People living in areas where hurricanes are catastrophic natural disasters have a role in protecting their homes from damaging winds and flying debris. Every time a storm is about to fall, homeowners barricade their windows using plywood as a form of protection. Even though plywood offer protection to windows, it is not always the best way to go.
Many mechanisms to protect windows exist over plywood. This is hurricane shutters and the impact glass windows that does an excellent job in resisting hurricane occurrence.
Increasingly, impact windows are becoming the standard way for hurricane protection though it’s not uncommon for homeowners to doubt whether their home windows are impact resistant or not.
The main denotable feature in impact resistant window is the shattered glass fastened on a heavy duty frame. Impact resistant lenses have two layers of glass bonded toward each other by a layer of polyvinyl butaryl (PVB). In case of the outer layer breaks, the shattered pieces adhere to PVB film. Even after the glass is hit with a heavy object, the crack does not allow in water or wind, unlike other ordinary glass.
Generally, there exist few tips to ascertain your window glass is impact resistant. Here they are for you.
The mark should consist of the name of the supplier, manufacturing date, location of fabrication, and any other safety standards.
Most often the manufacturer mark is at one corner of the glass, but if cutting was done in a way that the mark was excluded, the manufacturer might attach a temporary label that describes the nature of the glass. Be sure to check on it.
If there is no mark on glass, use your hands and hold an object over the glass and examine at its reflection. Since the impact resistant glass has two sheets of layer, you should be able to visualise the two-layer in the reflection.
In conclusion, impact resistant windows are installed for protection from a hurricane. If you are not sure whether your window is impact resistant, follow the above tips or talk to an expert for help.