Bullet Resistant Fiberglass Panels – UL Level 1-8 Copy

To Make Your Walls Bullet Resistant, Follow These Steps:

1. Measure the wall space to protect
2. Determine potential threats and the resulting protection level
3. Select a ballistic material, such as fiberglass or Kevlar
4. Determine the optimal sheet sizes and batten strips to order
5. Prepare tools you will need and review safety information
6. Cut if required. Install and anchor paneling to wall studs
7. Cover seams with batten strips for complete protection
8. Paint or clad exposed ballistic panels if not inside the wall

A wall without specific ballistic reinforcement may offer next to no bullet resistance. Walls are primarily constructed from wood and drywall and offer insignificant protection. An exterior wall may provide some amount of benefit compared to nothing, but it still is often minimal. Most homes with masonry exteriors use brickwork for an aesthetic façade, meaning bricks are only single-layered.

A concrete, ICF, or double-layered brick exterior wall likely provides a fair bit of ballistic protection. However, due to the non-standard nature of such materials, specific bullet resistance levels are never definitive. Instead, using a certified and tested ballistic panel is highly recommended.

We’ve helped hundreds of clients conveniently armor their walls using modular ballistic materials. Contact us for expert help.

Various materials are available to create bullet proof wall panels due to decades of military advancement and chemical innovation. A summary of them is below:

Bullet Resistant Fiberglass Wall Panels

Bullet-resistant fiberglass is the most common material used for securing walls. It carries detailed ratings for ballistic resistance, is fire resistant and forced entry resistant. Builders can easily cut it on-site for proper installation. It does not interfere with cell signals and captures bullets without causing shrapnel productions.

Additionally, it is the most cost-effective bulletproofing option. Its downside is that it is heavier than softer materials, but this is not problematic for wall placement.

Kevlar Wall Panels

Kevlar is a well-known brand name of DuPont and is a para-aramid. Commonly called “soft steel,” the fibers are incredibly strong due to the many molecular bonds. 

The benefit of Kevlar is that it is ultra-light and highly flexible; therefore, you can commonly find it in body armor. It is much less widely used as the material for ballistic wall panels because it is much more expensive than ballistic fiberglass, typically over 2-300% more. Kevlar also cannot stop rifle rounds at practical thicknesses.

However, there are cases where Kevlar panels make sense for armoring walls. One situation is where curvature is needed, for example, on a round wall or around a desk. Another use is when weight is essential. There are times where too much weight on a structure could lead to it being unsafe and collapse.

Fortified Estate is one of the only sellers of para-aramid ballistic Kevlar wall panels. Find more information about Kevlar panels here. We also use Kevlar in many of our ballistic blankets.

Steel Wall Panels

Ballistic steel wall panels, such as AR500, are traditionally thought of as the primary way to armor the walls of a room, but they present several problems and are rarely used for this purpose. 

While steel can protect from all levels of firearm attacks, it is generally extremely heavy. Some steel materials, such as AR 500, have significantly reduced their weight compared to other steels. However, a bigger problem with steel to fortify a room is that it is very problematic to install. Unlike other methods, contractors cannot cut ballistic steel panels on-site. Installation is often either impractical or results in vulnerability due to nonprecise fit.

Unlike fiberglass and Kevlar, which absorb impact, steel may also produce shrapnel from impact and cause other risks and damage. Aside from protection concerns, if a safe room reinforced with steel will be frequently used (such as for a bedroom), it may lead to the occupant’s frustration with the resulting terrible cellular and internet reception. Poor reception is even more of a problem in an emergency while attempting to contact the police. 

Concrete Walls

Poured concrete into masonry blocks with rebar support can provide high-level protection to a safe room, including forced entry resistance and some degree of ballistic protection. However, there are a couple of downsides. 

Clients can only build this structure during a new home build. It’s undoubtedly impractical for a concrete truck to deliver concrete to the right spot in an existing building.

Additionally, because concrete walls are not standardized products, there’s no definitive way to know what specific firearm threats your walls will resist. Will they stop handguns but not rifles? How many bullets will they stop?

If someone has a concrete reinforced room, we recommend adding a low-level certified ballistic panel layer to ensure proper bulletproofing.

Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethelene (UHMWPE) Panels

Polyethelene panels are another option less popularly known but with good uses. They are similar to the benefits of Kevlar (lightweight and flexible) but much less expensive since they don’t rely on a branded material and don’t have sizing restrictions. 

On the downside, they don’t have fire resistance like other options and melt quite easily. Lower ballistic levels are also more at risk of failure from simple forced entry attacks, such as knives.

There are popular derivatives of this material with brand names such as Dyneema and Spectra. UHMWPE is also commonly used in our ballistic blankets.

Ballistic Rubber Panels

When vulcanized rubber is manufactured thick and dense enough, it can effectively capture bullets. Like ballistic steels, there are no ballistic rubbers on the market that are certified to match specific ballistic standards, so it is a bit of a guessing game.

The material type is susceptible to fire, and builders rarely use it in homes or walls. It’s more typically of use in firearm ranges as a backing behind other ballistic resistant material. 

A 4’ x 8’ bullet resistant fiberglass sheet starts as low as $320 and can range as high as $1,600, or $10 – $50 per square foot.

The price within that range depends on the UL protection level of the panel, ranging from protection from a few rounds of a 9mm handgun to multiple rounds of an M-14 assault rifle. Shipping is cost-effective compared to other heavy ballistic materials such as steel.

Other factors may affect pricing, such as bulk orders or special sizes and cut-outs. Standard panel sizes are: 3’ x 8’, 3’ x 9’, 3’ x 10’; 4’ x 8’, 4’ x 9’, 4’ x 10’; 5’ x 8’, 5’ x 9’, and 5’ x 10’.

Fiberglass bullet resistant sheets are so strong because they use the advantages of glass while avoiding its downsides. Fiberglass benefits from the solid tensile strength of glass but avoids its propensity to shatter.

It uses glass as fibers (hence its name) and then keeps all these minute fibers in place with a proprietary resin solution, leaving all the individual glass fibers secured. These complex interlocking patterns allow for extreme absorption of high impact force.

Multiple woven-roven layers combined through specialized heat press allow for creating various weights and thicknesses of bullet resistant panels. Our ballistic fiberglass reaches all eight UL 752 ballistic levels, protecting from 9mm handguns to AK-47s and from ax strikes to large explosions.

Despite its strength, ballistic fiberglass is easier to work with than other ballistic materials. Clients can cut it to size on-site with diamond grit saw blades and fasten it to walls with conventional materials. Such an easy installation is starkly in contrast to the complexity of installing steel ballistic options of all types.

While determining how much protection is needed is a personal choice, we can provide some rules of thumbs.

In an ideal world, one would purchase the highest level of protection available. But for most people looking at their potential threat level is more realistic.

The primary question is whether one feels protection from handguns is sufficient or requires protection from rifles. Handgun protection is much less expensive. The most common handgun level, level 3, protects from nearly all handguns, including the incredibly powerful .44 magnum. Also, at level 3, certification for ASTM forced entry resistance is achieved.

If looking at rifle protection, typical selections are Levels 7 or 8. Level 7 stops multiple rounds from standard assault rifles, such as the AR-15, and is the least expensive rifle level. For the ultimate protection, Level 8 provides resistance to even stronger assault rifles, such as the M-14.

Whether you need rifle or handgun protection depends on your perceived threats. Is your home one that criminals may target in a planned attack? Are you or someone who lives at your home well-known and possibly a personal target? Then protection from rifle rounds may be wise. On the other hand, clients primarily focused on safety from an opportunistic burglar will likely feel sufficiently protected with a Level 3 handgun-resistant panel.

Production of a client’s ballistic fiberglass panels typically takes 1-2 weeks.

Our ballistic fiberglass sheets are shipped directly from the factory to your shipping destination. Shipments can be sent to commercial or residential locations, though residential delivery adds some additional cost.

The bullet resistant panels are shipped LTL via shipping carrier on one or more pallets, depending on quantity. We can add a liftgate service to allow the removal of panels from the truck. If the client has a loading dock or forklift, the shipping company can skip this service.

For clients purchasing oversize bullet proof panels (such as with dimensions 5′ x 10′), the liftgate on the truck may be insufficient, and a forklift on site is needed. Once out of the truck, a pallet jack can be very convenient in moving the pallets closer to where they are needed.