What Is an Insulated Glass Unit?
An insulated glass unit, or IGU, is two or three lites of glass held apart by a spacer, sealed around the edge and filled with an inert gas. It is the glass in almost every window, patio door and window wall built in the GTA in the last 40 years. When the seal fails, a lite cracks or the coating is wrong for the building, the unit is replaced as a whole. It cannot be taken apart and resealed on site.
IGU replacement is the specialist version of window glass replacement. It is about getting the spec exactly right, which matters most in condo towers and commercial buildings where every unit on the facade has to look the same.
Inside a Factory-Sealed Unit
| Component | Options | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Lites | 3-6mm float, tempered or laminated | Strength, safety, noise |
| Low-E coating | Surface 2 or 3 | Heat control and appearance |
| Gas fill | Argon or Krypton | Insulating value |
| Spacer | Warm-edge, black or grey | Edge condensation, look |
| Desiccant | Molecular sieve | Absorbs trapped moisture |
| Primary seal | PIB (polyisobutylene) | Gas and vapour barrier |
| Secondary seal | Silicone | Structural bond, UV resistance |
Condo Spec Matching
Condo corporations in Harbourfront, CityPlace, Yonge-Sheppard and Mississauga City Centre often require replacement units to match the original exactly. A unit with the wrong coating shows up from the street as a different colour or reflection, and boards will reject it. A rejected unit means ordering and installing again, which often costs $5,000 or more across a few suites.
We avoid that by matching four things before we order:
- Fabricator and date from the spacer stamp.
- Overall unit thickness and each lite’s thickness by micrometer.
- Coating type and surface by spectrophotometer reading.
- Spacer colour and width by eye and measurement.
Signs a Unit Needs Replacing
- Fog, haze or droplets between the panes
- A crack in either lite
- Visible coating damage or a mismatched replacement from a previous repair
- Frost along the bottom edge in winter
- A failed board or PM inspection
Bulk Programs for Buildings
Many towers built in the late 1990s and 2000s are now seeing seal failures across dozens of suites. We run building-wide programs: survey each suite, order units in batches, and schedule installs floor by floor so elevator bookings stay manageable. Each unit’s spec and warranty is recorded for the corporation’s files.
Send us the building address and the number of failed units, and our glass repair crew in Toronto will arrange a survey.
Written by The Elite Glass Repair Toronto Crew. Last updated .