You know what they say about people who live in glass houses, don’t you? Well, in some cases, the answer to that could be ‘they have comfortable and aesthetically eye-catching homes with some truly stunning views’.

Think about it for a moment, waking up and being able to just see pure, unadulterated countryside all around you. Perhaps you see some birds hopping from branch to branch of the trees or the blooms in the flowerbeds that border your green lawn. Whatever your ideal home setting is, there’s more benefits to living in a glass home than you may have originally thought.

On the other hand, though, it’s hard to completely ignore some of the downsides too. So, if you are looking into structured glass  and perhaps building your own glass house, but are unsure if it’s really a good idea, we’ll discuss the pros and cons of structural glazing in the following post to help you make a better and more informed decision.

Appealing and Striking Design

Let’s kick off the pros with a strong one. As highlighted at the outset of this post, glass houses are hardly shy and retiring in the world of property designs.

If you are looking to make a bit of a statement with your new build home, then having it made with lots of structured glass is one way to go about it.

Eco-Friendly

If you are like most people these days, it’s likely that you will be interested not only in saving as much money in the construction of your property as you possible can, but in making it as eco-friendly as possible.

Glass is a great material to use if you are wanting to build a greener home, because the production of this material compared to others is highly environmentally-friendly. Most of the glass produced that isn’t used is, in most cases, recycled immediately and there are no nasty and toxic fumes produced in the process.

As some glass actually began life as glass and sand waste, you can see how easy it is to repeatedly recycle this material.

Strength and Durability

The misleading thing about glass is because it looks fragile, it’s surprising to know just how sturdy and resistance to wear and tear it is. It’s scratch-resistant and generally speaking the only reason glass ever breaks is if its threshold is met.

Even more interestingly is the fact that through chemical, and heat strengthening or heat tempering, the threshold of glass can be improved and increased.

This is why you will find those almost impossible looking structured glass properties and buildings that look too good to be true.

Reduced Electricity and Energy Costs

It is a well-known fact, that glass is a great conductor of heat. The key to benefiting from its heat conductive properties though is by ensuring that the areas around glass panelling are sealed properly.

If the sealing is done properly though, you can almost be guaranteed to see a significant drop in heating and energy costs. As a building that uses structured glass will have sunlight coming into the property from all angles, the heat that comes with it will mean that your central heating is not always needed.

Privacy

Although we have looked at some of the big plus points of having a glass home, it’s time to look at some of the downsides, in the interest of giving you the fuller picture to consider. One of the biggest problems with having a property that utilizes structured glass or has a lot of glass panelling and windows throughout it, is the obvious lack of privacy.

Even if do not like to walk around the house buck-naked, you may still feel like you’re in a fishbowl if you had an almost completely glass house in the middle of a built-up residential area.

An obvious way around this issue is to either incorporate some curtains or similar in parts of the home where you would rather the whole world and his wife couldn’t see, or simply make sure your new build is in the middle of nowhere.

Not Very Cost-Effective

Although it is a very sustainable, eco-friendly material and it is regularly recycled almost immediately, the process of making glass is a very high energy one and also very expensive. So, you may find that the cost of a building made exclusively from glass is very expensive

Not Earthquake Friendly

Okay, so not everyone lives in an Earthquake zone, but it’s worth thinking about if you do. Glass is not very resistant to the effects of earthquakes and there is no glass really that can withstand the pressure and effects of a quake