The Glass Association of North America (GANA) concluded its recent fall conference with meetings for the decorative, laminating and tempered divisions.
Marc Deschamps of Walker Glass gave decorative meeting participants a rundown of his team’s LEED V4 Decorative White Paper. The document had been released for comment, and the task group is now addressing those comments so it can resubmit it for final approval.
According to Deschamps the white paper serves two purposes. “The first section is about proving information on how decorative glass can be used to get LEED credits under very special categories,” he said. “The second section is a comparative analysis of changes that relate to decorative glass, changes from the 2009 LEED program to LEED 4.”
He said that LEED V4 will go into effect in October, and at that point, the 2009 version will no longer be valid. “So if you haven’t had a chance to review it and vote, I encourage you to do so because we’re about to wrap this up,” he said.
In the decorative division, the group decided to roll its Quality Guidelines of Decorative Glass Products in Interior and Exterior Applications task group into the How to [Assess] View Decorative Products in Interior and Exterior Applications group due to overlapping objectives.
Dave Evans of Guardian gave a presentation on a proposed Glass Information Bulletin (GIB) on assessing distortion in mirrors. The GIB will provide information and expectations of allowable reflective distortion in flat glass mirror.
“People look at these mirrors from all different distances and angles,” said Evans. “… So we tried to put together something that addresses that from an informational standpoint, so people understand what to expect if they’re mounting a big mirror onto the wall.”
In the tempering division, a Heat-Soaking GIB is going to ballot, and a draft is being developed on a Thermal Stresses in Spandrel Glass document. A new task group was created to compile guidelines for structural use of glass, and the tempering and laminating divisions started a task group to work on an information bulletin regarding exposed edges on glass railings.
In the laminating division meeting, Valerie Block of Kuraray discussed the Performance Criteria for Tornado Debris Impact GIB, and that products are being developed for tornado-resistant applications but they are not widespread.
“There’s still a little bit of a question as to whether it’s appropriate to design with glass for a true tornado experience,” she said. “There definitely are some naysayers, but we are seeing products developed that are being used. … The most important thing to understand is we’re not necessarily trying to promote the use of glass in this application, but rather to make people aware of the different types of testing requirements and to gain a better understanding of storm shelter standards.”
Block also updated the group on the recently developed A500 Canadian standard for building guards, which has completed its public review process. “It will be proposed for the national building code in Canada,” she said “… So it’s likely on its way to becoming regulatory across all the provinces.”
She reported on the development of an ASTM human impact test criteria for skylights, as well, which has been out for ballot but continues to be held up due to debate on the plastic skylight materials side.