Aluminum and steel doors and windows

Safety glass is made up of two or more layers of glass with one or more PVB (polyvinyl butyral) films placed between or on the surface. By varying the number and/or thickness of each component, different levels of security can be achieved:

UV protection is used to ensure that objects (e.g. curtains, carpets, books, paintings) placed in the interior of the building are not faded by the ultraviolet rays of natural sunlight.

Noise protection is recommended for rooms where the filtering of external sounds is essential (e.g. music studios, busy roadsides).

Injury protection is essential where there are large numbers of people near glass panels. The glass adheres to the laminating film even in the event of damage, thus minimising the risk of accidents.

The degree of protection against damage and forced entry will depend on the nature of the assets to be protected, the level of risk and the official regulations. The risk assessment of homes, shops and offices is carried out on a case-by-case basis and takes into account the requirements of the insurance companies, too.

Special bulletproof glazing provides protection for the people behind it, even in extreme situations, where there is a risk of firearms attack.

Explosion protection is not only intended to prevent intentional crime but also to prevent the consequences of accidental explosion.

Low-emissivity glass is an essential part of modern, energy-efficient construction, and is manufactured by spraying a metallic, transparent insulating coating onto the glass. This helps to reflect heat back into the interior during the cold season, improving building insulation and significantly reducing energy bills.

The extent to which heat loss is reduced is determined by the U-value: the lower the U-value, the better the insulation.

Low-E glass has a slightly higher cost than conventional plain glass windows, but the energy savings, even in the short term, quickly pay for themselves.

During the heating season, it is common to see tiny water droplets on the inside of windows made of poor quality glass or insufficiently insulated. This can be avoided by using high-quality materials and well-designed windows.

Water is naturally present in the air (about 1%), but the humidity of the air depends on the temperature: warm air carries many more water molecules than cold air. If, as a result, it becomes saturated, water will condense on a cold surface. This process of condensation takes place when the humidity of the air is too high or when some internal elements of the building are too cold. The former can be prevented by frequent ventilation or an air extraction system, the latter by installing heat-bridge-proof windows and doors.

With the explosion in energy prices, the concept of the passive house, or energy-efficient house, has become more and more in the public debate. To put it briefly, a passive building is one that consumes a maximum of 15 kWh of energy per square metre per year ( compared to a much higher figure for conventional brick buildings: 300-400 kWh/year/square metre). Of course, a building that wants to obtain the official German certification has to meet many more criteria than this, but it is clear that we are talking about buildings with very low energy requirements.

It is clear that the main objective of passive house builders is to reduce energy dependency and minimise negative impacts on the environment. To achieve this, the buildings are south-facing for easy winter warmth, their heating systems are different from the traditional ones, and they use a range of modern construction technologies to ensure perfect insulation against the cold of winter.

Among the latter, quality windows with extra thermal insulation are very important. The three or even four layers of glass filled with inert gas have excellent energy properties, and the heat-bridge-free construction prevents humidity and mould.

To sum up, a passive house is a bit more expensive to build than a conventional house, but its extremely low maintenance costs mean that its costs are far less. In a context of extremely high energy prices, it is now safe to say that building a passive house (or even just an energy efficient house) is no longer a long-term investment, but a guaranteed medium-term return on investment.