Whether it’s a residential or a commercial property, the property owners want their place to look evocative, stylish, and aesthetic. Many homeowners and business people wish for their houses or buildings to reflect their personality and preferences. Hence, they need to take the utmost care when selecting the materials for their building.
One popular material that is being frequently used in modern commercial and residential properties is glass. Glass has a decorative purpose and enhances the style of any building it’s incorporated in. It’s also very useful and functional and can increase the amount of natural light entering a building, thereby making the space warmer and inviting.
Today, let’s discuss the various tints and patterns you can find in glass material to add further elegance and beauty to your property.
Frosted Glass
Frosted glass is also called etched glass. It’s made by sandblasting or etching acid into a clear glass sheet. A frosted glass prevents the glass from being completely see-through, so it offers more privacy to people inside the building while allowing natural light to pass through it.
Clear glass can also be made translucent by applying a vinyl film to the glass surface that acts as a stencil or by using canned frosted glass sprays. Permanently frosted glass is made by painting the exterior with oil and white lead, while temporary frosting is achieved using a marble dipped into sharp sand of glass cutter, placed in water, and then rubbed over the surface of the glass.
Frosted glass is partially opaque. It originated from the wealthy and opulent times of the Victorian era. It’s ideal for interior décor and can be used as an alternative to blinds or curtains.
It is versatile and comes in a range of different designs and colors. It’s also very easy to clean, and it diffuses light evenly throughout the room, creating a warm and pleasant environment.
Many people are now combining frosted glass with iron to design a sealed unit that looks modern and eclectic.
Pinhead Glass
Pinhead glass is also known as perforated glass. It is the most affordable type of glass for commercial or residential property owners who want a good balance between having natural light and privacy.
This glass is made by creating small holes inside the whole glass sheet, so it gets a grainy, low-profile texture. This type of glass is a smart choice for windows, cupboards, and shower enclosures.
The transparency of the glass is diminished by the tiny holes which diffuse light in different directions, making it impossible for a person to see clearly through the glass to the other side, hence, offering excellent concealment.
Niagara Glass
Named after Niagara Falls, this glass type resembles falling rain. Its textured surface is similar to ripples of water. The direction of the water droplets is downward-facing, so this glass is also called the rain glass.
Rain glass is manufactured by pressing a clear sheet of glass between two metal rollers to create the pattern of rain. It is usually available in 3/8 and 3/16 inch thickness, which makes it perfect for use in bathroom showers and windows as well as for decorative cabinets that hold precious silverware or other antiques.
Rain glass is exceptionally beautiful to look at and works well in shower doors for residential bathrooms and office doors in commercial buildings. Its often used on fiberglass door sidelines as well.
Tinted Glass
Tinted glass makes use of small metal oxides, which are added to the composition of flat or rolled glass. These oxides change the color of the glass to green, bronze, grey, or blue. However, they don’t change the basic properties of the glass, such as light transmission, light refraction, transparency or opaqueness, etc.
The color change has an effect on the transmission of solar energy through the glass. The addition of the oxides is done carefully to ensure the glass sheet remains homogenously thick.
Iron oxides are typically used to give glass sheets a green tint, while iron and cobalt are combined to achieve a blue tint, and selenium and cobalt are added for a grey or bronze tint.
About the Author
The author is well-versed in writing about home glass and commercial glass types. He is a representative of Quality Window & Glass Repair LLC, a local glass repair company DMV located in Germantown, MD. They offer same-day and emergency glass repair, replacement, and installation services for commercial and residential properties in Rockville and Bethesda in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC. They have a team of licensed and trained professionals who are experts in home glass repair, foggy window repair, custom mirror repair, commercial glass repair, and more. Their low-cost repairs are available at affordable rates for all their customers.
