The life of an IGU varies depending on the quality of materials used, size of gap between inner and outer panel, temperature differences, workmanship and location of installation both in terms of facing direction and geographic location, as well as the treatment the unit receives. IG units typically last from 10 to 25 years, with windows facing the equator often lasting less than 12 years. IGUs typically carry a warranty for 10 to 20 years depending upon the manufacturer. If IGUs are changed (such as installation of a solar control film) the warranty may be voided by the manufacturer.

The Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance undertook an extensive study to characterize the failures of commercial insulating glass units over a 25-year period all across the country.

For a standard construction IG unit, condensation collects between the layers of glass when the perimeter seal has failed and when the desiccant has become saturated, and can generally only be eliminated by replacing the IGU. Seal failure and subsequent replacement results in a significant factor in the overall cost of owning IGUs.

Large temperature differences between the inner and outer panes stress the spacer adhesives, which can eventually fail. Units with a small gap between the panes are more prone to failure because of the increased stress.

Pressure changes combined with wet weather can, in rare cases, eventually lead to the gap filling with water.

The flexible sealing surfaces preventing infiltration around the window unit can also degrade or be torn or damaged. Replacement of these seals can be practically impossible, due to IG windows commonly using extruded channel frames without seal retention screws or plates. Instead, the edge seals are installed by pushing an arrow-shaped indented one-way flexible lip into a slot on the extruded channel, and often cannot be easily extracted from the extruded slot to be replaced.

In Canada, since the beginning of 1990, there are some companies offering servicing of failed IG units. They provide open ventilation to the atmosphere by drilling hole(s) in the glass and/or spacer. This solution often reverses the visible condensation, but cannot clean the interior surface of the glass and staining that may have occurred after long-term exposure to moisture. They may offer a warranty from 5 to 20 years. This solution lowers the insulating value of the window, but it can be a "green" solution when the window is still in good condition. If the IG unit had a gas fill (e.g. argon or krypton or a mixture) the gas is naturally dissipated and the R-value suffers.

Since 2004, there are also some companies offering the same restoration process for failed double-glazed units in the UK, and there is one company offering restoration of failed IG units in Ireland since 2010.

Thank you to Wikipedia for helping clarify information regarding the longevity of insulated units.

Call JD Glass & Door for new storefront, automatic doors, glass repair, insulated glass replacement, and door service!

Since your looking for a glass company, you might be interested in how glass is cut. Since I try to be ahead of the curve I’m just going to go ahead and source this article from Wikipedia about the history of glass cutters.

A glass cutter is a tool used to make a shallow score in one surface of a piece of glass that is to be broken in two pieces. The scoring makes a split in the surface of the glass which encourages the glass to break along the score. Regular, annealed glass can be broken apart this way but not tempered glass as the latter tends to shatter rather than breaking cleanly into two pieces.

A glass cutter may use a diamond to create the split, but more commonly a small cutting wheel made of hardened steel or tungsten carbide 4–6 mm in diameter with a V-shaped profile called a "hone angle" is used. The greater the hone angle of the wheel, the sharper the angle of the V and the thicker the piece of glass it is designed to cut. The hone angle on most hand-held glass cutters is 120°, though wheels are made as sharp as 154° for cutting glass as thick as 0.5 inches (13 mm). Their main drawback is that wheels with sharper hone angles will become dull more quickly than their more obtuse counterparts. The effective cutting of glass also requires a small amount of oil (kerosene is often used) and some glass cutters contain a reservoir of this oil which both lubricates the wheel and prevents it from becoming too hot: as the wheel scores, friction between it and the glass surface briefly generates intense heat, and oil dissipates this efficiently. When properly lubricated a steel wheel can give a long period of satisfactory service. However, tungsten carbide wheels have been proven to have a significantly longer life than steel wheels and offer greater and more reproducible penetration in scoring as well as easier opening of the scored glass.

In the Middle Ages, glass was cut with a heated and sharply pointed iron rod. The red hot point was drawn along the moistened surface of the glass causing it to snap apart. Fractures created in this way were not very accurate and the rough pieces had to be chipped or "grozed" down to more exact shapes with a hooked tool called a grozing iron. Between the 14th and 16th centuries, starting in Italy, a diamond-tipped cutter became prevalent which allowed for more precise cutting. Then in 1869 the wheel cutter was developed by Samuel Monce of Bristol, Connecticut, which remains the current standard tool for most glass cutting.

Large sheets of glass are usually cut with a computer-assisted CNC semi-automatic glass cutting table. These sheets are then broken out by hand into the individual sheets of glass (also known as "lites" in the glass industry).

Glass cutters are manufactured with wheels of varying diameters. One of the most popular has a diameter of 5.5 mm (​⁄ in). The ratio between the arc of the wheel and the pressure applied with the tool has an important bearing on the degree of penetration. Average hand pressure with this size wheel often gives good results. For a duller wheel on soft glass a larger wheel (e.g., 6 mm (​⁄ in) will require no change in hand pressure. A smaller wheel (3 mm (​⁄ in)) is appropriate for cutting patterns and curves since a smaller wheel can follow curved lines without dragging.

The sheet of glass is typically lubricated along the cutting line with a light oil. The cutter is then pressed firmly against the surface of glass and a line is briskly scribed to form a "score" or "cut". The glass is now weakened along this line and the panel is ready to be split. Running pliers may then be used to "run" or "open" to the split.

General purpose glass is mostly made by the float glass process and is obtainable in thicknesses from 1.5 to 25 mm (​⁄ to 1 in). Thin float glass tends to cut easily with a sharp cutter. Thicker glass such as 10 mm (​⁄ in)) float glass is significantly more difficult to cut and break; glass with textured or patterned surfaces may demand specialized methods for scoring and opening the cuts.

All credit to Wikipedia.com for information regarding glass cutters.

Call JD Glass & Door for storefront, automatic doors, glass repairs, and door service!

Over the past few years I’ve been really into biographies. I recently started reading a book on Richard Branson called “Losing my Virginity”. Definitely a catchy title for a guy who started a company called “Virgin”.  I’ve been fascinated by him for a long time now and I’m not exactly positive why. One possible reason is because although he is dyslexic, he manages to still be one of the most successful businessmen ever. Between hard work and the willingness to take risks he was able to achieve all of the financial goals he had as well as other personal goals along the way. One of my favorite stories about him is when he took his girlfriend at the time to go look at an island for sale; if you were a serious buyer, they would take you on a private helicopter tour of the islands so you could check them out. With only about 200K available to him, he made the call to check out some of the islands. They took him and his girlfriend around in the helicopter when the salesman was ready to start talking money. When Richard heard the asking price of 1.2 million, he told the salesman he only had 200K that he could offer. The helicopter quickly turned around to take them home.  After a few months, he finally got a call back saying that they were finally willing to take the offer and drop all the way down towards his original offer.

Seems with certain things you never know what kind of deal you might be able to get if you’re in the right plac at the right time. Here at JD Glass & Door, it’s always the right place and time for our customers! Whether it’s a new storefront, glass repair, door repair and anything in between, give us a call at 215-332-3000.

JD Glass & Door - “Providing peace of mind”

It's Monday morning and I'll be hitting the ground running! One cup of coffee down and I'm on my way to my first meeting of the day! I'll be going over a few dimensions with the GC regarding the new storefront and door we'll be installing. He requested a single door and frame with two stationary openings in a dark bronze finish. Once up there and everything is good to go, I'll head back to the shop to begin fabricating everything so it can be ready for install later this week. 

Aside from the storefront confirmation, we had a customer call who had their door closer get ripped off of her door over the weekend. We had installed a new single door on a full surface continuous hinge a few years back and I'm glad to know that we're still how they count on for their door and window service! They're very nice people and we're always glad to help them out!

After that, we'll be out giving estimates all day and taking measurements for other upcoming jobs. So, if you're in the market for a new storefront, have a broken window, or need a door repair, give JD Glass & Door a call at 215-332-3000!

Out here today at 52nd and Girard for a new continuous hinge and a few glass replacements. The door we're working on today is in pretty rough shape. It originally had top and bottom pivots but, over time with the salt and regular abuse over the years they really ware out. A continuous hinge is always the best value you can get! They can last decades before they fail, where as replacement pivots will last about the same amount of time as the originals. So, If you're looking for hinges, pivots, closers, or just general maintenance on your doors, give JD Glass & Door a call at 215-332-3000!

Out here today fixing a few panels of laminated safety glass! We had a tough time getting down to the city to repair them. It took about an hour to get down there from our shop.Then rush hour in the actual city can be pretty stressful too. Once we made it down there everything went pretty smoothly. We were able to park right out front of the store and get set up quickly. Once set up, we were able to take out both existing glass panels with ease and set them off to the side. With the glass cut and ready to go, we carried a new one over, pitched it right side up and set it into the window. Sealed it all up with the gasket and used silicone to fill in the corners where the gasket came up short.  With one done, we knocked out the second one the same way with ease!

Because we specialize in glass repairs, door repairs, and commercial storefronts, we're very efficient at getting the job done the right way. So, if these are anything you need, give JD Glass & Door a call at 215-332-3000!

Another busy day today with glass replacements! I don’t know if it’s the warmer weather we’ve been having, the passing of the holiday time freeing up people financially but the calls keep coming in. Luckily we’ve had plenty of glass in stock to take care of our customers! We’ve had laminated safety glass 72” x 120” to install, 72” x 100” annealed Glass, and next week we’re installing 1/2” thick tempered glass that’s 110” x 145”! 

We have plenty of advanced machinery to help us lift these large windows, that way it keeps everyone just a little bit safer on the job. So, whether you need plate/annealed, laminated, tempered, single pane, or double pane, we have you covered! We also stock regular clear glass, grey tinted, bronze tinted, white laminated, and various types of high performance glass. Don’t forget to give JD Glass & Door a call when you’re ready for a glass repair, door repair, or new storefront at 215-332-3000!

JD Glass & Door - “Providing peace of mind”

Wrapping up the day today and I have to say it was an all around success! Managed to get all of our work done and it was a beautiful day as well! Made it to the warehouse around 6:45am and started cleaning out the truck. Once one of my coworker's came in, we laid a 72" x 130" piece of glass on the table to cut for a job in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia. Once on site, we had to take down a boardup which was covering up a smashed window. We had to carefully cut out the broken window in many small chunks to minimize the risk of anyone getting hurt. Piece by piece we finally we able to get all of the glass out successfully. Once we cleaned up the opening it was time to install the new window! We took the poles of the truck, put the suction cups on the glass, and positioned the glass in front of the window opening. After re-positioning our suction cups, we were able to lift the glass and place the glass in the opening with precision. The last thing to do was re-install the gasket and clean the window. It was another job well done by JD Glass & Door. 

So, if you need a glass repair, door repair, or new storefront give JD Glass & Door a call at 215-332-3000!

I love waking up early on Monday mornings! 5:00am rolls around and I look out of my window at the early morning sky; something about waking up while it's still dark really does it for me. After I climb out of bed I always take a walk to the coffee maker and get the morning brew going, having prepared it the night before. Then I usually grab a seat on my couch and grab a nice warm blanket and relax while I'm waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. The aroma of the hazelnut is enough to wake you up without even taking a sip! Once I hear the last few drops splash into the pot, I'll take a walk over to my fridge to grab the half and half. I personally don't use sugar because I think that the flavor of the hazelnut shouldn't be sweetened; It already has a wonderful flavor as is. Then, I sit down with my nice hot cup of coffee which is also acting as a hand warmer at this point, and relax while I take my first few sips.

After I drink my coffee, it's time to get ready for work! Washing my coffee mug and pot after I'm done is usually the first thing that I do, that way I have it ready for the following day. Then I throw on my jeans and shirt and head to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I usually scrub away for the standard two minutes suggested by dentists - between the brushing and drinking mostly water, I've managed to avoid getting any cavities - followed by a Listerine rinse. Then I make my bed, put together my breakfast a a few snacks for the day, grab my jacket and hit the road! It looks like it should be a pretty nice day out there overall! With a few glass replacements scheduled for the day, we should be busy until the end of the day. But not to worry, if you give us a call we have another crew that can be there in a jiffy to fix whatever problems you might have. So, give us a call at 215-332-3000.

After waking up and looking at a few potential projects this Sunday morning I decided to clean my house. It started off great! I was wiping down tables and countertops, vacuumingthe floors, doing laundry....all the essentials. Then, I realized that today was the last day of 70%off at Express for sweatshirts. So, after I was done cleaning I shot over to browse the remaining selection. I ended up with an awesome $180 jacket for $25 and two sweatshirts for $15 each. It was really a great trip and even more so because my wardrobe hasn’t been updated since 2007 lol.

After cleaning my house and a new found confidence with some new clothes, I gave a friend a call to see if he wanted to grab some dinner with me. Normally, we’ll go out once every few months to grab a nice steak dinner and generally goof off for an hour or so. This evening he had brought his girlfriend and we made reservations for the three of us for 6:00. After going for a run and showering,I shot over and picked them up. 

Everything seemed to go pretty smooth but when we provided our reservation number they couldn’t find us. It would have been an hour wait but they said since they couldn’t find us in the system they would seat us either way (we would have gone elsewhere had we had to wait an hour). Once seated, the waitress came and took our drink requests. Now, this is usually a pretty regular experience but everything that we wanted which was displayed on the menu, shouldn’t have been on the menu, basically. First choice was a Samuel Adams Boston lager; “not on tap any longer but we have cold snap.” My friend and I both went with that option since we’re both Sam Adams fans (Dee went with water because she didn’t feel well). So, after no Boston lager, the waitress, very pleasant I might add, notified us that they were also out of cold snap. Disappointing but not the end of the world so I asked for a Lagunitas instead since it was on the menu - Boom! Not on tap! - disappointed again! There was a random drink that was just taped that we said we would try which turned out to be a cider. Good, but not what we expected so we ended up getting blue moons instead. It was a delicious blue moon, probably because we finally got something we wanted.

After a few more hiccups, dinner went pretty smooth. Everything we had was cooked to perfection! I had some loaded mashed potatoes and a steak with mushrooms and onions. Onions are one of my favorite things on anything! Now I’m back home getting ready to get all of our work done tomorrow. We have a few different glass repairs to take care of to start the week off. Looking forward to Monday morning and getting after it this week! So if you need a glass repair, door repair, or new storefront, give JD Glass & Door a call at 2153323000!

JD Glass & Door - “Providing peace of mind”