Can Impact Windows Break

I get asked this almost five times a day every day, whether it’s at a family barbecue or sitting with a customer. People are really curious about this technology because we are taught from a young age that glass is very fragile and dangerous. That is the image a lot of people have of old school glass and how dangerous it is — and so do I! 

When you think of glass being able to be so strong it prevents a break in it’s difficult to understand because it contradicts everything we’ve grown up knowing, experiencing and understanding.

So, can impact windows break? Kind of. It is a tricky question. They will break, but they will not compromise the integrity of inside the home. I mean that the elements from outside are not going to come in simply because the window breaks, similarly to a windshield. This is because of the laminate layer inside the glass. Whether the window is considered bullet proof, hurricane proof, or can withstand other intense elements, it is all due to the density and thickness of the glass, the stability of the frame that supports it, and the installation of the windows and doors.

If you tune in to us on social media, you’ll see something called Smash City where we test our windows against many different elements. It can be tough to comprehend or understand what impact glass does, so our videos show how tough our windows and doors are. When we replace your windows, we’ll even show you in real time how fragile that glass really is.

We’ve shot bullets at glass, tried to break in with crowbars, dropped them off forklifts, thrown rocks as hard as possible, taken a sledgehammer to them, thrown 20-pound dumbbells off a three-story building at the glass, and more — and NONE of them get through. Water, wind, and debris still can’t get through after all of that!