Whether you have an existing home or you are building a new home, one of the most beautiful and eye-catching additions you can add to your project is glass block. Aside from the obvious color options, sizes, patterns, and shapes of the block, other great features are revealed in having the blocks installed. Glass block is strong, provides lots of light, and offers security to your home. Impact-resistant glass blocks can also lower the cost of insurance premiums and add an extra element of protection to your home.
Because glass block is part of division four, with concrete masonry units, and brick, and stone, you can be sure of the incredible strength of real glass block units when adding them to an exterior window of a home. The strength comes from installing the block with support in every row, including channels and anchors. Each glass block is 3/8’s of an inch thick on each side, laid in a mortar or silicone which further adds to the durability of the glass block window or wall. With standard sizing options being 8 inches, glass block sizes for non-impact are every size within 2 inches, and the impact is available in 8-inch and 6-inch sizes.
Getting a permit to install glass block is simple, and is often a painless process. Depending on your area, replacing an existing window with glass block, may not require a permit at all. To add a new window of glass block, when a permit would be most likely required, is a simple application and most of the notice of approvals for top manufacturers can be found on this website, and have your email or fax number available.
Glass Block products are generally well accepted in the building industry for having a simple process during the permitting stages and for the added protection glass block brings to a structure, versus a standard window. Architects will agree that adding glass block will provide a new level of elegance, light, and strength to any structure while providing a beautiful centerpiece to any window opening. Glass Block is one product that offers just as much safety as it does beauty, which is something to remember when building a new home or adding to an existing home.
Impact vs. Non-impact
The fundamental difference between impact and non-impact is that the thickness of a non-impact glass block is 3/8 of an inch whereas an impact block is 3/4 of an inch thick. Though the topic of insurance premium adjustments is a largely argued debate, it is recommended that you contact your home owner’s insurance company to ask if impact glass block will lower your premiums and how much.
The purpose of impact block is for the block to be able to survive hurricanes and strong storms without shutters, but, additionally, it is a block that is strong enough to be hit with a golf ball, baseball, or accidental flying debris with little to no damage. The drawbacks to impact block is that it only comes in two sizes, 8-inch or 6-inch, but these are standard sizes, which are ordered more frequently than 4-inch or other size blocks, and only limited patterns are available for impact, including Nubio, Clarity, Cortina/Ice, and others.
It should be noted that the life span of glass blocks is a difficult question to answer, but there are structures that were built in the thirties, with glass blocks, that are still fully intact and look great. The absolute best part is that glass block requires little to no maintenance and look beautiful even ten to twenty years later.
