I just priced the windows for the last room in my 100 yr old house.

One of the options the salesman offered was tempered glass. My
first instinct was 'sure, why not?' -- but the more I think about it,
I have trouble justifying the extra $2-300 for 3 windows.

These are second floor windows- not in a high wind area, though there
are trees nearby. They are not within range of any golf balls,
baseballs, or other missiles. The windows that are there now have
survived 110+ years without shattering. [likely the original windows
as all the panes have bubbles and imperfections]

So is there something else I'm missing that makes tempered a
worthwhile investment?

If the size of the pane makes a difference- 2 windows are 30x36 double
hungs- so the panes are about 26x15. The other is a 74x36 slider-
panes probably about 35x32.

They are Andersen 400s with the Smartsun LowE-4 glass.
[still open to suggestions if anyone has strong feelings about these
or other windows]

Jim

On Jul 31, 2:54*pm, Jim Elbrecht wrote:
I just priced the windows for the last room in my 100 yr old house.

One of the options the salesman offered was tempered glass. * *My
first instinct was 'sure, why not?' -- but the more I think about it,
I have trouble justifying the extra $2-300 for 3 windows.

These are second floor windows- not in a high wind area, though there
are trees nearby. * * They are not within range of any golf balls,
baseballs, or other missiles. * The windows that are there now have
survived 110+ years without shattering. [likely the original windows
as all the panes have bubbles and imperfections]

So is there something else I'm missing that makes tempered a
worthwhile investment?

If the size of the pane makes a difference- 2 windows are 30x36 double
hungs- so the panes are about 26x15. * The other is a 74x36 slider-
panes probably about 35x32.

They are Andersen 400s with the Smartsun LowE-4 glass.
[still open to suggestions if anyone has strong feelings about these
or other windows]

Code only requires tempered or laminated glass in certain situations,
so unless the window glass is immediately adjacent to a door, within
18" of the floor, in a hurricane area, within 1 mile of the ocean, or
within 5' vertically of the floor of a tub, you don't need it. Save
the money.

I'm actually kind of surprised that the price difference isn't bigger.

R

On Sat, 31 Jul 2010 14:54:53 -0400, Jim Elbrecht
wrote:

I just priced the windows for the last room in my 100 yr old house.

One of the options the salesman offered was tempered glass. My
first instinct was 'sure, why not?' -- but the more I think about it,
I have trouble justifying the extra $2-300 for 3 windows.

Even I would spend the extra $2. grin.

These are second floor windows- not in a high wind area, though there
are trees nearby. They are not within range of any golf balls,
baseballs, or other missiles. The windows that are there now have
survived 110+ years without shattering. [likely the original windows
as all the panes have bubbles and imperfections]

Don't they have historic value?

So is there something else I'm missing that makes tempered a
worthwhile investment?

The only times windows get broken is from baseballs and shootings.
Does your next door neighbor want to shoot you?

If the size of the pane makes a difference- 2 windows are 30x36 double
hungs- so the panes are about 26x15. The other is a 74x36 slider-
panes probably about 35x32.

They are Andersen 400s with the Smartsun LowE-4 glass.
[still open to suggestions if anyone has strong feelings about these
or other windows]

Jim

Jim Elbrecht wrote:

One of the options the salesman offered was tempered glass. My
first instinct was 'sure, why not?' -- but the more I think about it,
I have trouble justifying the extra $2-300 for 3 windows.

These are second floor windows- not in a high wind area, though there
are trees nearby. They are not within range of any golf balls,
baseballs, or other missiles. The windows that are there now have
survived 110+ years without shattering. [likely the original windows
as all the panes have bubbles and imperfections]

So is there something else I'm missing that makes tempered a
worthwhile investment?

Tempered glass is usually only required where there is a high probability of
someone slipping or falling nearby and putting a head, arm or other body part
through the glass. In most residental applications not on a golf course, that
means in the bathroom or in sliding doors. Can't imagine why you'd want the
expense in a standard window. Your local code may vary.

mm wrote:

On Sat, 31 Jul 2010 14:54:53 -0400, Jim Elbrecht
wrote:

-snip-
The windows that are there now have
survived 110+ years without shattering. [likely the original windows
as all the panes have bubbles and imperfections]

Don't they have historic value?

Maybe- you can have them if you want them. Otherwise I'll take the
sashes & panes to the habitat store. It isn't worth messing with the
frames. I used to take them out in one piece-- but now I hack them
apart with a reciprocating saw.


So is there something else I'm missing that makes tempered a
worthwhile investment?

The only times windows get broken is from baseballs and shootings.
Does your next door neighbor want to shoot you?

Only have one & he's on the other side of the house. I can't see the
ones facing these 2 walls.g

Jim

RicodJour wrote:

On Jul 31, 2:54*pm, Jim Elbrecht wrote:
I just priced the windows for the last room in my 100 yr old house.

One of the options the salesman offered was tempered glass. * *My
first instinct was 'sure, why not?' -- but the more I think about it,
I have trouble justifying the extra $2-300 for 3 windows.

-snip-

Code only requires tempered or laminated glass in certain situations,
so unless the window glass is immediately adjacent to a door, within
18" of the floor, in a hurricane area, within 1 mile of the ocean, or
within 5' vertically of the floor of a tub, you don't need it. Save
the money.

Thanks- that seems to be consensus- I'll see if I can spend that
money someplace else.


Jim

On Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:48:58 -0400, wrote:

On Sat, 31 Jul 2010 13:53:28 -0600, Robert Neville
wrote:

Jim Elbrecht wrote:

One of the options the salesman offered was tempered glass. My
first instinct was 'sure, why not?' -- but the more I think about it,
I have trouble justifying the extra $2-300 for 3 windows.

These are second floor windows- not in a high wind area, though there
are trees nearby. They are not within range of any golf balls,
baseballs, or other missiles. The windows that are there now have
survived 110+ years without shattering. [likely the original windows
as all the panes have bubbles and imperfections]

So is there something else I'm missing that makes tempered a
worthwhile investment?

Tempered glass is usually only required where there is a high probability of
someone slipping or falling nearby and putting a head, arm or other body part
through the glass. In most residental applications not on a golf course, that
means in the bathroom or in sliding doors. Can't imagine why you'd want the
expense in a standard window. Your local code may vary.


Tempered glass is not part of the wind code. If you have "impact
rated" windows, they are not tempered they are sandwich glass like a
windshield, except heavier. My impact sliders have 9/16" glass and
each 36 x 80 panel weighs almost 300 pounds.

SOME impact glass is laminated AND tempered. Expensive stuff, because
the glass needs to be cut to size, then oven tempered, THEN laminated.
Cannot be cut.

Jim Elbrecht wrote:
I just priced the windows for the last room in my 100 yr old house.

One of the options the salesman offered was tempered glass. My
first instinct was 'sure, why not?' -- but the more I think about it,
I have trouble justifying the extra $2-300 for 3 windows.

So is there something else I'm missing that makes tempered a
worthwhile investment?

One day, about 40 years ago, the police came and told everybody in the
kuldesak to move their cars out of the street. A few minutes later, a
medivac helicoptor landed there and took the little girl who lived in
the house farthest to the left to the hospital. She had run through
sliding door made of untempered glass, and her torso was pierced by a
very large shard. She died at the hospital that day. The next day,
my father put metal bracing over all our sliding glass doors but had
everything replaced with tempered glass.

She lived in the house farthest to the left:

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/9889/housesa.jpg

On Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:53:45 -0700 (PDT), wrote:



Jim Elbrecht wrote:
I just priced the windows for the last room in my 100 yr old house.

One of the options the salesman offered was tempered glass. My
first instinct was 'sure, why not?' -- but the more I think about it,
I have trouble justifying the extra $2-300 for 3 windows.

So is there something else I'm missing that makes tempered a
worthwhile investment?

One day, about 40 years ago, the police came and told everybody in the
kuldesak to move their cars out of the street. A few minutes later, a
medivac helicoptor landed there and took the little girl who lived in
the house farthest to the left to the hospital. She had run through
sliding door made of untempered glass, and her torso was pierced by a
very large shard. She died at the hospital that day. The next day,
my father put metal bracing over all our sliding glass doors but had
everything replaced with tempered glass.

She lived in the house farthest to the left:

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/9889/housesa.jpg

When my wife was a girl she ran through a slider, too. When they were pulling
stitches out of her leg they lost count at 500. She had a lot of leg problems
for decades after that (no issues now). That was in the days before safety
glass was required.

On Jul 31, 1:54*pm, Jim Elbrecht wrote:
I just priced the windows for the last room in my 100 yr old house.

One of the options the salesman offered was tempered glass. * *My
first instinct was 'sure, why not?' -- but the more I think about it,
I have trouble justifying the extra $2-300 for 3 windows.

These are second floor windows- not in a high wind area, though there
are trees nearby. * * They are not within range of any golf balls,
baseballs, or other missiles. * The windows that are there now have
survived 110+ years without shattering. [likely the original windows
as all the panes have bubbles and imperfections]

So is there something else I'm missing that makes tempered a
worthwhile investment?

If the size of the pane makes a difference- 2 windows are 30x36 double
hungs- so the panes are about 26x15. * The other is a 74x36 slider-
panes probably about 35x32.

They are Andersen 400s with the Smartsun LowE-4 glass.
[still open to suggestions if anyone has strong feelings about these
or other windows]

Jim

Andersen makes great glass you should check out the process at their
website. They have a better condensing rating than pella, mine
condense easily the andersens dont. Is this a factory install or a
local, because if a non factory rep you have to check plumb, level and
square before you pay because if anything is 1/8" or more out it isnt
covered by Andersens warranty from day one. Read your warranty
exclusions. Forget the tempered option. My Andersens are actualy
clearer than other glass I have and they honor thier warranty. If you
dont have an andersen co install it get their rep out to verify it to
being accepted as not improper, so you get the warranty. It should
only cost 100$ I had the rep out to late, after I paid, and the
installer would not come back to fix several windows.

On Sat, 31 Jul 2010 14:54:53 -0400, Jim Elbrecht wrote:

just priced the windows for the last room in my 100 yr old house.

One of the options the salesman offered was tempered glass. My first
instinct was 'sure, why not?' -- but the more I think about it, I have
trouble justifying the extra $2-300 for 3 windows.

I had some skateboard punk try to bash out my front window after an
altercation late one night when the SOB was skating up and down my street
around midnight. Sitting in my driveway enjoying the nighttime air and
sounds of crickets etc...in a quiet neighborhood, I was incensed at this
punk and his so called "right to ride my skateboard wherever and whenever
I want" attitude. Some words were exchanged and I threatened to kick his
ass as he skated off. An hour later as I was hidden in the darkness this
punk decided to bash on my front window with his skateboard. Little did
he know it was a tempered window and although it sounded like he took his
best shots (3) the window remained unscathed as he skated off with me and
my baseball bat at his heels. Moral to the story, glad I paid the extra
money for the special glass.

In article ,
mm wrote:

The only times windows get broken is from baseballs and shootings.

The glass companies who replaced thousands of windows in my hometown
after the last big hailstorm disagree. My brother lost at least a dozen
that time. (Tens of thousands of new cars sitting on dealers' lots were
also destroyed.)

On Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:36:23 -0700, Smitty Two
wrote:

In article ,
mm wrote:

The only times windows get broken is from baseballs and shootings.

The glass companies who replaced thousands of windows in my hometown
after the last big hailstorm disagree. My brother lost at least a dozen
that time. (Tens of thousands of new cars sitting on dealers' lots were
also destroyed.)


Sorry. I don't have experience with hail that big.

mm wrote:
....

Sorry. I don't have experience with hail that big.

Welcome to midwest...

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/hailstone-may-set-record_2010-07-27?page=2

The one in SD earlier this year left holes in roofs that looked to be a
foot in diameter from pictures I saw on TV news.

The last major one here (far SW KS) was in '05 that didn't have
record-setting size but was from golf- to tennis- to a few
baseball-sized stones combined w/ 80-90 mph winds that lasted nearly 45
minutes.

There was hardly a single window left on either the north or east side
of any residence or office building in the northern 2-3rds of town; the
hail tapered off significantly farther south. (We missed the hail track
entirely at the farm 4-miles east of the south side of town. It passed
about 2 mi north. A storm from the NE is extremely rare out here w/ the
prevailing weather patterns and almost always is a bugger when it does
occur.)

I saw two incredible events from that storm -- the first was a hailstone
thru a insulated-pane storm window that had sufficient residual wind
force behind it to penetrate the half-inch sheetrock on other wall 10-ft
away on interior wall of the apartment.

The second was the siding was totally shredded up to about three feet
off the ground on the Sonic drive-in _beyond_ the covered drive-in
awnings. Demonstrated the wind strength behind it to have such a path
to be so far off the ground at impact when had to clear the outer roof
edge...

--

responding to
http://www.homeownershub.com/mainten...ws-456716-.htm
TrueCHoJiN wrote:
I know this is a late reply, but may help someone looking into whether or
not a tempered window is required in certain situations...

MN Building Codes require, along with tempered glass within 5\' of a
bathtub, tempered windows in any stair wells.