Impact-Resistant Windows and PGT Factory Tour

Bob is at PGT Industries in Venice, Florida, for a visit with Dave Olmstead, the code compliance officer for PGT Industries, makers of impact resistant windows. Olmstead explains how windows are a fundamental element in storm-ready buildings because they keep the envelope closed to damaging wind entry. If wind enters a home during a high wind event, it increases the pressure inside like air in a balloon. The air has to find a way out and typically pops off the roof, causing catastropic building failure. Olmstead then shows Bob the impact resistance test that is performed on windows to determine the level of protection they offer and whether they perform up to code. The first window is made of regular annealed glass. It is not tempered, heated, or coated in any way. The second window is made of tempered safety glass. The third is of impact-resistant, laminated glass. Olmstead runs the cannon test, where a two by four is fired from a pneumatic cannon at 50 feet per second or 34 miles per hour, simulating the force of 110 mile per hour winds. The annealed glass breaks and falls from the frame. The tempered glass shatters within the frame but leaves a hole where the board entered, allowing wind to penetrate the structure. The laminated glass shatters but is held in place. It does not perforate so the home is protected from wind entry. Impact-resistant window glass is safety laminated on site at PGT. They cut glass to the appropriate size, cutting two panes, then cut buticite ...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8QAlCTcGPI&hl=en

Bored pile Foundation General Civil Engineer JUNIOR CIVIL ENGINEER