In an effort to reduce prices on glass facades many developers and general contractors have jumped on the BUY CHINESE GLASS bandwagon. It isn’t bad enough that these decisions are made in a vacuum without considering the negative economic impact on our own economy, but this news clipping from ChinaDaily.com sheds an even more distorted light on this topic. If the glass isn’t good enough for their buildings you have to wonder why we would buy it. Although it isn’t stated, it is documented that heat treated glass from China is in many cases susceptible to breakage due to imperfections such as nickel sulfide inclusions. It isn’t the case with all imported glass, but the only way you would know is to process all the glass through a procedure known a heat-soaking once it gets here.
I would hope that stories like these would get a builder to stop and consider the public safety issue in their quest to save a few bucks here in the United States.
