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Guest Book
Ensuring Long-Term Performance
Achievable with Certified Insulating
Glass Units
by Margaret Webb and Debora O’Meara
T project had been completed several years before. It was
an impressive design with vast expanses of vision area and windows. Soon,
the building owner begins to notice a clouded effect between the panes
of some of the insulating glass (IG) units. On closer inspection, the
architect finds something missing on the windows: the certification stamp
on the window spacer materials within the IG units that indicates testing
and certification to current industry standards. The owner, architect,
specifier and contractor begin a tug-of-war over who is responsible and
worse yet, who will replace the windows and eat the cost to install new
units which meet third-party testing and certification programs.
“There’s not a
single reason to avoid testing to this new standard—it brings a higher
level of understanding, credibility and performance to the manufacturing
process in the creation of IG units in the United States and Canada.”
No Reason Not to Test
The Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance (IGMA) was one of the leaders
in merging ASTM E 773/E774 (also known as CBA) with the CGSB (Canadian
General Standards Board) 12.8 standard to successfully complete a harmonized
document across the U.S. and Canada; one that expands the global marketplace
for IG units and provides a single cohesive and consistent updated certification
program for manufacturers to test their products.
IGMA is on a mission to rid the specification community of non-certified
and un-tested IG units. Overall, the aim of the program is to promote
the use of the harmonized standard and ultimately, extend the service
life of IG units.
Without proper third-party certification, there’s a chance IG units will
fail, and that gives the industry a black eye and leaves a bad taste in
the mouth of the end-user. The mechanism for scientific testing and procedures
have been carefully established and documented by a consensus of industry
members and third-parties and much time and effort has been spent by IGMA
and other organizations to bring this document to market. There’s not
a single reason to avoid testing to this new standard—it brings a higher
level of understanding, credibility and performance to the manufacturing
process in the creation of IG units in the United States and Canada.
Up to You to Educate
For IGCC-IGMA program participants, the current goal is to let architects,
builders and specifiers know there is a new ASTM standard in place for
both the U.S. and Canada, and that it includes the more rigorous requirements
of the preceding standards. Why should architects care? Because it’s up
to them to bring to their end-users the best performing products on the
market. These products should be tested to certified standards in real-world
performance applications and with the longevity of the individual unit
most important. No one wants to see IG units that fail, leak or worse
yet, look like an eyesore in an otherwise reputable building façade.
With this updated and rigorous test standard, IG units are designed to
last longer than ever, avoiding the same problem that the fictitious building
owner and his contractors faced in the scenario described above. Results
from the IGMA 25 Year Field Correlation Study show that IG units certified
to the most stringent requirements demonstrate a failure rate of 3.5 percent
at the 25-year mark.
The reason for certification, generally within any standard, is to provide
end users, whether door and window manufacturers, building code officials,
architects and specifiers or home buyers, the assurance they need to know
they are buying a product that meets or exceeds the applicable code or
standard.
Margaret Webb is the executive director of IGMA and
Debora O’Meara is a freelance writer.
Architects' Guide to Glass & Metal
© 2011 Copyright Key Communications Inc. All rights reserved.
No reproduction of any type without expressed written permission.
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