Strategies for Openings

Strategies for Openings

1. Doors and Windows

   • Doors
     • Timber doors: external door, hanging on a track above, sliding on a channel below
     • Aluminium doors: used in office buildings, can be used in both steel and timber framed structures
     • Steel doors: steel is used for impact protection, a steel frame can be used with other doors (e.g. timber door), can be used for security reasons
   • Window
     • Terminology: (similar to door) sill, jamb, head
     • Timber window: commonly used in brick veneers
     • Aluminium: very commonly used commercial building
     • Steel window: finer and flatter than aluminium, not so common in Australia because it is expensive.

2. Glass

   • Created with formers (silica) which are formed with fluxes and stabilises make the glass have a longer life
   • PROPERTIES: non-porous and waterproof material, transmits heat and light but not electricity, dense material, hard material, very fragile depending on the type of glass (safety glass), very flexible when it is molten, very durable, can be melted and reshaped, generally expensive to produce and transport
   • Float glass: clear float glass (simplest and cheapest, mainly used in low risk area), Laminated glass (two layers held together by a film), tempered glass (strong glass, heating ordinary glass more
   • Glasses available: tinted, wired, patterned, curved, photovoltaic, glass channels, slumped and formed, glass fibres
   • Double and triple glazing: reduces the amount of heat loss and heat transmission

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