What is the difference between laminated and tempered glass?

Tempered glass is heat-treated so that when it breaks the whole pane lets go at once into small blunt pieces. Laminated glass bonds two panes to a clear plastic interlayer, so when it breaks the fragments stay stuck to that layer and the pane stays in the frame. Both are safety glazing; only laminated keeps the opening closed.

Does laminated glass stop a break-in through a patio door?

No glass prevents forced entry. Laminated glass makes it slow, loud and visible instead of quick and quiet, because the pane stays in the frame after it cracks. On a sliding door the lock and the track are usually the weaker point than the glass, so the hardware and the installation matter as much as the glazing.

Does laminated glass reduce noise?

Yes. The plastic interlayer that holds a broken pane together also damps sound, which is why it is specified for homes near highways, rail corridors and flight paths. It also blocks the great majority of ultraviolet light, so furnishings fade more slowly.

Available Security glass

We Install our Patio Doors
with Security Laminated Glass

A patio door is mostly glass, and it opens onto a garden the street cannot see. Laminated security glass does not stop a break-in — it makes one slow, loud and visible, because the pane stays in the frame after it breaks.

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Most break-ins through a patio door are not sophisticated — and neither are the ones that happen with somebody home.

The back of a house is vulnerable to break-ins, and easy to overlook.
A patio door is mostly glass, and ordinary tempered glass fails all at once: one strike with a blunt object and the whole pane drops out as harmless pebbles.
That leaves a clear opening, and almost no noise after the first crack.

Laminated glass is built to fail differently.

Two panes are bonded to a clear plastic interlayer.
When the glass is struck and breaks, the fragments stay stuck to that layer and the pane stays in the frame.
It still breaks — but a break-in becomes a lot more difficult and time-consuming.

The difference

Tempered breaks safely
Laminated breaks slowly

Both are safety glazing, far stronger than ordinary glass, and built for two different jobs. It is worth knowing which one you have.

Tempered glass and laminated glass compared by construction, how they break, what they protect, resistance to forced entry, and secondary benefits
	Tempered	Laminated
What it is	A single pane, heat-treated so the surface is in compression.	Two panes bonded to a clear plastic interlayer, like a car windscreen.
When it breaks	The whole pane lets go at once into small blunt pebbles.	It cracks, but the pieces stay stuck to the interlayer.
What it protects	People. Blunt fragments instead of long shards.	People, and the opening. The pane stays in the frame.
Against forced entry	One strike clears the opening.	Repeated, loud, visible effort to get through — the point is the delay.
Also does	—	Cuts noise and blocks almost all UV, so furnishings fade less.

Standard on almost every patio door sold today is tempered. Laminated is an option you have to ask for.

What you get

Four things it does

It buys time, and time is what matters

Forced entry through a patio door is quick because it is quiet.

Laminated glass turns one strike into sustained, obvious noise at the back of the house.
Most attempts stop there.
Not that it cannot be beaten — but beating it is slow and conspicuous.

The same glass is the quiet option

The interlayer that holds a broken pane together also damps sound.

Near a highway, a rail corridor or a flight path, this is the glass we would specify anyway.
The security is the part most people do not realize they are also buying.

Your furnishings stop fading

Laminated glazing blocks almost all ultraviolet light. Rugs, floors and upholstery in front of a big south-facing slider last far longer behind it.

The glass is only half the door

On a slider the lock and the track usually give before the glass does, so the door is fitted as one piece:

An auxiliary foot lock in the track.
A check that the panel cannot be lifted out of it.
A frame anchored into solid framing rather than shims.

A step further

Impact-rated glazing

Andersen builds an impact-resistant option, Stormwatch®, for coastal homes that have to take wind-borne debris.

Laminated glass, engineered and tested to a different standard.
Offered on the A-Series and E-Series.
What a building department asks about in a coastal wind zone.
For most of our area it is more than the job needs, and we will say so. Where it is required, we specify it.

Where you can have it

What we can specify it on

Andersen offers laminated glass across their window and patio door lines — in their own words, "added strength, enhanced security and sound control", resisting "impact, forced entry and unwanted noise".

Which models and sizes carry it changes.
We confirm it against current Andersen documentation for your exact opening before anything is ordered.

Compare the Andersen gliding patio doors

Free · No pressure

The moment to decide

Laminated security glass stays in the frame when it breaks. If the glass is being replaced anyway, this will be the most economical moment it will ever be to upgrade your safety.

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No obligation. No high-pressure sales. Just expert design advice.