What is the difference between tempered glass and laminated glass?
Tempered glass is heat-strengthened glass like the glass in your shower doors and patio doors. It is very strong, but, if it breaks, it explodes into thousands of tiny pieces. The side windows of most cars are tempered. Laminated glass is glass with a plastic interlayer which is designed to hold in place when it breaks. The front windshield of your car is laminated. In the San Francisco Bay Area, where we are located, building codes call for laminated glass as the interior piece of glass on any glass skylight, other than wired glass units. Laminated glass has the extra advantage in that it is a very effective block of ultraviolet light which is the leading cause of fading.
