Glass Facade Installation in Centennial

What glass facade installation involves

Glass facade installation is the process of fitting and securing a glazed wall system to a commercial building's structural frame. The system consists of aluminum mullions, structural silicone sealants, insulated glass units, thermal breaks, and pressure plates assembled and sealed to weathertight specifications. Installation includes measuring and fabricating components, positioning mullions and transoms, setting glass units into frames, applying structural silicone, and pressure-testing the entire assembly for air and water infiltration before the building is occupied.

A facade functions as a weather barrier, a structural system, and an insulation envelope. Every joint, sealant line, and glass edge has to perform to spec or the building fails its air and water tightness test.

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Two main facade types: Curtain wall and storefront systems

Curtain walls run floor-to-floor and span the full perimeter of a building. They're built stick-built (assembled piece by piece on site) or unitized (pre-assembled in sections and installed as modules). Stick-built gives flexibility on site; unitized moves faster and arrives with tighter quality control.

Storefront glass installation covers ground-level glazing, typically 12 to 15 feet tall, with larger lights and fewer horizontal divisions. It bears its own weight plus wind and impact loads. Both must meet AAMA performance grades for air infiltration, water resistance, and structural performance.

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When your commercial building needs facade work

Facade installation happens at three points in a building's life: new construction, remedial repair, and full replacement.

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New construction and design-assist

On a ground-up project, facade specifications are locked during design. Element13 provides design-assist services to vet those specs for buildability, cost, and performance before fabrication starts. We flag conflicts early: a mullion spacing that's too tight for fabrication, a glass type that doesn't meet fire code, or a sealant schedule that will fail water testing. Addressing these before the order goes in saves weeks and tens of thousands in change orders.

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Repair and replacement during the building's life

Facades fail at specific failure points. Structural silicone degrades in direct sunlight after 20 to 30 years. Gaskets harden and split. Insulated glass units lose their seal and fog internally. A few failed units can be replaced without disturbing the rest of the facade. But if silicone is failing across multiple bays or thermal breaks are compromised, a full replacement becomes more cost-effective than piecemeal repair.

We're often called in for facade rescue work. A building passes occupancy inspection but water intrusion starts appearing in the second or third year. That's when diagnostic testing identifies whether the problem is installation quality, material failure, or design flaw.

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Curtain wall systems and storefront glazing

Aluminum extrusions form the frame. Most are 6063-T5 or 6063-T6 alloy, lightweight and rigid. Mullions run vertically, transoms run horizontally. Between them sit insulated glass units.

Insulated glass units (IGUs) are sealed double or triple panes with air or argon gas between them. The gas reduces heat transfer. Low-E coatings on the inner panes reflect infrared radiation back into the building in winter and reject solar heat in summer. The U-factor (how much heat passes through) and Solar Heat Gain Coefficient determine energy performance and ASHRAE 90.1 compliance.

Tempered glass withstands thermal shock and impact better than annealed glass. It fractures into small pellets instead of shards, making it safer. Laminated safety glass holds together when broken, critical where a panel falling 20 floors would be a hazard. Fire-rated glazing meets ASTM E119 requirements for buildings where fire compartments are required.

Structural silicone seals the glass to the frame. It's structural because it bears the glass weight and wind loads. It must cure fully, remain flexible to accommodate thermal movement, and resist UV and weathering. A typical joint is 0.5 to 0.75 inches wide and runs continuously around each light.

Thermal breaks are thin polyamide or polyurethane strips inserted into aluminum extrusions to stop heat conduction. Without them, cold exterior air conducts straight through the metal frame into the building, creating condensation and losing insulation value.

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How we install and test glass facades

Element13 fabricates and assembles most components in-house before delivery to site. This means we control fit, tolerances, and pre-testing.

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Pre-installation fabrication and assembly

We cut and extrude aluminum mullions to length, insert thermal breaks into the profiles, and assemble them into frames. We order IGUs to exact specifications from manufacturers, verifying glass type, coating, gas fill, and spacer material. We pre-cut and apply structural silicone to the frames in controlled shop conditions, then cure it there. On site, the frame is half-finished already. This reduces weather exposure during installation and cuts on-site labor time.

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Installation sequence on site

Mullions are plumbed and fastened to the building structure using anchors that allow for thermal expansion. Glass units are set into the frame using glazing gaskets (synthetic rubber or EPDM) that cushion the glass and take up tolerance stacks between the frame and the glass edge. Pressure plates hold the gasket in place while the structural silicone cures. For stick-built systems, we apply sealant at each joint as we build vertically. For unitized facades, we install pre-assembled modules and seal the joints between them.

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Air and water testing

Before the building is enclosed, we pressure-test the facade per ASTM E283 (air infiltration) and ASTM E331 (water spray testing). We pressurize each story or section and measure air leakage. We spray water at high pressure from outside and look for any dripping inside. Failures trigger re-sealing or component replacement until the spec is met.

Element13 performs these tests in-house with our own equipment. We don't wait for a third-party inspector to diagnose failures weeks later.

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Why Element13 handles facade installation differently

Commercial glazing installation requires union-trained labor and specific credentials. Element13 employs NACC Master-Certified glaziers on staff. NACC certification requires documented work experience, passing a comprehensive exam, and staying current on standards and safety. Our leadership team has over 40 years of combined field experience in glass and glazing.

We're a signatory to the Glaziers Union, Denver Local 9. That means our crews meet the wage, apprenticeship, and safety standards set by the union. We carry zero major safety incidents on our record.

Our in-house fabrication and assembly capability means we don't hand off facade work to a subcontractor and hope it's right. We build it, test it, and stand behind it. If a unit ships with a defect, we fix it before it gets to the job site.

We also offer warranty-phase rescue: if a newly occupied building develops water leaks or fails inspection testing, we diagnose the cause with our in-house diagnostic testing equipment and fix it. Structural silicone is failing because it wasn't cured long enough. A gasket is split because the frame expanded more than the original installer anticipated. We find it and remedy it.

Element13 is commercial-only. We don't split focus between residential windows and commercial facades. Facade work is all we do.

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Can insulated glass units be replaced without removing the entire facade?

Yes, individual units can be replaced without dismantling the frame. The process is called a glass-and-gasket replacement or unit exchange. We remove the pressure plates holding the gasket, cut or dissolve the old structural silicone around the unit, lift the failed unit out, clean the frame, insert a new unit with fresh gaskets, apply new structural silicone, reinstall pressure plates, and cure. For a single failed unit or a few scattered failures, this is the right approach. It minimizes downtime and cost.

However, if structural silicone is failing across the facade or thermal breaks are compromised, unit replacement becomes a temporary fix. The underlying material is still degrading, and more units will fail soon after. A full facade replacement becomes more economical and durable.

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What does structural silicone degradation look like?

Structural silicone breaks down in three visible ways. First, the surface crazes, developing a network of fine cracks like dried mud. Second, the sealant pulls away from the glass or frame edge, creating visible gaps and allowing water to seep behind it. Third, the material hardens and loses elasticity, so it can no longer accommodate thermal movement. In Colorado's temperature swings from 90 degrees in summer to minus 10 in winter, rigid sealant ruptures and lets water in.

When you see silicone that's pulled back, cracked, or visibly hard and brittle, water intrusion is likely already happening inside the wall. Inspect the interior face of the facade, especially around the perimeter of each light. Water staining, soft drywall, or mold on the back of the frame means the sealant has failed and moisture is entering the building.

Element13 can extract samples of degraded sealant for lab analysis to confirm age and failure mode. This tells us whether the sealant reached its design life or failed prematurely due to installation or material defect.

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How long does curtain wall installation take?

A mid-rise commercial building, roughly 10 to 20 stories with 20,000 to 40,000 square feet of curtain wall, typically requires 6 to 12 weeks from start of installation to final testing and occupancy. The timeline depends on the weather window, the complexity of the facade geometry, whether the system is stick-built or unitized, and the schedule of other trades working on the building.

Stick-built systems take longer because the frame is assembled piece by piece on site. Unitized systems move faster because modules arrive pre-assembled and are hung and sealed more quickly. However, unitized requires longer lead time from the manufacturer because the modules are custom-built.

We phase installation around occupied hours and other trades. We typically work early mornings or evening shifts to avoid interfering with mechanical or interior finishing work happening simultaneously. This lengthens the project duration but reduces conflict and rework.

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What lead time should you expect for fabrication and installation?

For new curtain wall installations, expect 12 to 16 weeks from design approval to glass delivery, depending on aluminum extrusion availability and glass coating lead times. Low-E coated glass and certain tempered options have longer queues from manufacturers.

Once glass and aluminum arrive at our shop, in-house fabrication and assembly takes 4 to 6 weeks, depending on project size and complexity. Then installation begins on site, adding another 6 to 12 weeks as noted above.

For curtain wall installation projects where design-assist is involved, we can reduce lead time by flagging long-lead items early and ordering them in parallel with design finalization, rather than sequentially.

Repair and replacement projects have shorter lead times because we often reuse existing extrusion profiles and order only new glass and sealant materials.

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What are Colorado's permitting requirements for glass replacement?

In Colorado, commercial glass replacement and facade work require permits from the building department in the jurisdiction where the building is located. Most municipalities require:

A permit application with drawings showing the new glass type, the building location, and the proposed work scope. If the replacement is like-for-like (same glass type and performance), the review is typically expedited. If you're upgrading the glass type or changing performance characteristics, the building department may require energy code compliance review under ASHRAE 90.1 or the International Energy Conservation Code.

Fire-rated glass must be specified and tested to ASTM E119 standards. The building department verifies that the replacement glass meets the fire separation requirements for the wall assembly.

If the building is in a historic district or on the National Register of Historic Places, design review and approval from the historic preservation office may be required before permits are issued.

Element13 manages permitting for our projects. We prepare drawing sets, submit applications, respond to plan reviewer comments, and coordinate inspections. We know the requirements for City and County of Denver and surrounding jurisdictions because we hold DBE, EBE, and WMBE certifications that require us to demonstrate compliance with local procurement and safety standards.

Permit timelines vary. A straightforward like-for-like replacement might be permitted in 2 to 3 weeks. A full facade replacement with energy code review can take 6 to 8 weeks before permits are issued and work can begin.