safer:
- It is strengthened to lessen the risk of breakage. This can be done in a couple of different ways: tempering or laminating. For this discussion, we will focus on the more common and less expensive option of tempered glass.
- The manufacturing process creates a glass that “crumbles” when it breaks into small pieces instead of breaking into sharp shards of glass.
What is Tempered Glass?
Tempered glass is a type of safety glass designed to be stronger and safer than regular glass. When we speak of “regular glass” for homes we are talking about annealed glass.
Annealed Glass
Annealed glass is the normal glass that we find in most home windows. It is also sometimes called “float glass” due to the manufacturing process. According to Guardian Glass, “Annealing float glass is the process of controlled cooling to prevent residual stress in the glass and is an inherent operation of the float glass manufacturing process.”
Annealed glass can be cut and polished and when annealed glass breaks, it results in large sharp shards of glass.
Tempered Glass
By comparison, tempered glass is manufactured by heating up and then very quickly cooling the glass after heating. This results in a glass that is four times stronger than annealed glass according to Scientific American.
Created through a process of extreme heating followed by rapid cooling, it becomes significantly more resilient. When broken, tempered glass shatters into small, blunt pieces, reducing the risk of injury.
Because of this, it’s often used in environments where the potential for breakage is higher, such as bathrooms, stairways, and glass doors.
Why is Tempered Glass Important for Safety?
Tempered glass is specifically designed to provide enhanced safety compared to standard annealed glass.
In the event of an impact or breakage, instead of creating sharp, dangerous shards, tempered glass crumbles into pebble-like pieces. This characteristic makes it essential in areas where accidents, such as slips and falls, are more likely.
This added protection reduces the risk of cuts or more serious injuries, making it a popular choice for both residential and commercial settings.
The Safety Glazing Rule in the International Building Code (IBC)
The section of the International Building Code (IBC) that deals with safety glazing in residential homes is Section 2406. This section, titled “Safety Glazing”, outlines the requirements for glazing materials in hazardous locations.
Specifically, it covers where safety glazing, such as tempered or laminated glass, must be used to prevent injuries from glass breakage in areas where there is a higher risk of human impact.
Key areas addressed in IBC Section 2406 include:
- Glazing in Doors: All glass in doors, including sliding glass doors, storm doors, and any panels adjacent to doors, must be made of safety glazing materials.
- Glazing Near Wet Areas: Windows near bathtubs, showers, hot tubs, pools, and other areas where slips and falls are likely must use safety glazing.
- Glazing Near Stairs and Walkways: Any glass near stairways, ramps, or landings where falls may occur must be tempered or otherwise made of safety glazing material.
For glass in these areas, safety glazing is now required to meet the following American National Standards Institute glazing requirements:
Source: International Building Code
These regulations are critical in ensuring that homes meet safety standards and reduce the risk of injury from broken glass.
If you are a homeowner or builder, it’s critical to comply with these safety regulations. But what if your current glass windows or doors are not tempered? This is where tempered glass window film can become an essential solution.
Tempered Glass Window Film
If your home has traditional glass in these vulnerable areas, you don’t need to replace every pane with expensive tempered glass. Instead, tempered glass window film can provide the safety upgrades required to meet code.
High-quality window film can reinforce standard annealed glass, offering impact protection that mimics the properties of tempered glass. And the IBC accepts tempered glass window film as a suitable solution to meet the safety glazing requirement.
Here’s what you need to know:
4MIL safety film provides the required impact resistance to meet the ANSI Category B code for single panes of glass 9 square feet in size or less. This is roughly the size of one standard double-hung window pane. It’s a cost-effective solution for these windows near bathrooms, stairs, or doors.
For larger panes of glass, those exceeding 9 square feet, a thicker film is necessary to ensure adequate protection. You should look for an 8MIL safety film to meet this ANSI Category A requirement.
Concord Window Film’s Tempered Glass Window Film Options
At Concord Window Film, we offer 4MIL Clear Safety Film in a variety of sizes and formats to suit your needs. Whether you’re looking for kits designed for DIY installation or full rolls for larger projects, we’ve got you covered:
Pre-cut Safety Film Sheets
We offer a precut 30” x 36” sheet of 4MIL safety film that will fit most standard double-hung window panes for $20. The film can be oriented either way, i.e. 36” x 30”.
These kits are perfect for DIY homeowners looking to upgrade their windows to meet safety code. They are easy to apply and come with everything you need to enhance the safety of glass windows in your bathroom,
stairways, or doors.
Often just the bottom sash of a window in a bathroom needs to meet the safety glazing code (because the bottom sash is what you would fall into as a result of a slip from a tub or shower, not the top sash).
So you can meet code for $20 instead of the cost of replacing the entire window with a tempered unit (can be over $1,000 per opening for an installed unit) or even replacing the bottom sash glass with tempered glass (hundreds
of dollars).
Safety Film Rolls
For situations where you need more film,we offer full rolls of 4MIL safety film, giving you the flexibility to cover any area in your home that may require added protection.
We offer safety film rolls in the following sizes:
- 36″ wide x 50′ long roll
- 36″ wide x 100′ long roll
All of our 4MIL Safety Film options come with stickers to affix to the glass that label the window as meeting the relevant ANSI Z97.1 Category B tests for Safety Glazing.
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4 Mil Clear Safety Film Rolls | Safety Window Film | Tempered Window Film
$170.00 – $320.00 Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page -
4 Mil Clear Safety Film Kit | Tempered Window Film for Glass | Safety Window Film
Rated 4.50 out of 5$20.00 Add to cart
Why Choose Concord Window Film?
Our films are not only designed to meet building codes but also offer the highest quality performance, ensuring lasting protection and peace of mind. Whether you are looking to enhance the safety of your home or bring an older property up to code, our safety film solutions provide an affordable and efficient alternative to replacing glass.
We also offer a full range of solar control window films to solve other window issues such as: heat reduction, UV protection, glare control, fade reduction or privacy.
Visit us at windowfilm.com to see our full range of DIY window films for home.