Glass can be used within internal or external doors to allow light to transfer between spaces or different areas of a space.
According to BS 6262 all glazing deemed to be in a ‘critical location’ must be a safety glass. A safety glass is either toughened or laminated glass. When it comes to the glass door elements of a build, a ‘critical; area’ is anything between finished floor level and 1500mm above within the door and adjacent panels.
Therefore any glass in doors and adjacent panels should be toughened or laminated in order to comply with safety regulations.
Glass has been used in doors on commercial premises for many years but now Bi Fold Doors, Sliding Doors and large patio doors are all becoming a popular design aspect for residential design, especially to the rear of the house. These large glass doors help create the illusion of larger internal living areas, merging the internal space with the garden or patio area. Performance glazing such as solar control glass can be used to maintain comfortable internal temperatures when using large faces of glass within doors.
For internal doors, or doors where no thermal or weather resistance is required a frameless, single glazed door is suitable. For external doors or doors separating two different climates it might be suitable to use a double or a triple glazed unit with the framing.
Where light transfer may be required but privacy wants to be maintained translucent coloured interlayers or sandblasted glass can be used to create a cloudy or frosted glass effect.
Fire Rated Glass can be used within doors to create a safe fire barrier whilst maintaining light transmission and vision through these fire retardant doors. Obviously the framing used for the fire rated glass will also need to have a fire resistance rating to match that required for the build but aluminium, steel or hardwood timber can all be used.