what is impact glass? tempered? laminated? wire?

a crack in glass dramatically weakens it. any slight force at all against it
would have caused the crack to run the rest of the way and cause the entire
pane to shatter.

regards,
charlie
http://glassartists.org/chaniarts


"dg" wrote in message
oups.com...
I recently purchased a house and one door had a crack in the impact
glass. The builder said it did not matter, so it was not repaired.
During a recent hurricane, the glass blew into the room and caused
thousands of dollars of damage from wind and rain.

Did the crack in the glass contribute to the failure of this glass?
Should this window have remained in it's frame and keep the water out
of my house?