Glass thickness needed?

[DutchieAmanda]

Hi all,
My redfoot is growing fast, so I'm looking for a new indoor enclosure. Because we are expecting our first (human ) baby any moment now, I do not have time to build something myself, and therefore I'm thinking about letting a professional build something for me. It will be a glass enclosure with an extra level in it and sliding doors. He will use double paned glass, for extra insulation (we have to think of the climate, right? ). Sizes will be 200 cm (80") x 80 cm (32").
The builder advises me to use 10 mm (0.4") glass for this enclosure. The alternative is 8 mm (0.3") for both the bottom, walls, top and the extra level. What glass thickness would you recommend? We could also use a different thickness for example for the extra level.

BTW: floor space with this enclosure will be 2.4 square metres (I believe that's 7.8 square foot). This will be her winter enclosure, for the summer I'm going to build a large greenhouse with heated night box and outside garden. She'll have to do with a little smaller indoor winter enclosure (she's 18 cm (7") right now)...

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't really know what I'm talking about, but seems to me double paned glass is overkill. Just use whatever kind of glass they make aquariums out of.

 

[DutchieAmanda]

I don't really know what I'm talking about, but seems to me double paned glass is overkill. Just use whatever kind of glass they make aquariums out of.

Her current enclosure is also made of double paned glass and I really like it. First it's much more energy efficient (just like every house here uses double or even triple paned glass), and second there is much less condensation due to a lower temperature gradient. And that's also a bonus with the 80% humidity my redfoot needs.

Aquaria are made with single paned glass, but thickness varies from 4 to 10 mm. So I'm confused what to get for my terrarium. Torts aren't the most subtle creatures and I don't want her to break the glass...

 

[Markw84]

I think the choice of 4 mm is the right one. I make double pane glass doors for my enclosures, but those have four doors that are wood framed and the glass portion is only about 14" x 16" each. I use 2.5mm glass for that which is a standard window glass thickness. I don't worry about the tortoises breaking the glass, but your concern is a toddler banging on the enclosure in the near future. The 4mm will serve you better.
Not sure about your design, but if the top is glass and the enclosure is on the floor so that top is almost like a table top, you should really go thicker with the top piece as that would be easy to break Table tops are normally at least 9.7mm thick.

You also could look into using plexiglass. Would never have to worry about breakage with that.

 

[DutchieAmanda]

I think the choice of 4 mm is the right one. I make double pane glass doors for my enclosures, but those have four doors that are wood framed and the glass portion is only about 14" x 16" each. I use 2.5mm glass for that which is a standard window glass thickness. I don't worry about the tortoises breaking the glass, but your concern is a toddler banging on the enclosure in the near future. The 4mm will serve you better.
Not sure about your design, but if the top is glass and the enclosure is on the floor so that top is almost like a table top, you should really go thicker with the top piece as that would be easy to break Table tops are normally at least 9.7mm thick.

You also could look into using plexiglass. Would never have to worry about breakage with that.

Thanks for your input! It will be an enclosure on top of a cabinet, so the top will not be used as a table.

I do believe that 4mm glass in these sizes will bend and finally break because the enclosure will be quite big...