Glaziers and fabricators say architect education is critical

Tag : Coated Fabric

Roller wave distortion has been the major hurdle for fabricators toovercome with post temperables, a concern that has made somecontract glaziers and architects weary of using the product.
"The premise of the product is great, but not enough attentionhas been put to what happens during heat-treating," Habersays. "When you start heat-treating, you're putting rollerwave into the glass that gives it a distorted appearance. We've hadunhappy architects, contractors and developers, but there's nothingyou can do about it.
"These products have been around awhile, and have definitelyimproved in terms of performance and durability. The next step isfor fabricators to work with [float glass manufactures] to figureout how to make a better formulation that is more easilytempered," Haber says.
Bob Rushing, pre-construction manager, Architectural AluminumTechniques, Orlando, Fla., says he also has seen distortionproblems with post temperables but some fabricators have workedhard to hone their tempering processes, and going with the bestsuppliers limits problems.
"When we do a post-temperable product, we try to stay with thefabricators that we know can handle the product," Rushingsays. "Those that can't [handle the product] easily make theproject look bad. "Some fabricators have gotten pretty good athandling these products, and we're seeing a lot less distortionthan we used to."
Jensen says fabricators can overcome the challenges of posttemperables with regular oven maintenance, operator training tomake the proper adjustments, and establishing meaningful qualitycontrols throughout the plant.
"We built the [Oldcastle Glass CPG in Wright City] to providethe market an option for large commercial project work, so we'vefocused on quality from day one and instilled it in the culture andemployees," Jensen says. "We also installedstate-of-the-art equipment that measures the optical quality ofevery lite heat-treated on-line. We set the criteria, and if thelite fails, it will reject it."
Architect education
Glaziers and fabricators say architect education is critical toensuring that the most applicable product is chosen for the job.Many fabricators have architectural sales teams that provideoverall product details and product updates. Contract glaziers canwork with architects in the design phase to educate customers andmake recommendations for the most applicable glass types for theirproject based on performance criteria.
Jensen suggests building mock-ups. "You get a better idea ofwhat the glass is going to look like compared to a 12-by-12sample."
Haber agrees. "Problems are generally flushed out during themock-up phase."
On projects where there isn't a mock-up, W&W Glass will provideproduct samples and take the architect to see a job with the sameproduct. "The last thing you want is to produce a200,000-to-300,000-square-foot job and then have problems,"Haber says.
Perilstein says post-temperable soft coats forced companies tobecome better fabricators. "We had to handle the materialsdifferently and up the sophistication."
Fabricators will have to continue to improve as the marketplacecontinues to demand higher performance and optical quality."The industry as a whole, regardless of whether the glass hasa high performance coating, is more focused on the appearance ofthe glass than it ever has been," Jensen says. "Glass hasbecome a bigger component in the building envelope and obviouslyhas a big impact on the overall appearance of the building. As aresult, the industry has no choice but to improve."