Design considerations when working with glass

Design considerations for glass

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Design considerations for glass

Design considerations for glass

Glass has a huge upside in contemporary design, but glass isn’t a simple replacement for traditional architectural materials. Here are some things to consider for any architectural designs that make use of glass.

Safety. Without a doubt, any glass design must thoroughly examine safety from every angle. Generally, where safety is a concern, a wide range of safety glass options are available. Tempered glass and laminated glass are two common options that will prevent or minimize injury in the event of glass breakage.

Wildlife. Low-emissivity glass is highly reflective and energy-efficient, but highly reflective glasses can cause significant loss of life for birds. Birds can’t detect the subtle differences between reflective glass and its surroundings, and can fly into glass at full speed, and with deadly consequences.

Energy consumption. Without a doubt, energy consumption is a concern when designing with glass. The design stage is critical because decisions made at this stage will have lifetime-cost implications for a building. Poor energy conservation may make an otherwise beautiful building virtual unsalable in the future, if energy costs rise substantially.

Weather. Special consideration must be given to designs that will be impacted by weather conditions like high winds, tropical storms, snow, cold temperatures and other similar hazards. You may need to use special glass or glass of a specific minimum thickness to ensure that it’s strong enough to withstand inclement weather.

Appearance. Choosing the right glass can make a major difference in the appearance and attractiveness of a building or building project. Glass can be tinted to virtually any color, but over a large project space, you’ll need to pay special attention to the consistency Other additives and coatings can create different properties that affect the appearance of the finished project.

Glass can also be painted using a specialty paint product like Glassprimer™ glass paint. Glassprimer™ glass paint is cost-effective and can be used to create both artistic and practical effects.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint and how it can help you control light and heat in your space, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Nick Garrod , via Flickr.com

Self-cleaning glass: what is it?

Self cleaning glass: what is it?

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Self-cleaning glass: what is it?

Self-cleaning glass: what is it?

Cleaning the windows is never high on anyone’s list of fun things to do, so the idea of self-cleaning glass may be very attractive. Will self-cleaning glass really take care of itself? What makes glass self-cleaning? Will it really improve your view?

Self-cleaning glass is created through the use of coatings that are either “hydrophobic” or “hydrophilic.” A hydrophobic coating makes water bead on the surface and roll off. The water beads will prevent dirt from taking up residence on the glass. Hydrophilic coatings make the water “sheet”, which sweeps away any dirt that has accumulated on the window.

Dirt sticks to a surface because it’s gotten wet (or damp) and then dries. Wax is a common hydrophobic coating. On a waxed surface, water – which either contains dirt or wets dry dust on the surface – cannot interact with the surface. It can only bead and roll off. Without water, dirt can’t dry on a surface, so the surface appears to be “self-cleaning.”

Hydrophilic coatings don’t reject water. They welcome water. Most hydrophilic coatings don’t rely simply on the action of the water to clean a surface. Hydrophilic coatings actually break down dirt in the presence of ultraviolet light. Then, the dirt is washed away when the surface comes in contact with water. Hydrophilic coatings don’t tend to streak, so the surface stays clean as the water drains away.

Most hydrophilic self-cleaning windows are coated with titanium dioxide, although there are other hydrophilic coatings. Titanium dioxide also provides some control over solar heat gain, so self-cleaning glass does have some energy-efficient side benefits.

The first self-cleaning glass was brought to market in 2001. Today, self-cleaning glass remains a specialty product that’s often used in commercial buildings. Keeping windows clean permits maximum light transmission, which can be very important in commercial spaces. It also cuts down on maintenance costs. Self-cleaning glass can also be found in automobiles, but that’s more likely to be a hydrophobic.

You’re not likely to encounter self-cleaning glass in standard replacement windows, but you can have custom-made self cleaning windows for hard-to-reach places like skylights.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint and how it can help you control light and heat in your space, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Jacinta Lluch Valero, via Flickr.com

Glass buildings are beautiful, but…

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Glass buildings are beautiful, but…

Glass buildings are beautiful, but…

Glass buildings have dominated the modern skyline, and more individuals are incorporating glass into their residential designs. But what is the environmental impact of a building’s high glass content, and how does it affect the building’s occupants?

A study conducted by the Urban Green Council in 2013 has some of the answers to those questions, and the results are interesting to say the least.

According to the study, which involved residential 55 buildings in New York City, people invariably chose a residential space because of the amount of glass, but about 60% of any given window was covered with blinds, shades or some other form of window treatment. Three quarters of the buildings in the study had at least half of their windows covered, regardless of the time of day, or the direction the window faced.

Based on its finding, the Urban Green Council made some design recommendations for new construction. They included designs that eschewed the floor-to-ceiling glass, and substituted two to three feet of insulated wall space along the floor – the coldest area in an enclosed space.

In addition, the Urban Green Council recommends better communication about the overall impact of floor-to-ceiling glass in terms of energy consumption. Well insulated windows (triple-pane) have an R-value of about 3, which compares to the insulating ability of corrugated cardboard. Low-e glass is comparable or even superior to triple-pane, gas-filled glass, but it still offers an R-value of less than 5. The more glass you put in a room, the less energy-efficient the room will be.

There are things you can do to control the way heat is gained and lost by glass. Glassprimer™ glass paint could be one potential solution when you’re looking for both privacy and style. Glassprimer™ glass paint offers superior UV protection, which means that it won’t chip, fade or peel, even when exposed to direct sunlight.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint and how it can help you control light and heat in your space, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Ricard Liberato, via Flickr.com

Is the glass shortage a reality?

Is the glass shortage a reality?

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Is the glass shortage a reality?

Is the glass shortage a reality?

If you’re thinking about a home remodeling project that involves glass, you may have read about a “glass shortage.” Is there really a glass shortage, and if so, what will be its impact on your project?

The short answer is “yes and no.” Some construction projects are being slowed by a shortage of a specific kind of glass known as curtain wall glass. This type of glass is used to cover the exterior of commercial buildings. Unless you’re building a skyscraper, your project isn’t likely to be derailed by a lack of glass.

Some industry experts even question whether “shortage” is the right term to despcribe what’s going on. A shortage exists when a material is in demand, but simply isn’t available. A better description of what’s happening for curtain wall glass is that glass factories are having difficulty coming up with enough glass to meet industry demand today. They have enough raw materials to produce the glass, but not enough production capacity to fill everyone’s order “on-demand.”

In particular demand is low-e glass, which we recently blogged about. Low-e glass is so attractive to commercial builders because it’s a key part of their buildings’ energy consumption plan. Additionally, building operators that are seeking LEED certification must use energy-efficient materials in construction. New buildings would be exceptionally inefficient, and would be unable to meet the requirements for LEED certification if they did not use low-e glass.

Adding to the concern about glass availability is the reduced number of float glass plants that operate in North America. Currently, North America is experiencing a construction boom, in part because many building projects were delayed in response to the recession. Another consequence of the recession is that nearly one-quarter of the float glass plants in North America closed between 2007 and 2014. Their closure put additional pressure on the remaining float glass plants to meet pent-up demand.

Even if you intend to replace all of the windows in your home, you should have ample access to all the glass you need to complete your project. There is some disagreement about whether and how much the cost of replacement windows will rise, but most glass industry experts believe that any “shortage” will be short-lived. Glass producers will likely invest in production upgrades and automation that will help increase their production capacity without significantly increasing their costs.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Karen P., via Flickr.com

Low-e glass: what is it?

Low-e glass: what is it?

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Low-e glass: what is it?

Low-e glass: what is it?

If you’ve considered a construction project that involves glass, you may have heard about “low-e” glass, but what is it and what can it do for your home or commercial space?

Low-emissivity (or low-e) glass is a specially coated glass that is designed to reduce energy losses. Normally glass isn’t a good insulator. Ordinary glass has an “R-value” of about 3. It’s slightly better than a dead air space, but not by much!

When we think about light, we naturally think about visible light. It’s easy to forget that the “full” light spectrum contains wavelengths that our eyes can’t see. Two types of light frequencies that aren’t visible are ultraviolet (UV) light and infrared (IR) light.

We can’t see ultraviolet light with our eyes, but we can certainly see what it does. UV light is responsible for fading colors on fabrics and paints, and changing the color of plastics.

We also can’t see infrared light, but we can feel its effects. IR light is responsible for heating things up. Different materials retain different amounts of heat. The heated objects then radiate heat out to the rest of the room. This kind of heat radiation is called emissivity. Glass, like any other physical object, can also radiate this energy.

That’s not very helpful, because glass can cause a space to gain or lose heat. In the middle of winter, it’s hard to turn down “free heat” but the angle of the winter sun doesn’t provide nearly as much “free heat” as the summer sun does. That means that windows tend to lose heat in the winter (and at night), and gain heat in the summer. This pattern means that we spend a lot more on heat in the winter, and air conditioning (or other ventilation) in the summer.

Highly reflective (light colored) surfaces have a low emissivity, while dark-colored surfaces have a high emissivity. That means that reflective glass loses less energy than non-reflective glass does.

Low-e glass has a microscopically thin, reflective transparent coating that’s designed to reject changes in heat energy. It prevents extra heat from coming in the building, but it also prevents heat from leaving the building. It is designed to save energy. Low emissivity glass is as much as 40 times better at retaining heat than ordinary glass is. One disadvantage of low-e glass is that it reduces the amount of visible light that reaches the interior. If the low-e glass is also designed to reduce solar heat gain, the amount of visible light can be reduced even more.

Glassprimer™ glass paint provides good UV light resistance, and can reduce solar heat gain. It is a cost-effective alternative to more expensive coated glass solutions.

If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Jesus Rodriguez, via Flickr.com

How glass can work with a vaulted ceiling

How glass can work with a vaulted ceiling

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How glass can work with a vaulted ceiling

How glass can work with a vaulted ceiling

If you have a vaulted ceiling in your home, you know that it can be both a joy and a challenge! One idea you can use visually reduce the size of a wall without giving up the benefit of the vaulted ceiling is to create a hybrid solid and glass wall.

The solid wall extends as high as a conventional wall would – 8 – 9 feet. The remainder of the wall is made from glass, which extends from the top of your conventional wall to the ceiling. This one alteration will allow natural light to flood into a space but will preserve the privacy that a conventional wall provides. Not to mention that it looks fantastic!

If you have a vaulted ceiling, you know that sound carries very well in the open space. Glass is an ideal sound barrier. It offers significantly better noise insulation than conventional construction materials do. It can really make a difference in the amount of sound in an office or a bedroom.

Glass is also the ideal material for bridging the gap between the top of a wall and a vaulted ceiling. It’s readily available, and can be custom cut to fit any size vault. Whether you’re attempting to divide an existing space, or you simply want to sound-deaden a workspace, bedroom, bathroom or office, glass can help you preserve light diffusion while achieving your other architectural and interior design goals.

You can also decorate the glass in any way that makes sense to you using Glassprimer™ glass paint. Glassprimer™ glass paint is specially engineered to bond to glass surfaces. Once cured, the paint will not delaminate, chip or fade, even when exposed to humidity or direct sunlight. It can offer significant control of light or create privacy for about $1 per square foot.

If you’d like more information about working with glass or Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Jeremy Levine, via Flickr.com

Frameless glass walls

Frameless glass walls

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Frameless glass walls

Frameless glass walls

The people who occupy a commercial office space have a lot of needs. In addition to workspace, they need access to daylight, privacy, meeting spaces and group work spaces. Controlling sound becomes very important. While some workers may need to collaborate, others may need to have a quiet space. Privacy is also important. Given these diverse needs, frameless glass – the ultimate in transparency – doesn’t seem to fit well in an office environment.

When you look more closely at frameless glass, however, you find that glass actually offers much better sound control than standard commercial construction materials like wood, composite materials or drywall. Your work and collaboration spaces will be much quieter behind glass!

In addition, the transparency of glass facilitates the distribution of natural light around a workspace. Most commercial spaces have one or possibly two walls that receive daylight. This limits what you can do to distribute daylight to the other parts of the office space. If you happen to occupy the top floor of a building, you might be able to add skylights, but for most multitenant commercial spaces, this isn’t an option.

The use of glass in the interior space allows daylight to penetrate the space using the available windows. In addition, this approach can help reduce energy consumption in the winter by taking advantage of naturally generated heat from sunlight.

To add privacy and to provide some control over solar heat gain, Glassprimer™ glass paint can be applied to glass surfaces. Glassprimer™ glass paint is specially designed to adhere to glass surfaces. It applies quickly and with minimal surface preparation, and can be used in interior and exterior applications. Glassprimer™ glass paint also offers a water-based formulation for easy clean up. Both the oil-based and water-based formulations are low VOC products, and can be used and applied safely in interior spaces.

If you would like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, or its commercial applications, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: designmill, via Flickr.com

Bring on the glass in your home

Bring on the glass in your home

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Bring on the glass in your home

Bring on the glass in your home

The allure of glass is inescapable. It offers an upscale, contemporary look and yet, the material is common and affordable. Whether you work with glass on the inside of your home, or use it as a way to interface with the environment around you, you can’t go wrong with glass.

Contrary to popular belief, glass is durable. When we think of glass, we think of its fragility, but when selected and supported properly, glass will last for years, and look good while doing it. If you put glass in your home in those areas that are likely to take a knock or two, the solution is to use tempered glass. Tempered glass is widely available, affordable and will stand up to the bumps and bruises that would challenge ordinary glass.

Tempered glass is an ideal medium in the kitchen and bathroom. It’s heat resistant, easy to clean and can tolerate changes in temperature that ordinary flat glass can’t. Glass doesn’t readily absorb anything, so it can be cleaned and sterilized easily, using ordinary chemicals. You can also set it in doorways and window walls for extra security.

You might be thinking that the ultimate upside of glass – its transparency – is also a downside. Sometimes you don’t want to see through something – especially if it’s a backsplash or a countertop. That’s where Glassprimer™ glass paint comes in.

Glass doesn’t readily absorb anything, which means that ordinary paints – which rely on absorption to stick to surface – won’t work on glass. Glassprimer™ glass paint is specially engineered to bond to the surface of glass. Once it is cured, Glassprimer™ glass paint will not delaminate, chip or fade. It permanently alters the surface of the glass to ensure that the paint stays put.

Glassprimer™ glass paint allows you to backpaint a glass surface, which covers the surface below it (or behind it), and leave the intact glass surface facing outward. You get the benefit of a glass surface and the color options and coverage you’re looking for.
If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Pulpolox, via Flickr.com

Tesla Announces Glass Solar Panels

Tesla Announces Glass Solar Panels

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Tesla Announces Glass Solar Panels

Tesla Announces Glass Solar Panels

Whether you’re energy-conscious, interested in sustainability, or just looking for a way to improve the aesthetics of your home, Tesla might have something that captures your interest. Last week, Tesla (yes, the same company that makes electric cars), introduced a new approach to solar panels. Solar panels are typically made of specialized glass, and their design definitely puts function over form.

Many people are interested in incorporating solar energy into their homes, but solar panels weren’t really designed with aesthetics in mind. Until now. The company borrowed the homes on “Wisteria Lane” from the old Desperate Housewives set and re-roofed each abode with the company’s new solar tiles.

The tiles mimic the look of traditional roofing materials, including slate and terra cotta. There is a bit of trickery going on. Solar collectors are transparent; they need to be in order to admit sunlight. But the viewing angle is key to the visual ruse. A person standing on the ground is looking at a roof from a pretty shallow angle. As the viewing angle becomes more perpendicular, the transparency of the tile increases. At a 90° viewing angle, the Tesla solar tile is completely transparent, but frankly, no one looks at their roof from that angle, unless they’re walking around on it. From the ground, the roof tile looks completely opaque, and offers an aesthetically pleasing appearance.

The tile is made of quartz and is exceptionally strong. It’s actually stronger than typical traditional roofing materials, and can tolerate being dropped, as well as impacts from objects that might naturally encounter a roof.

Tesla’s goal is to make solar energy beautiful and affordable, even for modest homes. At the unveiling of the ccompany’s Solar Roof, Tesla CEO Elon Musk also unveiled the Powerwall 2 battery system designed to work with the tiles. His goal is to make a 14 KWh system available for under $6,000. A fully-charged system of that size could power an average sized home for a day.

The plan isn’t quite ready for takeoff, yet. The company’s Board of Directors has to approve a merger with Solar City, a solar panel installer that’s run by Musk’s cousins. Assuming he receives the green light on the plan, you could soon be buying a new, elegantly designed solar roof for your home. While roofing doesn’t have the same appeal as a Roadster in the driveway might, your home may get some curb appeal of its own.

Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specialized glass coating that bonds permanently to glass surfaces. GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store

Photo Credit: Tesla

Glass: Classic or Futuristic?

Glass: Classic or Futuristic?

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Glass: Classic or Futuristic?

Glass: Classic or Futuristic?

Interior design can be expensive, so a major remodel isn’t something that most people undertake regularly. That always raises the question of whether an interior design should take a classic or modern approach. A classic design offers the advantage of being “timeless.” A truly classic design will stand the test of time, and over time, that approach is very cost effective.

A modern design offers the advantage of being fresh and interesting. A modern design can invigorate a space and make it more attractive, functional and fun to look at or work in.

Glass has the distinct advantage of working well in both classic and modern designs. Glass is a timeless material that is exceptionally functional, cost-effective and elegant. Whether you’re working with it in furniture, walls, doors or windows, glass can work effectively in any design plan.

As an added benefit, glass is a practical material. It’s widely available, environmentally safe, infinitely recyclable and easy to work with. It’s impervious, so it won’t absorb bacteria, stains or odors, and it can be sanitized easily with ordinary household cleaners.

Glass can be used safely to laminate walls and horizontal surfaces. Backpainting the glass – which is easy – creates working surfaces that are colorful, elegant and practical. Glassprimer™ glass paint is a specially designed glass coating that bonds permanently to the surface of glass. Once cured, the paint will not chip, fade or peel and offers superior UV protection for areas that receive direct sunlight.

Glassprimer™ glass paint can also be used to control sunlight in areas that receive direct exposure. It can also be used to create privacy where desired. A gallon of Glassprimer™ glass paint will cover more than 250 square feet of surface area for about $1 per square foot. That’s actually more cost-effective than using traditional frosted glass.

As an added benefit, Glassprimer™ glass paint comes in virtually any color, so it can be matched perfectly to any color scheme. If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Ericka dot net , via Flickr.com