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Glass Glazing

Glass glazing types

Glazing has a variety of types, whether it’s coated in a protective film or multiple layers of glass. Each has a unique function and picking the right one for your home can lead to significant energy savings over the lifetime of your home.

Single glazing

Single glazing refers to a single pane of glass. This is a basic glazing option, offering limited insulation and light protection. Single glazing can be made of low emissivity glass also.

Double/triple glazing (insulated glass units IGUs)

Double glazing and triple glazing refer to the number of layers of glass panes in the window or door. The addition of another layer of glass separated by air (or argon gas) and sealed by the frame has significantly better insulation capabilities than the single pane.

The performance of double and triple-glazed can be influenced by many customisable features including:

  • The type and combination of glass panes (low-e glass, clear or toned glass)
  • The filler gas separating the glass panes (this could be air, or argon gas as it is less conductive of heat energy than air)
  • The width of the glass separation (typically between 6mm and 18mm). The larger the gap, the further the heat energy would have to travel before transferring through the next pane.
  • The seal of the IGU (moisture is a no-no). this is also linked to the desiccant or drying agent located in the spacers between glass panes. This is used to absorb any moisture.
Single glazing and IGUs. Retrieved from yourhome.gov.au

Low emissivity (low-e glass)

Low-e glass is designed to reduce heat transfer through the glass pane. This can be achieved with either a durable pyrolytic coating (applied with very high heat) or a softer vacuum-deposited thin film metal coating, the latter only used in IGUs.

Low-e glass can reduce both heat transfer as well as solar heat gain.

Toned glass

Toned glass is coloured during manufacturing, generally either bronze, grey, blue, or green. Toned glass is designed to reduce the amount of visible light transmitted and the solar heat gain, though has no effect on U values.

Supertoned glass alternatively blocks out near-infrared wavelengths while allowing visible light to pass through. This allows for maximum natural lighting to enter your home while reducing

Laminated glass

Laminated glass has a plastic lamination known as an interlayer adhered between two panes of glass. If this glass shatters the shards remain adhered to the plastic layer reducing the risk of injury to the shattered glass.

Toughened glass

Toughened glass is tempered glass, able to resist high impacts. It can also be used as safety glass due to the way it breaks; into many small cubes instead of larger shards.

Toughened glass alone does not have any effect on heat or lighting efficiency.

Secondary glazing

Secondary glazing is the addition of a transparent acrylic or glass sheet to single-glazed windows or doors. This creates an air space similar to double glazing, however, the thermal performance of secondary glazing is not as high as an IGU. Secondary glazing can improve the U value and provide mild noise reduction.

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