Article Summary
- Bulletproof steel panels offer an optimal solution for reinforcing walls to create saferooms and secure spaces, providing exceptional ballistic protection and defense against forced entry through walls, floors, and ceilings.
- Compared to alternatives like fiberglass, bulletproof steel is significantly advantageous, being much thinner (up to 86% thinner) and lighter (up to 47% lighter) at equivalent protection levels, which preserves floor space and reduces structural load.
- Precision cutting services are available for the steel panels, ensuring a precise fit for all wall configurations, in contrast to the messy, complicated, and hazardous process of cutting fiberglass in the field.
Why Bulletproof Steel Panels for Walls May Be the Solution You Were Looking For
Bulletproof steel panels provide an optimal solution for reinforcing walls to create saferooms, panic rooms, or other secure spaces in homes or businesses. In addition to providing ballistic protection from someone attempting to shoot through walls, our bulletproof steel panels also provide exceptional protection against forced entry attack through walls, floors, and ceilings, ensuring that safe rooms are 360 degrees secure.
While also cost effective, bulletproof steel offers significant advantages over other wall solutions such as fiberglass or kevlar ballistic panels.
What Is Bulletproof Steel?
Bulletproof steel is a specialty hardened material. Its properties are measured in brinell hardness and for bulletproof steel is typically at 500 brinell. The higher the number, the harder the steel as well as the level of protection it offers.
At Shield, we offer steel at the 500 brinell and 600 brinell levels, which provide flexibility in pricing, technical properties, and bullet resistance to suit any project and application. And with standard sheet sizes of to 10’ x 5’, we have the ability to customize sheets to suit any project.
Advantages of Bulletproof Steel Over Fiberglass?
Thickness
First, bulletproof steel is much thinner than the alternatives. Our UL level 3 bulletproof steel, which covers all handguns, is 77% thinner than comparable fiberglass.
With our UL level 7/8 bulletproof steel, which covers rifle rounds up to a 5.56 and 7.62×51, the difference is even stark. Our bulletproof steel is 86% thinner than comparable fiberglass.
Using bulletproof steel over fiberglass allows you to keep walls thinner and preserves more of your floor space so that the differences between secure and non-secure walls is virtually unnoticeable.
Weight
Although steel is denser than fiberglass, bulletproof steel is lighter than ballistic fiberglass at equivalent protection levels. Our UL level 3 bulletproof steel is 17% lighter than comparable fiberglass and our UL level 7/8 bulletproof steel is 47% lighter than fiberglass.
While it’s easy to put a thinner material in the “nice but not necessary” category, having lighter material is always a necessity and brings with it several other advantages including:
- Less structural load on floors and foundations
- Easier installation and faster construction timelines
- Simpler handling for contractors and installers
- Lower transportation costs
Because adding less weight to the walls in your home, office, or business will always be a better choice than unnecessary weight and thickness, bulletproof steel panels bring many advantages over fiberglass.
Precision Cutting Services for Bulletproof Steel Panels
Designing a saferoom requires precision and attention to detail. To support this, we offer our clients precision cutting services for bulletproof steel, including cutouts for mounting hardware, electrical conduits, ventilation systems, or other installation requirements.
Starting from sheet sizes of 5’ x 10’, we can cut panels down to any size or shape, ensuring a precise fit for all wall configurations.
By comparison, cutting fiberglass in the field is messy, complicated and hazardous. It requires full body protective suits, PPE masks for tradespeople due to the fine fiberglass particles released during cutting, water assisted cutting, and the safe disposal of contaminated water that is classified as industrial waste due to potential health risks. To learn how precision-cut bulletproof steel can streamline your saferoom project, contact Shield Security Doors today to schedule a consultation.