Laminated Glass

Laminated glass is frequently used for shop fronts and it consists of two pieces of glass containing a sandwich of plastic interlayer but it has the same strength as ordinary glass. In case the glass breaks, this interlayer holds the whole piece in place so there is no hole left in the window for an intruder to get in through. As mentioned previously, the laminated glass can be found at shop fronts and in-car windscreens.

Toughened Glass

In order to break a toughened glass, the intruder has to hit it much harder because it is up to five times as strong as ordinary glass, and when it breaks, it splits into a lot of small pieces which are much less dangerous. The toughened glass can be found at bus stops and phone boxes, and you might have noticed places where it has been smashed into small pieces on the floor.

Standard Annealed Glass

The standard annealed glass is used in every other window where safety glazing is not required and once broken, it breaks into jagged pieces. Burglars would almost never try and gain entry through this type of glazing so there is no need to replace this type.

Why are we informing you on Laminated and Toughened Glass?

As a glass installation and repair company, we have seen a rise in burglars gaining entry through doors and shop front where a toughened glass had been installed.

We at Majestic Shop Fronts now advise our customers to have laminated glass in any areas where safety glass is needed on the ground floor. Look at the picture of the standard glass and imagine how easy it would be for a burglar to break one of the panes of the toughened or standard glass.

How do you know whether or not you have Toughened or Laminated glass?

You will need to look in the corners of the glass in question for a kitemark which will state whether or not it’s toughened or laminated.

Laminated Kitemark code is bs en 14449
Toughened Kitemark code is bs en 12150

How can we help

If your existing glazing is toughened and you would like to upgrade to laminated, it will be a very easy and cost effective job of just replacing the glass, no new frames or doors are needed and nothing gets damaged, the only way you would be able to notice the difference is by looking at the kite mark.

We hope this blog has been some use to you in explaining the benefits of laminated glass.