Author: devarmorgl

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Houston Just Got a Hurricane Without a Hurricane – Blew Out Same Windows as IKE

Houston just got hit with hurricane-force winds without a Hurricane.

It did the same massive window damage to downtown Houston that Hurricane IKE did in 2008. Attached is a collage of photos I took of downtown Houston buildings in the aftermath of IKE.

Hurricane IKE damage office buildings

Now we are getting that damage without a hurricane. Its due to global warming heating up the planet, which means bigger molecules that result in heavier rain and HIGHER Wind Speeds. The winds hit 70 mph, maybe more last night.

My company has the lowest cost solution available if our certified Security Film is installed. I told property managers this after IKE. Some listened.

Most didn’t. This happens and will happen again until they put our Security Film on their glass to “armor it” from future events.

So if you try to reach me I am probably the guy you see with his hair on fire running down the road and probably unable to respond. lol. We are making people safer at the lowest cost possible and that’s worth doing. Even if exhausting. lol.

www.ArmorGlass.com

#Houston #windows #hurricanes #CLimateChange

 

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Texas SCHOOLS Getting Shoddy Security Work that Is An Accident Waiting to Happen

My company provides security for glass on homes, storefronts – and SCHOOLS. This is what I am seeing and hearing about as Texas now wants EVERY school to have film like ours installed before the end of 2025.

An installer told me about some of the horrible Security Film work being done on SCHOOLS. Film cut so short that it cannot be bonded to the frame, so it will fall out upon impact. Film missing on windows that should be covered. Film that was NOT Security Film – 4 mil or less — when 8 Mil Is the minimum thickness rated for impact.

Some contractors are pushing a “double-sided” deal with film on both inside and outside – yet the outside film is not bonded. That is “double charging” the client and is useless – without bonding it won’t hold and weatherization will destroy it and the school with end up paying for it to be removed in a few years when the contractor is long gone.

There are entire schools where they just laid film but did no bonding, so it is useless and will fall out upon impact. Film laid by people with zero certifications. All of these are “accidents waiting to happen” when an incident occurs.

He confirmed what I have been hearing from other installers. Be careful WHO your school contracts with.

Pass it on.

#schools #schoolsafety #shooters

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Schools Are Being Sold Inferior Safety Film and Double-Charged….FYI!

I just attended two school conferences and was shocked by what I heard. One was in San Angelo and the other was in the School Safety Conference in San Antonio.
I was shocked by some of the stories people from schools told me – one school the contractor only applied the film but no bonding! That means the glass will fall out of the frame upon impact by either flying debris in a storm or a shooter.
Another one told me that the film on their school glass is easily damaged when a teacher tapes something to it and then removes it. Real Security Film would never fall apart like that! Someone used a thin or inferior product that will fail to work properly in a crisis if it falls apart from being taped! It needs to be replaced ASAP.
Another school told me they contracted for the film to be put on BOTH sides, which is unnecessary double dipping.
The Pentagon has 8 mil on 1 side only (its the same film that we sell and install.) So I know that the contractor is double billing. And the outside film will weather badly and have to be removed in 3 or 4 years — at school expense because the contractor will be long gone by then.
We are certified by the manufacturer and our film is the best on the market. We have put it on NASA, schools, hospitals, storefronts and homes to protect from glass blow-outs. Our installers are professional. In 15 years I’ve never seen our film split like that of a major competitor with a well-known name. I’ve done chin-ups trying to pull it off a window (back when I could do chin-ups).
Schools need to know these things that their peer schools told me during the conference. I made a checklist for schools to use if you wish to share it (attached).
Let me know if we can assist you and yours in any way.
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Shooter Protection for Schools (etc)

We have been getting a ton of inquiries from SCHOOLS wanting shooter protection.

Our film is designed to delay a shooter at the entrance to give time for police to come and engage them at the front instead of inside where they have countless places to do damage and hide. It only takes a second to shoot out plain glass, leaving an empty frame to walk through. The bullets will go through (bullets will penetrate metal as well) but the holes are not big enough for a shooter. So they spend time reloading, trying to blast their way in.

I have been telling schools that our film is superior to the competition and here is what they should consider when making a purchase for security:

Our film is superior to a well-known company, 3M. I have seen their 8 Mil 3M film literally split in half being pulled off a school window: 4 mil came off, 4 mil stayed on the glass. And that last half came off easily. Our film is the same that was put on the Pentagon and all federal buildings after 911, not 3M.

In 15 years of business, I’ve never seen our 8 mil film split in half. In fact, the adhesive is so strong that I have done chin-ups trying to pull it off a window (back when I could do chin-ups :0). So I recommend 3M for sticky notes, but not for Security Film. I say that as someone who was a 911 Terrorism Analyst on TV before staring Armor Glass.

Adhesiveness to the glass and the film staying together in one piece are vital when someone is hitting or shooting the glass with the film on it.

Looking only at the cost of the product or getting a lower quality product even if cheaper is not the way to make a decision on this life-saving technology that protects from both Human Intrusion and the forces of Mother Nature’s increasingly high winds.

Think of buying security films like shopping for tires. You can buy a 2-ply tire that looks like a tire and seems fine–until it blows out when you are driving loaded down the highway and wrecks your car, causing you injury or death and vehicle damage.

Adding 8 Mil Security Film to your glass is like making that 2-ply tire an 8-ply that won’t blow out when you hit a hole at high speed with the vehicle loaded.

We are “armoring your glass” from a breach (we have seen even 5-year-old kids run into and break glass — and our film avoided injury, a trip to ER, and a ruined event). Yet even retired teachers have been able to afford it on their homes (it has been stopping burglar break-ins on residences, including a woman who was home alone, and storefronts.) It will hold up better than our competition in a shooter incident when seconds matter.

That also matters when a tornado or hurricane hits, throwing debris through the glass and into people. Window failure leads to structural failure and internal damages. Your people should consider these critical factors in making their decision.

Our film does have a 12-year warranty, making it a long-term solution that also saves money and raises comfort as it cuts down the solar heat and harmful UV (that causes skin cancer) that is zapping students and staff near windows. It comes in Clear Tint and Silver versions.

Check us out today.

www.ArmorGlass.com

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Buckle Up If Our Storm Season is as Bad as Southern Hemisphere

Our business is exploding – we can barely keep up with the demand – we just completed work on the glass windows of a major data center, several hospital buildings are next in line, plus a firearms store and even houses. We expect more schools will be included in the summer.
The southern hemisphere (where it’s summer) is having a hellacious HEAT and one of the longest-lasting, powerful hurricanes ever recorded.
That means our summer ahead could be worse than a zombie apocalypse! Get prepared. It’s too late to call us when a named storm is heading our way, or a shooter is on a rampage.
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Tornadoes in Winter; Hurricanes in Summer; Burglars all the time – Armor your Weakest Link

Houston was hit in JANUARY by an EF3 TORNADO. In January? I was surprised too, then I googled it and discovered that Houston is No. 1 for TORNADOES in Texas. No. 2 was little Plainview up in the Texas Panhandle, sandwiched between Amarillo and Lubbock.

The new climate appears to generate Tornadoes in Winter on top of Hurricanes in summer. BURGLARS are a threat 24/7/365.

Face it, folks, glass is a burglar’s best friend. One whack with a brick (or bat as in our homepage video) and its GONE! The bad guys are in and out in less than 2 minutes. 8 Mil Armor Glass security films have been keeping that from happening at our client storefronts and homes, at a fraction of the cost of the alternatives. And it also cuts solar heat drastically to save energy costs and harmful UV.

Tornadoes destroy buildings like hurricanes–high winds throw debris into a glass door or window, and it fails. Once the window is gone, the building’s seal is broken. Winds rush in and try to find a way out. That pressurizes the building, pushing the roof up and walls out. This was confirmed by a study called “Project Safe Windows.” Basically, it explodes the building.

Few people know this, or that Certified Security Film works like “Invisible Shutters” and “Invisible Burglar Bars” to keep that seal after a window breaks from an impact, by human or mother nature.

Impact glass and shutters cost three to ten times more per square foot and are expensive to maintain or replace. Not Security Film, which is also saving energy costs and shielding occupants from heat and the No.1 cause of skin cancer, UV rays.

We install 8 Mil Armor Glass on SCHOOLS – it doesn’t stop the bullet, but it is a barrier to the shooter, delaying him at the entrance instead of blowing out the glass in two seconds in a hail of bullets. Shoot bare glass and it’s gone in a second or two and no one inside has a chance to prepare. Armor Glass Security Film, which is anchored to the frames for support, gives the police an opportunity to confront a shooter at the locked glass entrance instead of somewhere inside.

Stop being a sitting duck for the next burglar or a storm that can easily wreck your biggest asset because its windows put up no resistance to breach from screaming winds or that guy with the baseball bat you see on our Homepage. That makes a burglar smile.

Armor Glass puts a frown on those faces. It’s kept burglars from breaking in on a woman home alone and storefronts closed for the night numerous times. It’s kept little kids from being injured after running into a glass wall and breaking the glass (one month after we put it on). Check out our videos and details at ArmorGlass.com

 

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Hurricane Prep and a Special Job at NASA

Hurricane IKE damage office buildings

This is how downtown Houston looked after Hurricane IKE hit in 2008. Had Armor Glass Security Film been on those windows, they would not have lost a single one, not even if broken! So get prepared for the next wind event – don’t count on it being a water event like Harvey.

Armor Glass just wrapped a job at the Neutral Buoyancy Lab for NASA in Houston (the first word uttered from the moon._ Got to see astronauts in training for space flights in a weightless environment.

It was a great honor that they sought us out specifically for this project (as they did in 2016 for the Mission Control section).

Turns out that the full-scale ISS is many times bigger than this pool! ISS is 450 feet long – about 1 and a half football fields.

The people were great. This is an area for visitors can come to watch. Check it out. #iss #nasa #NBL #armorglass

And ask us for a FREE quote at www.ArmorGlass.com

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A Woman Home Alone Saved by…..Armor Glass Security Film

A woman was home alone in a high-end Sugar Land home when the doorbell rang. She didn’t answer it, assuming the person would go away. She went back to the bedroom near a wall of glass facing their pool when suddenly she heard something crash against the glass a few feet away.

Normally when that happens the paver (or rock) goes through the glass, the intruder follows it, and is gone within 2 minutes — long before any police can arrive. In this event, he would have run right into the woman. Nothing good would have come from it.

Instead, the paver bounced off the glass! The impact crashed startled here, causing her to scream. And the guy — who had assumed no one was home — took off!

Yes, it cracked the glass but there was no breach, no broken glass all over the room and in the carpet, no hole to worry about, no need to call the glass company for an emergency visit, no possibility that the rains later that day will come in and spread mold. No personal confrontation between the woman and the robber.

All because of a special high-tech, polycarbonate 8 Mil Security Film that “armors your glass,” every building’s weakest link. It is rated for Miami Dade Hurricane-force winds and “large missile” impacts (think rock or a brick). It was installed on her windows by Armor Glass just a few weeks earlier.  The same film was installed on the Pentagon and federal buildings after 911, yet it costs a fraction of impact glass and shutters that are three to ten times more per square foot. Those expensive options don’t cut the solar heat up to 50%, saving energy costs, or cut harmful UV 99% that causes skin cancer and furnishings to fade. Armor Glass Security Film does that.

All glass is fragile and an accident waiting to happen. When it fails in a hurricane, its goodbye house. Yet the cost of Armor Glass security film is so reasonable that retired teachers have had it installed. We have put it in schools for shooter protection (it delays the shooter at the glass entrance instead of blowing it out with a hail of bullets in one second.)  We have installed on glass at NASA’s Mission Control, numerous Whataburger’s, homes, storefronts, hospitals, offices and schools.

On a residence, it’s a lifetime warranty. On a commercial building, it’s 12 years. Armor Glass films have prevented numerous break-in attempts on homes, and storefronts while providing 24/7/365 hurricane-force wind protection. No need to “board up” for a storm. No need to try the suicide mission of lugging heavy wood or shutters up a ladder to second-story windows!

Think of Armor Glass security film as “invisible burglar bars” or “invisible shutters.” It has prevented little kids from being hurt–one ran into a glass wall right after we installed our film. Instead of blood, a ruined event and trip to ER (with rain coming in through the broken window) and triple overhead weekend charges, the child bounced off the film and was not harmed and the party went on. The broken glass was out of the child’s reach on the outside.

Check us out at www.ArmorGlass.com and contact us for a FREE Quote before Hurricane Season kicks off June 1. Experts say it will be our 3rd above-average storm season in a row. It’s too late to call when the storm has a name. Armor Glass: Don’t leave home or live in one without it.

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How Armor Glass Security Film Would have Avoided $5 Million in Damages to 1 building

 

In 2008 Hurricane IKE hit Houston, causing billions in damages. Countless buildings across the city lost windows from flying debris. The worst-case was the downtown Chase Tower which lost an entire side of windows as the winds sucked them out of their frames, along with the contents of each office. It was shut down for nearly a year and cost over $5 million to repair the damage just to the building, not including the tenants’ losses.

ALL of these damages would have (not could have) been avoided had they applied 8 Mil Armor Glass Security Film with frame bonding before the storm. Even if broken, the film would have contained the glass and the frame bonding would have kept it on the frame instead of flying through the air and smashing into thousands of shards that would have killed anyone below. Broken windows would have stayed in their frame.

To this day, not only Chase Tower but almost all buildings like it remain sitting ducks for the next hurricane-like IKE. Some buildings have solar film installed but thin 2mil solar film is not designed to protect from a breach, only the sun’s rays. Upon impact, it will fail. However, our 8 Mil Security Film is rated for ASTM 1886/1996 Large Missile Impact (Level C 4.5 lbs) and would hold. But even that would fall out of the frame unless a structural sealant is applied to anchor the film to the frames on tempered glass (it’s not needed on plate glass.)

The installation cost of 8 mil Armor Glass Security film (a high-tech polycarbonate that was put on the Pentagon and all federal buildings after 911) and bonding would have been a fraction of the damages Chase Tower incurred.

During the 2020 riots, companies with glass walls called in a panic. We applied the film to prevent glass breaches from bricks and rocks that destroy glass in a second, leaving empty frames anyone can walk through, exposing the interior to wind and rain damage as well.

Our Security Film has stopped numerous break-ins by burglars. And at the same time it was cutting solar heat and harmful UV, just as the solar film does, but with the advantage of providing glass security that solar film doesn’t. It’s carbon negative and cuts energy use. Adding our film to your glass is like changing your 2 ply tires that will blow out under stress and high loads with 8 ply tires that won’t.

We live in a storm zone 24/7/365. Hurricanes are an annual event. And as the earth warms, the storms are bigger and more powerful. Burglars are a 365 threat and potential riots, explosions, kids and pets running into it, make glass a dangerous accident waiting to happen – until you “armor the glass” with Armor Glass Security Film.

Here is a Houston KHOU Channel 11 video made in 2009 that demonstrates how hurricanes/tornadoes destroy and it mentions Armor Glass security film as an option.

Details and contact for a Free Quote at: www.ArmorGlass.com

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Why Every Piece of Glass Needs our Security Film

Man flying out a broken window
Don’t Leave Home Without It

As you can see from our friend in the photo, glass is fragile and dangerous, the weakest link of every building. It can leave you “hanging” with no support when you need it the most!

Every pane of glass on the planet needs Armor Glass Security Film on it to “armor” it from breaches by guys throwing a brick or by hurricane-force winds that destroy homes when flying debris breaches a glass door or window.

This was confirmed by a 2004 study of 4 hurricanes that hit Florida. The question was: WHY is that house still OK while the ones around it look like they were hit by a bomb?

The Answer: Window protection. If you had it, the building survived. If not, it didn’t. Then the question became: What KIND of window protection? Expensive shutters that rust and aren’t protecting anything while up? Or expensive laminated glass that requires special frames and still breaks, so it has to be replaced with a more expensive window? Heavy plywood that is a suicide mission to put on a second story and fills your garage or storage?

Or Security Film, which works 24/7/365 while it is also cutting solar heat and harmful UV, and costs a fraction of impact glass and shutters? And the answer is: It doesn’t matter! ANY protection is better than no protection. (Details in our book “Houses of Straw” on the website.)

Our Armor Glass Security Film has prevented numerous break-ins of both residential and commercial buildings. It provides protection from rioters throwing bricks, burglars who break in within a second or two and be gone within two minutes, hurricanes, tornadoes and heat. It cuts your energy bill because it rejects from 20% to 79% of the solar heat entering a building. It is carbon negative, saving more energy than it takes to make and install it.

Every piece of glass is an accident waiting to happen. “Armor your glass” with our security film to protect your major investment and “harden the building envelope.” The residential warranty is lifetime and the commercial warranty is 12-years. For more info check us out at www.ArmorGlass.com and then ask for a Free Quote today!