Glass Thickness

[TTS]

This may sound like a dumb question.. but it's honest..

On all of my film to Glass charts there are usually 3 different glass 'thickness's' to choose from.

My question is: Is there a 'general' standard like residential usually 1/4" panes and commercial usually 3/8" panes ?? or is it all over the board ??

Also.. is there a good way to quickly check thickness on dual pane units ? or not without a meter ?

Thank You in advance!

[TINTZEUS]

yea,......look at the glass..........

[Ryker]

1/4 inch glass is thick. Very large plate glass ie 60" x 90" will only be 1/4 most of the time....residential glass will be more like 1/8" or less sometimes.

[Guest darkdan]

Just look at the side of it.

If you end up thinking everything is 3/8" we know you're used to egxagerating size.

I don't care what you say or how big your monitor is. This:

<----------------------------------------------------->

Is NOT 9 inches.

[TINTZEUS]

[Tinitman]

Go buy a thickness gauge or get a thickness card from your distributor. If they have no clue what you are talking about, find another distributor.

If you want to get into this business, get serious about it and quit guessing

[Guest vclimber]

Two words...

Merlin Laser

[TTS]

This is why I asked.. I have yet to take on any flat installs because I KNOW beyond the shadow of a doubt that I have a LOT to learn about glass...

I have been looking at different glass and just plugging things into my F2G chart to see what kind of film I 'could' install. Whenever I 'look' at the edge of the glass it seems impossible to 'guess' how thick it is.

Yesterday when I wrote this I was looking at the glass in the commercial unit I am renting and would swear it was 1/8".. but I have the build sheets and it is specked 1/4"

I guess I was just fishing for a 'trick of the trade'... but I see it's time to quit fishing and invest in more tooling.

[Guest Tintin' Magician]

Yeah, you gotta use the tools! I've been doing flat glass only for 8 years and I don't ever try to guess the thickness. It's like trying to guess the fat mans weight at the county fair. However, there are certain trends that builders usually stick to, so if you find yourself in a new development odds are most of the homes have the same glass types but remember "Measure twice, cut once!"

[Guest mischief]

Usually single pane glass is 1/4" thick and insulated units are two pieces of 1/8" glass with an airspace in between.

An alternative to measuring the glass is to make friends with a glass company and pick their brains about the standards for your area.

Generally the thickness only starts to matter when you are working with large or old pieces of glass.