I recently moved into one of the Hebel Maisons and all the windows except the sliding large ones have grid pattern. Is there any reason why window glass, although transparent, still had a grid pattern on it? I was not able to find the explanation. I would love to have fully transparent window glass though. Thank you.
3 comments
Fire prevention ordinance. You can’t have 100% transparent (clear) windows, they need to be of prescribed thickness and fireproof – meaning they have to be either made with wires in the glass or be produced in a certain way. The cheapest glass that meets all fire prevention criteria for windows is the one with a diamond wire grid in it (could be transparent or opaque).
Source: recently needed to replace a window glass pane. You learn a lot of stuff when you have to fork out ¥75,000 😅
not sure if same, but my house has the grid pattern on windows and it looks like it is made out of very thin metal string. in that case I believe it is made for structural improvement in case of earth quake to strengthen the glass so it wont break easily.
[Wikipedia: Safety Glass (wire mesh glass)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_glass#Wire_mesh_glass)