What thicknesses does glass come in?

Toughened single panes: eight steps from 4 to 19 mm

ARG sells toughened clear glass as a single pane in eight thicknesses: 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15 and 19 mm. Any of them can be specified on its own, with no requirement to build the pane into an insulated unit or a laminate.

As a rule of thumb the range reads thin to thick with the duty of the pane: small panes and furniture at the thin end, doors and partitions in the middle, long unsupported spans at the thick end. Which step a real pane needs depends on its size and where it goes, so quote the opening sizes when you ask.

Coated panes come in the maker’s ranges

A coated Saint-Gobain pane is bought in the thicknesses the maker coats, not in the full toughened range. Saint-Gobain’s own sheets list Cool-Lite SKN 154 in 6, 8 and 10 mm with 12 mm available on request; Cool-Lite SKN 176 II in 4, 6, 8 and 10 mm.

For the Cool-Lite ST solar control family, the published performance figures are quoted on the 6 mm pane, which is the reference thickness the range’s data is stated at.

Laminated build-ups add the interlayer

A laminated pane is quoted layer by layer: glass, interlayer, glass. A worked ARG example is 10 mm clear glass, a 2.28 mm PVB layer and 10 mm toughened glass, written 10 + 2.28 + 10, for a finished pane a little over 22 mm.

The interlayer itself comes in fixed film thicknesses. Kuraray’s Trosifol PVB data sheet lists the clear range at 0.38, 0.76, 1.14, 1.52 and 2.28 mm, so the middle number in a laminate quote is always one of a few standard steps.

More on choosing the layer itself is in the interlayer guide.

Insulated units are written pane(gap)pane

A DGU quote names both panes and the cavity: Saint-Gobain’s reference compositions in its SKN sheets are written 6(16)6 and 4(16)4, meaning a 6 mm or 4 mm pane, a 16 mm sealed cavity and a matching pane on the other side. The unit’s overall thickness is the sum of all three numbers.

How the panes and the fill are chosen is the subject of the DGU configurations guide.

Cast glass is the exception

Cast glass does not follow the sheet above. ARG imports it on requirement, it has a 45 day lead time, its standard sheet is 4 feet by 10 feet and it is cut on a water jet only. Treat it as a made-to-order material with its own calendar rather than a thickness to pick off a list.

Which thickness do I need?

The honest answer is a build-up against your opening sizes, not a number off this page. Send the sizes in millimetres and what the pane is for on WhatsApp, and ARG will answer with the exact specification. The toughened glass page covers the single-pane product this guide starts from.