Tinted & Privacy Glass

Body-tinted glass: iron oxide, cobalt, or selenium added to the molten glass batch. The color is uniform through the thickness of the lite. Standard colors: PPG Solexia (light green), PPG Solargray, Guardian SuperGray, Pilkington Optifloat Bronze. SHGC of 1/4" body tint alone ranges 0.50-0.65 — not low enough by itself to meet most commercial energy code, must be combined with a Low-E coating in IGU.

Pyrolytic Low-E tinted (hard coat): tin-oxide coating fused into the glass at the float-line. Vitro Solarban 60, 70, 90 series and Guardian SunGuard SN series. SHGC as low as 0.23 in IGU with neutral, slightly green color. The default specification for NJ Class A office work in the last 15 years.

Sputter-coated Low-E (soft coat): magnetron-sputtered silver layers between dielectric oxides. Guardian SunGuard Solar, Vitro Solarban 90, Cardinal LoE3-366. SHGC down to 0.18 with the highest visible-light transmission in the industry. Soft coat must be sealed inside an IGU (it oxidizes if exposed) — never single-pane on commercial work.

Spectrally-selective ceramic coating: the newest commercial tier (Vitro Solarban 90, Guardian SunGuard SNX 51/23). Engineered to pass visible light (450-700nm) while rejecting near-infrared (700-2500nm). Hits SHGC 0.23 with 51% VLT — combinations that body tints physically cannot reach because they reject visible and IR roughly proportionally.

N.J.A.C. 5:23-3.18 adopts the 2021 IECC for commercial buildings, with the ASHRAE 90.1-2019 alternative compliance path. For vertical fenestration in NJ Climate Zones 4A and 5A (counties split — see DCA bulletin for your specific county), the prescriptive SHGC maximum is 0.36 for fixed glazing and 0.36 for operable. Skylights are 0.40.

Practical implication: a project specifying clear annealed glass or single-pane tinted glass without a low-e coating cannot pass commercial energy code in NJ. You need either a Low-E IGU (most common), spectrally-selective coated IGU, or a body-tinted IGU with applied film that brings the combined SHGC under 0.36. The COMcheck or 90.1 envelope calculation must document the as-installed SHGC.

Performance path: ASHRAE 90.1 Appendix G or COMcheck trade-off lets a designer balance higher SHGC in one area against lower in another. We work with the project's energy consultant to spec the glass that hits the project-wide envelope budget — sometimes a slightly higher SHGC on the north elevation is acceptable if south and west are deeper into compliance.

Daylighting credit interaction: LEED v4.1 EQc7 (Daylight) and prerequisite EQp4 set minimum VLT levels. A glass spec that rejects too much visible light to hit SHGC will fail the daylighting credit. Spectrally-selective coatings exist exactly to thread this needle — high VLT, low SHGC.

High-end residential is rarely a pure code compliance exercise — NJ residential energy code (R402.1.3) allows U-factor 0.30 / SHGC 0.40 prescriptive in our climate, achievable with standard Low-E IGU without aggressive tinting. Where we install tinted glass on residential is when the homeowner has a specific glare or heat problem on a sunroom, west-facing great-room wall of glass, or a pool/spa enclosure.

Aesthetic tints: bronze, gray, and blue body tints are sometimes specified by architects for visual coherence with brick or copper accents. Color samples should always be viewed at full IGU thickness with the homeowner's specific Low-E coating — the apparent color shifts significantly when combined.

Bird-strike mitigation: NJ's bird-strike concentration along migratory corridors (Cape May County in particular) increasingly drives spec for fritted, dotted, or UV-pattern glass on lakefront and shore properties. Body tints don't help bird strikes — patterned or fritted glass does. We coordinate with NJ Audubon for any spec on properties they consult on.

Office building re-skin: aging 1980s and 1990s reflective gray glass replaced with current-spec spectrally-selective coated IGU. The new glass keeps a similar appearance from the street while cutting building cooling load 30-40% and meeting current energy code.

Restaurant and retail storefronts: 1" insulated tinted glass in 2" aluminum storefront systems. Spectrally-selective coatings let the merchandise display stay bright while keeping the storefront from becoming a solar oven in summer.

Medical office buildings: hospital and clinic glazing in the Princeton-Plainsboro, Hackensack, and Cherry Hill corridors. Privacy glass (high reflectivity outward) combined with low SHGC and high VLT for daylit clinical spaces.

Pharma and lab facilities along Route 1: ASHRAE 90.1 compliance with very tight envelope budgets because the interior process loads are already so high. We work directly with the project's commissioning agent to verify as-installed glass matches the spec.