Door Glass Looks Great But Raises Concern For Some Orange County Homeowners. Here Are Our Answers To Those Queries.
Getting a glass package in your replacement door is a great way to add style and beauty to your home.
If you want glass in your door, a knowledgeable door company will be able to help you find a glass customization that you love and makes you feel comfortable in your home.
We’ve consulted on thousands of door replacements over 30+ years, and in that time we’ve found some of the same questions come up about glass in doors. The 2 most common questions we get about doors and glass are these:
Will the glass in my door be breakable?
and
Can I get a glass that lets me see out without someone being able to see in?
Let’s take these questions one at a time…
Is door glass breakable?
What is usually behind this question is an understandable anxiety about whether glass will make a door easier to penetrate by someone looking to break into a home.
The short answer is the glass is breakable, but it is not at all easy to do. The glass is triple-glazed and tempered, and it would take more than one blow from a very hard object (hammer or similar) to get through it.
It is not something you can put a fist through or easily break by accident. And because it is tempered glass, it won’t create jagged edges if it is accidentally broken.
Here’s another thing to think about. As a company in business for 30+ years, we’ve had some replacement door jobs that followed a break-in. We cannot recall a single instance where the breach of the door occurred by breaking the glass, and then using that opening to unlock the door. In our experience, break-ins occur by battering down the door or using something to pry it open.
That said, you should make the choice for glass or not based on how YOU feel about it. Our experience has been that glass in the door has not led to increased risks of break-ins, but ultimately it is about what you want.
Will people be able to look in through my door glass?
The short answer is that there aren’t glass options that work like a 2-way mirror. No door glass options exist where you would have complete visibility out but no one can see in.
However, that doesn’t mean you don’t have options if seeing into your home through your door is a concern.
For one, glass options come in many different patterns and styles, and each can affect how hard or easy it is to see in or out through door glass. We can show you different choices.
Another thing homeowners should know is this: glass options come with manufacturer ratings that indicate how clear versus opaque the glass is. Glass rated a “1” is completely clear – think of an ordinary glass pane in a window. A rating of “10” means very, very opaque, with little to no visibility. And then everything in between is a gradation between those 2 extremes.
One thing homeowners should know about these ratings is that they’re subjective to each manufacturer. There is no absolute, standardized scale, so take these ratings a rough guide rather than an unquestionable fact.
If you have concerns about door glass and visual security, the best thing you can do is have an expert door company show you different glass options directly. This takes away the guesswork.
That’s why homeowners love our Mobile Showroom. This ‘showroom on wheels’ comes to your home and has full-size doors and plenty of glass examples. Instead of having to guess from a catalog or a picture online, you’ll be able to see options firsthand. (For more about this, please visit our Mobile Showroom page).
Ready To See Glass Options For Replacement Doors?
The no-risk way to get more information is to go here to schedule a free door consultation and quote. We’re Orange County’s best-reviewed door company – count on us to get the information you need to make an educated decision.
