Yet, there are: people, who for work break down doors and smash windows. And what does the consumer get out of it? Of course you always meet contemporaries, who love to fall into the house with the door. Often there is something wrong with their manners, while the door leaf, the frame and fittings give no cause for complaint.
But it also happens, that literally a door falls in the house or a window falls out of the frame. Then agree with construction, Manufacturing or assembling something. This can be quite annoying for the sufferer, be expensive and even dangerous. So that it doesn't come to that, have many bright minds, entire generations of technicians and engineers, tinkered and constructed, for every problem, every imaginable detail a solution and put it on paper as a standard or guideline. As long as window and door manufacturers comply with all these regulations and recommendations, nothing can really go wrong. But really do it? Can the customer rely on it?, that the confidence-inspiring seal of quality not only catches the eye in terms of advertising, but also entitled? That a fire-resistant door does not burst into flames at the first opportunity, a supposedly burglar-resistant window actually resists the heavy hitters?
The almost seventy employees of the Institute for Window Technology (i.f.t.) in Rosenheim, such questions arise every day and provide the right answers. If need be, with brute force. Most of the time it has to be. Then some of them guess, who make a well-mannered impression privately, punctually at work, apparently totally out of control, let it crunch audibly, splinter, crash, roar and rumble. From time to time there is some smoke in addition to the sound. Only shortly before closing time do they become peaceful again.
But what at first glance looks like half-strong powerhouse, proves on the second as precise detailed work with sense and a lot of understanding. The work of the i.f.t. no longer just on windows, but also on doors and fittings, Multi-pane insulating glass, shutters, curtain walls and light exterior walls.
If, for example, it should be checked and confirmed with a corresponding certificate, that a burglar-resistant door meets your requirements, then this so-called specimen must be clamped in a standardized frame and loaded with a pressure stamp, namely with a well-defined load at well-defined intervals at well-defined points – on the hinges, on the locking plate, in the middle of the door leaf. There is also a dynamic test: A 30 Kilo heavy leather punching bag, which is hung next to the door and deflected sideways, simulates a burglar with his impact, who throws himself heavily against the door with his shoulders. Thirdly, the door must be able to withstand a "practical break-in attempt with the appropriate tools".: Then the test engineers do everything they can, pry open the door with a crowbar and crowbar or lift it off its hinges. Depending on, whether and for how long the door can do all this with it, the manufacturer receives a certificate, which grants its product the respective resistance class. Without such a test, the door manufacturer would not be able to make any relevant claims.
The i.f.t. forms a registered association, the one in the inside- and abroad around 500 members counts, mainly manufacturers of the products to be tested. The whole thing is funded by membership fees and thereby, that the test programs are billed as services. In return, the client receives a guaranteed official result, because the i.f.t. is an "authorized testing institute".
Not every day there are orders like those from far away Thailand, which was about it, try to anticipate the wind forces acting on the windows of a high-rise hotel. The Egyptians had a similar problem, the i.f.t. wanted to know, whether the glazing of the new airport tower in Cairo will withstand all storms. Orders like this usually come up: A window manufacturer wants to know, whether its products meet the noise protection requirements. For this purpose, the window is installed in a sound-insulating wall, separating the two rooms. In the broadcasting room, high-wattage loudspeakers make noise made to measure, from a dull rumble to a sharp squeak. A microphone registers in the reception room, how much normal noise penetrates through the closed window. With insulating glass, both the thermal insulation and the question are of interest, whether this effect persists in the long term ("time stability behavior"). One of the thirteen-week ordeals is the incessant alternation between 52 °C above and 15 °C unter Null. Then it is weighed, whether the desiccant between the panes has increased, so that it has absorbed any moisture that has penetrated.
Even Mother Nature can have a say up on the roof. There, a few dozen window frames are exposed to wind and weather. But the test engineers have a much nicer expression for it: "outdoor weathering".