Safety Glass

[tgalarneau]

Does anyone know of someone to install the plastic film for safety glass for passing code. I have a couple of windows to close to the doors.

Tom

[nanasohana]

This is a sore spot for us....we also had the same issue..got a reference from the inspector and called the guy out...charged us $250/ one pane glass 24"x36" took 5 min, bragged that he had 8 more to do today...pissed us off pretty bad.

[Rob Tucker]

Yeah, there's like one guy on the island that does this.... If someone is interested in making a good living on this islan they can get certified for film applied safety glass.

[Tolleys]

We are new OB - so in an effort to avoid this situation can you please explain...

The window is too close to the door which requires film to be added to the window to keep it from shattering??? How close is your door to the window? Does the door knob hit the window? What is the code issue? Do you know the code number?

thanks in advance!

Susan

[nanasohana]

The window must be at least 24" from an exterior door if it isn't safety glass. Our was 23 1/2".....1/2"[xx(]

[loffelkopffl]

theres a guy in hilo i used, i'll try and find his number, the people at the tinting place down kawili st, around the corner from the community colledge gave it to me originally

[David M]

Susan

I think the rule is safety glass for bathrooms and as Nancy said 24" from exterior door. Best to check as the windows are probably a better deal than the film and most likely are special order.

David

Ninole Resident

[Kapohocat]

Safety glass and glazing shall be according to Chapter 54 - UBC 1991.

http://www.hawaii-county.com/permits/info_const.html

This is what I can find on the net without the code books in front of me.

(Sidelights) Glazing in fixed or operable panels adjacent to a door where the nearest exposed edge of the glazing is within a 24-inch arc of either vertical edge of the door in a closed position and where the bottom exposed edge of the glazing is less than 60 inches above the walking surface (see figure xx). There is an exception for glazing separated from the door by an intervening wall or permanent barrier. 7. Glazing in an individual fixed or operable panel, other than those locations described in Items 5 and 6, that meets all of the following conditions (see figure 3): • Exposed area of an individual pane greater than 9 square feet (0.84 m2). • Exposed bottom edge less than 18 inches (457 mm)above the floor. • Exposed top edge greater than 36 inches (914 mm) above the floor. • One or more walking surfaces within 36 inches (914 mm) horizontally of the plane of the glazing. There is an exception to item 7 when there is a minimum 1 1/2” wide protective bar on the accessible sides of the glass and placed at a height between 34” and 38” above the walking surface. Note: “Art glass” in doors, sidelights, and large low windows is exempt if it is leaded, faceted, carved or, decorative. The idea is to prevent accidental breakage from someone not seeing the glass, and to reduce the temptation to break such a piece of glass when someone has lost their key. Glass blocks are also exempt. The “art glass” exemption does not apply to shower enclosures (figure 4). 8. Glazing in railings regardless of height above a walking surface. Included are structural baluster panels and nonstructural in-fill panels. 9. Glazing in walls and fences used as the barrier for indoor and outdoor swimming pools and spas must be safety glass if the bottom edge of the glass is lower than 60 inches above the pool side of the glass and the glass is within 5 feet of the edge of the pool or spa. 10. Glazing in walls enclosing stairway landings or within 5 feet (1525 mm) of the bottom and top of stairways where the bottom edge of the glass is less than 60 inches (1525 mm) above a walking surface.
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Figure 4 – Though it is understandable the the occupants could desire “privacy glass” in this situation, there is no exemption for glass in tub or shower enclosures. Wardrobe door mirrors (figure 5) are not required to be safety glass. However, they must meet the impact resistance requirements of safety glass. There is typically a marking indicating the suitability of the material on the back of the door. Impact resistance is usually achieved by laminating to a paper backing. Figure 5 – Wardrobe mirrors must meet the impact resistance test for safety glass. Glass in skylights or sloped glazing (more than 15 degrees off vertical) must be wired, plastic, laminated, heat-strengthened, or fully tempered. For all but plastic and laminated, if the skylight is below 10 feet above the floor surface a screen must be placed under it and be capable of supporting the weight of the glass. Screens may be omitted in individual dwelling units using fully tempered glass provided each pane does not exceed 16 square feet, and the glass is not more than 12 feet above the walking surface or other accessible area. Skylights must also be capable of sustaining snow loads. How can you tell if it is safety glass? Figure 6 – Safety glass “bug” Sometimes it is difficult to tell if a particular piece of glass is actually safety glass. The date of manufacture and construction might be a general guideline, but there are always those replacement shower doors that could have come from anywhere, and we should verify the presence of safety glass by looking for a “bug” in the corner of the glass (Figure 6). The requirements for etching the corner of tempered glass have been in place since the code first began mentioning tempered glass. Per UBC section 2406.2, the only exception for marking is the spandrel glass in a multi-lite door. These are the small triangular sections of glass that are near the intersection of the rails and stiles.
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When a building is constructed, there are often large paper stickers on the glass, indicating that they are tempered (figure 7). These stickers are to help the installer place the window in the correct room; they are not a substitute for the required etched label. Figure 7 – The stickers are to tell the installer where to place the window. They are not a substitute for the required etched label. When was it required? Inspectors are often asked whether a specific glass installation met code at the time of construction, and if replacing the glass would be considered a necessary repair or an upgraded safety enhancement. Remember that the Standards of Practice make no such distinction– in fact they define a safety hazard as something that might be considered dangerous because of a change in the accepted construction standard. Likewise, a Realtor or landlord would probably not be putting himself or herself in a very good spot if they fought to keep a dangerous situation and later saw it result in a serious injury. The inspectors’ role is to point out the defect, not to decide who fixes it. Most things that we now call as defects in safety glazing conformed to code at the time of construction. Remember that the person with greatest liability would be the installer if they violated the standards of the glazing industry. The glazing industry will often be following a newer and more restrictive code even before the local jurisdiction has adopted it. Inspectors occasionally find an older door that has been relocated into a remodel, or a situation where the windows intended for the whirlpool tub area ended up being installed in the bedroom. Those situations would be violations of the code at time of installation, and they are rare. The important thing inspectors need to remember is that the glass will not stop to read the code before it decides to cut someone. Bearing in mind the previous statement, we might still find it interesting to see how the codes evolved into their present form. Remember that the changes in these codes were driven by real-world accidents, with injuries and deaths causing each step toward a safer code. The following is a thumbnail history of the code evolution: 1961 - Section 1711 states that glass used in doors and panels of shower and bathtub enclosures shall be at least 7/32” thick and an approved type of wire-reinforced, tempered, or laminated safety glass. Shatter-resistant plastics are allowed, and shower doors must open outward. 1964 –Chapter 54 “Glass and Glazing” appears for the first time in the Uniform Building Code. Glass with special characteristics, such as laminated, heat-strengthened, or tempered, is required to be identified by etching or other permanent means. Areas subject to impact hazards are defined as: (1) Glass doors and wall panels of bathtub and shower enclosures (2) Areas where the bottom of the glass is within 18 inches of the floor or a walking surface (3) Glass lights of glass panel doors. Glass in those locations could be wired, fully tempered, or laminated. Plate or rolled (annealed) glass is also allowed in those areas if protected by a push-bar and protective screen on the exposed side(s). The height and size of these barriers was not specified. Frameless glass doors were required to be tempered glass. Decorative glass was exempt, as were window openings in residential structures less than 4 stories and in residential garages. 1967 – Chapter 54 increased the minimum thickness for glass in shower and tub enclosures to 3/16” for tempered and 1/4” for laminated. In 1970 these same dimensions were added to section 1711. Glass lights with no dimension greater than 18 inches or less than 6 feet in total area were exempt. 1970 – Wire-reinforced glass is dropped from the list of approved materials for showers. 1973 – 1979 – No major changes
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1982 –Many of today’s codes originated in 1982. The size at which low windows must be safety glass was raised to 9 square feet, and wire glass was dropped from the list of methods for these low windows. A 1 1/2” wide protective bar could exempt these low windows if the bar was between 24” and 36” above the walking surface. The area for sidelights was defined as the area in the same plane as the door and within 12” of a vertical edge of the door and with a portion of the glass below 60 inches from floor level. The size at which windows in a swinging door had to be safety glass was reduced to anything through which a 3-inch sphere could pass (the “baseball” rule”). 1985 – No major changes 1988 – Skylights were added to chapter 54. Glass in railings, regardless of height above walking surface, is added to chapter 54. 1991 - All glass in residences in areas with a minimum basic wind speed exceeding 80 MPH must be safety glazing. The sidelight zone is expanded to within 24 inches of the vertical edge of a swinging door (figure 8), and now includes glass that is not necessarily in the same plane as the door. Figure 8 – These windows were not required to be safety glass at the time of construction, though by present code they are considered sidelights and require safety glass. 1991 (continued) Glass in enclosures, including the walls, surrounding tubs, showers, spas, hot tubs, whirlpools, saunas, and steam rooms must be safety glass. For glazing in exterior walls of such locations, the rule applies if the lower edge of the glass is less than 60” above the drain inlet and standing surface. The rules for impact resistance in figure 3 are defined in the code. 1994 – Chapter 54 is renumbered and becomes chapter 24. The rules for enclosures near pools and spas are added, as well as the rules for glazing in walls enclosing the top or bottom of stairway landings if the bottom edge of the glass is within 60 inches of the walking surface. 2000 – The International Residential Code is published, replacing earlier CABO, BOCA, SBCCI, and ICBO codes. The rules for safety glazing are identical to the 1997 UBC, including the appendix chapter on glazing near swimming pools. Figure 10 – The rules for safety glazing apply to mirrors in a tub enclosure. Further information on the properties of glass can be obtained on the web at http://www.nrc.ca or http://canada.gc.ca. Thanks to Jerry McCarthy and Bob Fennema for assistance with this article Douglas Hansen is the author of Electrical Inspection of Existing Dwellings and the co-author of Code Check, Code Check West, Code Check HVAC, Code Check Plumbing, and Code Check Electrical. He retired from home inspection in 1995. He is the technical editor of the “The Inspector” - the magazine for the California Real Estate Inspection Association. This article originally appeared in the November 1999 issue of The Inspector.

Catherine Dumond
Blue Water Project Management
808 965-9261
"We help make building your dream home a reality"

[Menehune]

Here is a PDF file from "Code Check" the BIBLE for Home Inspectors on saftey glass - it has PICTURES!

I would prefer to replace the out of code glass than to just FILM it, especially if only one side is filmed.

http://www.codecheck.com/images/SafetyGl...icle07.pdf

Joey

Time will tell - I'm listening?
Time will tell - I should have been speaking?