All depends upon where you live and what your building and energy codes say. Typically, the glass will have to be tempered glass if the proximity to the floor is less than 18" and the size of the pane is 9 square feet or more. Also, you will likley need low-e, argon fill, and also potentially some sort of coating to control solar heat gain. But again, all this depends upon where you live and what your codes require. Call you code office.

I recently purchased a Xyron ezLaminator 2001 from someone on Craigslist. I read here: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/crafts/msg120817041398.html that the Xyron 900 creative station cartridges would work in the ezLaminator Plus. Anyway, I call Xyron custservice and asked them what the difference was between the ezL 2001 and ezL Plus and the agent told me there was no difference. So then I asked if I could use 900 refills in it and she said I could not. I asked if I could use 900 refills in the ezL Plus and she said I could not. Anyone know what's the truth?

Good morning, I was watching the Twins trounce the Red Sox last night while typing my reply. Unfortunately, as I reread my reply this morning I can see that my attention was wandering a bit... I am very familiar with the article on laminated glass that you posted. It discusses a several different issues, but the primary ones are laminated glass delamination involving tempered and heat strengthened glass and laminated glass performance (delamination) comparison between two different (both PVB) products - Dupont B14 and "Type X". Dupont no longer manufactures B14 PVB. They upgraded their formulation about three or four years ago to B5 PVB. The "Type X" PVB, noted in the article, has also been upgraded since the article was written. The fact that the materials were changed should not suggest that the older versions were flawed; it was really just the result of ongoing R&D by both companies. Glass that has been either tempered or heat strengthened is not flat. Depending on a number of different factors, including (very much) the skill of the tempering furnace operator, this glass can potentially be very - un-flat. There are several different permutations of this un-flatness, and all of them are of potential concern when trying to laminate either tempered or heat strengthened glass. While some of these concerns relate strictly to the appearance of the finished product, others can relate to manufacturing processes that can result in potential edge delamination or sunburst patterns. I can go much more in depth on the cause and effect of these issues, but the article did an excellent job of explaining them although I donÂt completely agree with all of their conclusions. Moisture and laminated glass is still a consideration for the window manufacturer. They have to ensure that their window design does not trap water in the lower edge glazing reglet when using laminated glass. You donÂt want PVB sitting in water because it's going to cause problems. Manufacturers are very much aware of the tendency of PVB to suck up moisture, and windows using laminated glass are designed and manufactured to take this into account. This shouldn't be a homeowner concern, specially when installing a higher quality window. Consider that window manufacturers have a pot-load of money tied up into a window like the one you are considering, from R&D to material cost to manufacturing, and they DO NOT want that window failing in the field for both the cost of replacement, and especially their quality reputation. Warranty issues as you question really relates back to the fact that IGU and laminated glass are entirely different critters. There is no specific warranty on the LoE2 (Cardinals nomenclature) coating, for example. Cardinal does offer a 20 year IGU warranty to the window manufacturer, but it is strictly on the IGU seal. This warranty has no bearing specifically on either laminated glass or window coatings. An IGU made with laminated glass will still have the 20 year IGU warranty, but the warranty against delamination is a separate issue. If you install laminated glass should you anticipate delamination at 5 years? No, not at all. Car windshields have been using laminated glass for a very long time and how often do you see a delaminated windshield? Car windshields use pretty much the very same PVB as does the architectural products with the primary exception that windshields are manufactured using a lower adhesion product. Windshields are designed to delaminate on impact (hopefully saving a life in doing so), while architectural and residential laminates use higher adhesion products specifically to avoid delamination.

A floating floor is a floor that is not anchored to the subfloor (gravity holds it in place). A floating floor must have an expansion gap around the whole room. That means there will be a nice, big fat gap at each and every wall. The ideal expansion gap is the same thickness as the laminate. The laminate you show is 10mm thick. That means you must have 10mm gap at every single wall and a gap of 10mm on EITHER side of the door jam. Because this is a rental AND the existing floor is VERY WELL installed (baseboards appear to have been done properly) I do NOT suggest you install quarter round or shoe moulding. That means you will LEAVE the gap all the way around. This gap will fill up with crud. And then to add insult to injury you MUST use an underlayment product. Your product of choice has an integrated underpad which is most CERTAINLY plastic stuff. Even if it didn't have it, you would need an underpad to protect the existing floor. The underpad MUST NOT be plastic or vinyl or any product that will trap moisture. That means you need to work with 3mm cork underlay or Quietwalk fiber based product. Either of these products will add $$ cost to your project. But this point is moot because you have a laminate with plastic underlay = absolutely not allowed over an existing wood based floor. Ever. But why no 'plastic'? Because it will cause the moisture underneath the existing floor to catch on the bottom of the plastic and DRIP DOWN onto the existing floor. And you will be left with a fantastically moldy mess that you will be required to pay for. And considering the fact the existing floor is THROUGHOUT the house, you might be required to remove/replace the ENTIRE THING. Because a tenant must bring the home back to the ORIGINAL state. And that state includes an entire house covered in the SAME floor. Right. On to the transition strips that you will WANT to use at the doors...but will not be ALLOWED to use. Again a reducer (what the transition strip is called when moving from a 1/2" step down to 0" inch floor (like concrete or the existing flooring level). Why can't you use it? Because the transition must be ANCHORED. That is to say you would have to affix the transition to the EXISTING floor. IN doing so you risk (100% risk) of damaging the existing floor. That brings us back to leaving the house in the way you found it. And back to the issue of a floating floor over another floating floor - this is bad science. An unstable floor on top of an unstable floor. It would be like building with marbles. The warranty on BOTH floors is void (landlords love to hear these things...you might own them another floor if they find out about another floor sitting on top). In short: Don't do it. You will have one heck of an expensive 'project' on your hands when you move out. A white area rug would do MUCH better and would be MUCH cheaper.