Fiberglass Grate

Unless you live under a rock, you have probably seen grates all over the place most commonly on top of drainage systems. In the past, a moulded fiberglass grate must have been one of those things that looked as possible as flying cars seem to us today. People used plain old wood or metal for grating. I don’t need to mention the draw backs once you introduced fire or any kind of corrosive element. In the early 19th century, a designer named Edward Drummond Libbey showcased a dress at what was then called the world’s Columbian Exposition. This dress was made of a combination of glass wool and silk fibers. All who saw this outrageous concoction marveled at his wild imagination and ingenuity.





It is known that Glassmakers had always experimented with glass fibers, but the technology at that time did not aid easy handling until a man named Russell Games Slayter from the 1930s invented in while trying to find a more effective insulating tool. He named it Fiberglass. When machines began to advance and handle finer material, it was discovered that it could have other uses. At the right temperatures glass wool, could be used as a reinforcing agent. Thus, the possibility of the Fiberglass grate was not so crazy anymore.





A fiberglass grate is simply a grate made from polymer that has been reinforced with fiberglass. It is, among most constructors a no-brainer when it comes to this product. It is light, incredibly wear and corrosion resistant. It is not likely to make your legs go up from under you and it has a quality a friend of mine likes to call Superior Ergonomics. Basically he’s saying, there is only a remote likelihood that it will cause injury.





In almost all cases, fiberglass grates are made by molding. On the surface, this may seem like a complicated process, but the hardest part is in making the rigid frame that is professionally known as a pattern that is in most cases made out of foam. The liquid mixture is poured into this hollow frame and left to cool. What we have at the end of the process is a moulded fiberglass grate.





Moulded fiberglass grates are known to have incredible tensile strength that resists impact, and unlike their carbon fiber counterparts can be stretched much further before they break. It is no wonder they are so popular.





Fiberglass became more popular when it was discovered that asbestos had qualities like poisoning people and killing them. The sales of fiberglass grates increased monumentally as asbestos began to be phased out. However of recent, researches that are being done are beginning to make a few people nervous. Part of what makes a molded fiberglass grate fire resistant is the silicate. Both fiberglass and asbestos have silicate, and this is the quality that is known in medical circles to be a culprit when it comes to causing cancer. Now the construction industry is beginning to panic and look around for another alternative. The closest thing to fiberglass is carbon fiber. Has the same qualities and is known to be lighter. I wonder how long before they discover it also has a problem and….here we go again.








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