The Do’s and Don’ts of Glass in Your Build

Choosing the right glazing for various rooms.

Glass that's going to perform well in most cases. 5 mil gray monolithic glass is light gray laminate, which is a another good option for.

Hey, guys, welcome to the Builder's Edge. I'm Norm Wales from Norm Wales Constructions. Now, for me, the whole purpose of this podcast here is, is to bring a little bit more awareness around the construction industry. I've been feeling for many, many years that there's not enough helpful information out there to support you guys to make the right choice. Now, we are a smaller family independent building company and we're not here to build everybody's home, but we would definitely.

Love to be able to work with.

You to facilitate your dream home. But if we don't build your new home, we want you to be able to make the right decision in choosing the right builder for you. So hopefully the information that I'm able to provide through this podcast can be informative and helpful that you can now create your dream home. So I hope you enjoy and thanks for watching.

All right, Kerry, welcome back to another episode of the Builder's Edge. Mate, great to have you on board.

Thank you, mate.

I just wanted to jump in and sort of discuss, you know, what are the key considerations for choosing the right glazing for various rooms.

Well, I'd say probably one of the, the main things is the elevations, so you know, which side the sun comes up side, you know, that sort of thing. So on those elevations you'd want to go a glass that's going to perform well and, and actually reduce that heat radiation coming into your home.

So if you're getting that sort of, you know, harsh western sun melting through there, you want to sort of be aware of that, sort of make sure that you're not going to have that, you know, coming into the bedrooms or your kitchen or wherever that happens to be. But I guess that comes down to designing the home, you know, efficiently to start with. But I guess then you've got so many different types of glazing that can accommodate that as well. Is that correct?

Yeah, that's right. In most cases, 5 mil gray monolithic glass is. It ticks most of the boxes, but you know, there are other choices out there with light gray laminate, which is a. Another good option for, for scenarios like that. It's not as dark as the 5 mil monolithic glass, but it performs quite well as. As well.

Yeah. And look, look. And I guess in just in that short there, mate, like that's something we do standard at normal construction you know, I mean, like, we, I guess, use a, a higher standard of glazing as standard. That's what our standards are. But, you know, I guess other people might call that premium or platinum something, you know, but I guess when it comes down to comparing things and looking at things equally, you know, you'll have another company there potentially just using clear glass.

Yeah.

Like, they're not comparing the same products.

No.

To begin with.

And with the price difference between going clear glass or going 5 mil glass, it's. It's really not that much. You know, you might be looking at about 500 bucks over a house. Like.

Yeah, look, and it might be minimal in some what. So, but I guess different health loss and different sizes and things change, but like $50 here, $100 there, $500, $1,000 across various trades adds up. And obviously with cost of living and where things are, you know, everything comes down to a price point. But then you're going to get builders that are going through trying to squeeze prices down and put lesser products into a home to win a job. That sounds so great. But then the poor homeowner, you know, for as little as $500 or a couple of thousand dollars here or there, you know, could have a far superior product. But, you know, I guess everyone's got a budget they're going to work to. But it's, you know, informing the homeowner that sometimes spending that little bit more in places can be a little bit more viable.

Yeah. And it's also about educating that customer to let them know what is out there, what, how things will perform. Like, if you're using gray glass like we just spoke about, it's going to, it's going to look after your energy efficiency. You're not going to have to use your air conditioner as much. And, you know, it's like floor coverings, for example. If you've got gray glass, it knocks down those UVs. It'll stop things fading. The flooring, your furniture. Yeah.

And like, I think we've all seen that firsthand. You know, it definitely has an impact of, you know, the sun belting in through the window there.

Definitely.

But like, you know, so really choosing, you know, poor glazing, you know, the effects that it has on the indoor comfort and energy cost there, you know, can be quite substantial. Or if you start saying, okay, you're going to start, you know, having clear glass and you've got the sun belting in, but then you're running your aircon 24 7, or you're damaging Your floor coverings and your furniture and stuff, it's all extra cost to replace that. But long term, what you're spending to upkeep all that there, you know, for the small outlay that you get out late at the beginning. Yeah, it far outweighs itself.

Oh, definitely, definitely.

You know, it's. It's quite interesting that there. And, you know, unfortunate to see that people put themselves in that position. But would you think they follow that yellow brick road because of maybe the lack of education to builders discuss with the consumer?

Yeah, 100%. That's why I always, yeah. With new builders and stuff like that, I will, I'll encourage them to send that customer into the showroom to have a look at the different products and the selection range just so that we can give them a. You know, I know the builder has to deal with a lot of trades and whatnot, but if they don't, if they're not confident in actually educating the customer to what's out there, they're not going to know. So if they come in, it's sort of. We can educate them a little bit so that they can say, hey, we want to have grey glass or we want to have Igu glass in our southern side or what? You know, what? Not so, I guess.

Look, tell me a little bit more about that there. Like, there's so many different types of glazing that obviously if the customer comes in, you're there to support them and explain that there.

Yeah, definitely.

And like, on the flip note, you've got, let's just say your competitors that are out there, do they have the knowledge, the showrooms and the expertise that you guys do to be able to provide an equal comparison?

Not really. Like. Well, I suppose they're going to be trying to upsell. I don't try and upsell a product. I just try and give them what they will. Educate them to start with and let them make the choice, not push something on them because it's going to cost more money or, you know, better. Our company just educating and just letting them make the right choices.

Yeah, like, obviously picking the right product for the right place. Yeah, yeah, no, that's, that's a fair call there, mate. And like, I guess the things, mate, like how, like, how well, you know, can you do things by placing, like, glazing in, you know, certain areas? You know, like, how much of a difference is that really going to make, do you think? Like, do you really feel the investment that people could potentially do if they decided to work with a GJ's? Product and spend that little bit more. Do you really think it's going to make a difference long term?

Yeah, definitely. Like if they make the right choices or if they're, you know, been in shown what's available. And like, for example, like bathrooms, great for ventilation, louvers, kitchens, lounge rooms, combo units with fixed glass so you can see out, see the ocean. Having louvers coupled to them as well for maximum airflow.

It's definitely right there. Like, louvers have done a bit of a full cycle trend over the years that I've been in the industry and I must admit, I actually love louvers, you know. Yes. They're more of a premium product and you're paying for that there, but just opening them that little bit.

Yeah.

You know, the ventilation, the airflow that you get to them. Yes. You know, like everything has its, you know, advantages and disadvantages. So obviously it's a little bit more glass to clean and that's play around a little bit more. But that's the things you've got to weigh up. What's going to be more beneficial, you know, for the consumer and get the maximum out of the home. Like by being able to crack a louver blade open. Yeah. And ventilate your whole home. You don't need to turn fans on, don't put aircons on, you know, so like you're saving tenfold, aren't you?

Yeah, yeah. Even with double hungs, like having them in a bathroom where you've got a, a sheer face wall or you've only got a, a small amount of overhang, you can, and it's raining, you can crack that window down and not have water come gushing in and you, you get that ventilation still. So every different window's got different applications to suit every room in the house, really.

And I guess that's where it comes down to working closely with your builder and the designer and, you know, working on the elements of the actual build itself and how you can maximize those zones, isn't it?

Yeah. And maximizing space, like from a lounge room and a kitchen, having corner doors or something like that, you can really open up that outdoor to indoor area and, and just make everything flow.

So I guess like, that would be some of the innovative ideas, you know, that homeowners could consider.

Yeah.

You know, when trying to do something a little bit different, you think like, you know, you can go to those, you know, corner doors and things like that or, you know, getting into these louvre blades. Like, is there anything else, you know, innovative in the glazing area at the moment that you could recommend to people.

Well, like I touched on earlier about the light gray laminate. That's, that's a really good product. It's, it's, it's a laminated glass. It's only a light gray, so it doesn't make your house look like a dungeon at night time. It just takes away that sharp glare from outside. It's got a lot of characteristics about the glass that make it really supreme. It's laminated, so it's got really good sound properties. So it'll actually reduce sound transmission through your windows into your home. It's got safety, so it is an A grade safety glass. So if someone was to fall into it, they're not going to, you know, shut a glass everywhere. It can also be used for security because, you know, like, like people say, oh, we'll put a security screen over the fi, like over the slider, but they'll just smash the fixed panel and get in. Yeah, in that scenario they're not going to be able to like. There's a video that we have on our website which shows a bit of a sample of a guy with a crowbar and he goes, you know, goes ham on this, you know, piece of float glass, smashes it in like three hits. Then there's another one of this light gray laminate. It takes him like 65 hits from memory. It was an incredible amount for him to get access into that home and.

And something very similar to that there. It's like, you know, you obviously are an agent with the Crimsafe, so, you know, sort of thing. So obviously it's a fantastic product in itself, but there's many other products that try to compete with that there. And there are videos out there to show as well. Like, okay, you can have a, you know, imitative Crim Safe here and Crim Safe on the other side and the times it takes them to break in and get into those things. So when it comes down to, you know, picking different products and that like that, like, you know, do you believe it's really important that the consumer actually, you know, really digests that information and understands the difference between the two?

Oh, definitely. With Crimsafe, if you look on their website, they've got special testing where, where they put so much weight on, on certain rigs with a screen in it to show how much pressure it takes to actually get in and how much Newton force it actually takes to damage the framework. And they'd also do tests on, you know, these other, other brands that proclaim that they're just as secure and they don't last or they don't, they don't work that well.

And is that like a bit of a pitfall, you know, for the consumers and homeowners there that are, you know, looking at getting screens. So for example and you know, they ask for Crim Safe and their builder knows it's far superior user the agent for that there. But then potentially our builder goes to another glazing company that uses a similar product, let's call it, you know, but it's not Crim Safe. And then they believe they're getting the same product because. Called a screen of some sort.

Yeah.

Is it fair to sort of say that they've been sort of misled to believe that it's actually is the same.

100 and the difference between Crimsafe and some of these other ones. You know, you've got the Crimsafe out of frame, it's all screw clamped. It's actually got a structural fixing from the frame into that, into that mesh. So it's structurally held in there. Whereas some of the other ones are just a framework. The mesh has been dropped onto it and a bead has been put into that to hold it in. So I've broken a lot of customers hearts when I've gone to, to say just a, a general person's home and they said oh, we want to get another Crim Safe and you look at their, their back door and you're like that's it's not Crim Safe but we can give you Crim Safe for the rest. And they've been told no it was Crim Safe and you got to break their heart. And it, yeah, yeah, it sort of hurts.

Disappointed they misled down that avenue there. Like I guess, you know, that that's you know, part of the do's and the don'ts of the construction world. They're like, you know, know people obviously want as much as they possibly can but they'll obviously to work into perimeters of where budgets and things are, which is, you know, fully understandable. But it's a matter of comparing things equally to begin with. Yeah. And then I, I guess once they can digest that they're you know, understanding the product that they're actually selecting so they, they can compare things equally in apples to apples.

And at the end of the day like the Crimsafe is not too much dearer than the other rip off ones because they're still using a stainless steel mesh. But it's, it's just the labor of not having screw clamps that they sort of pick that money up.

No, mate, that's been very insightful there. So, mate, like, obviously want to thank you for what you've shared here with us today. And like always, I like to ask one last question and we'll jump into the jar and see what we come up with today. All right? Caring. So if you could send a message to the entire world in 30 seconds, what would you say?

When it's in regards to the building industry, I would say do the research, look around, jump on the net. I. I get customers who will know just as much as I do to a degree, and they know what they want already. And that. That is actually fantastic. So that would be my number one thing, would be just do your research, ask questions.

Yeah, no, like that, mate. Like, they're definitely. The more informed people can be, you know, the better they're in a position to make the best choice for themselves. That's great.

All right.

Like always, mate, thanks again for that and appreciate you coming on and sharing everything you have.

So easy. Thank you.

Thanks, guys.

Cheers.