I'm building a 14 foot tall 20 foot wide rolling steel door for the front of my shop. The top 6 feet by 20 feet is going to be windows.
I want the look of old steel factory windows, but I also want to run modern commercial style coated glass units. The glass company that's interested in working with me says they highly recommend the commercial glass units for what I'm doing, however, the glass units have a 3/8" margin around the perimeter for the spacer and seal plus they want to see 1/8" space all around the glass to the steel frame and they say I should have the sightlines overlap the margins by 1/8" so the spacers can't be seen.
I wanted to keep my sightlines under 1" wide, but the glass co says if I use narrower "homeowner" grade spacers and a thin seal the glass won't last, especially in a big moving door.
If this is true how are new thin sightline rolled steel windows made? are they using cheap spacers and seals to get the right look?
This is also a unique trade arrangement for me so I'm trading some repair work for my glass. I want to get my shoprate's worth of glass out of this deal and the glass co seems to want the same, this just isn't their specialty.
So how are high end rolled steel windows made with narrow sightlines? Anybody know?
I want the look of old steel factory windows, but I also want to run modern commercial style coated glass units. The glass company that's interested in working with me says they highly recommend the commercial glass units for what I'm doing, however, the glass units have a 3/8" margin around the perimeter for the spacer and seal plus they want to see 1/8" space all around the glass to the steel frame and they say I should have the sightlines overlap the margins by 1/8" so the spacers can't be seen.
I wanted to keep my sightlines under 1" wide, but the glass co says if I use narrower "homeowner" grade spacers and a thin seal the glass won't last, especially in a big moving door.
If this is true how are new thin sightline rolled steel windows made? are they using cheap spacers and seals to get the right look?
This is also a unique trade arrangement for me so I'm trading some repair work for my glass. I want to get my shoprate's worth of glass out of this deal and the glass co seems to want the same, this just isn't their specialty.
So how are high end rolled steel windows made with narrow sightlines? Anybody know?