Can ACE laminates secure my patio doors?

Can ACE laminates secure my patio doors?
April 19, 2017 Ian Sterne

ACE security laminates can secure patio doors.  However, homeowners will need to know that the panes in patio doors are made of tempered glass.  Tempered glass (like the glass in cars which, when broken, breaks into hundreds of pieces) is designed to break as a safety feature intended to reduce catastrophic injury (for instance when someone accidentally walks into a pane of glass with force).  Because tempered glass is designed to break, there is a risk that patio doors protected by ACE laminates can merely “cascade” down if attacked.  There’s two solutions to this.  First, the glass can be replaced with annealed plate glass and protected with ACE laminates.  Your local glazier can provide a quote for this.  If the tempered glass is replaced with annealed glass, you will wish to have the new pane covered with ACE laminates as soon as possible to protect people from possible injury.  Second, if tempered glass is being treated, removing the aluminum side stops (these are the brackets which hold the glass pane in place) and treating the entire window pane and then replacing the stops would help “anchor” the laminate in place.  This would create a greater amount of “bite” for the laminate if the doors were attacked.  Finally, as a third option, a structural sealant could be used to secure the laminate and glass to the stops.  The sealant would be applied after the laminate had adequate time to cure (a week or two).  A quality structural sealant can be bought at any hardware store.

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