Of all the methods of armoring the walls of a room, ballistic fiberglass offers a combination of the most inexpensive and convenient options.
Unlike steel and other traditional ballistic materials, contractors can cut our panels on site with proper tools. These modular panels are placed inside newly built walls or placed on top of existing walls and painted or covered. We offer nine standard, convenient sizes.
Bullet resistant panels are simple to work with: almost any contractor familiar with installing drywall can install a fiberglass bullet resistant panel, as well.
Attachment Methods
Most commonly, clients install ballistic drywall to walls with screws driven into wall studs, whether metal or wood. Self-tapping drywall screws are sufficient. If drywall is to cover the ballistic panel, then a complete screw pattern can be driver through both materials into the studs.
We recommend first drilling pilot holes with a carbide tip drill when dealing with ballistic fiberglass panels greater than 1″ thick. This preparation allows for more effortless drilling of screws into the panel.
Another option for bullet-resistant fiberglass installation is adhesives. One product available is PL Premium Polyurethane Construction Adhesive. For stronger adhesion to non-porous substrates, such as aluminum, steel, and stainless steel, or bonding one panel to another, we recommend a 2-part Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) adhesive, such as Plexus MA 320. Adhesives are advantageous in applications where wall studs aren’t available, such as applying ballistic panels to furniture.
Installing Bullet Resistant Fiberglass Panels In Existing Walls (Retrofitting)
Contractors can easily armor existing walls by placing bulletproof fiberglass panels over them. Needing to install armoring to an existing wall is often the case for clients, ranging from homeowners to police stations to government buildings.
Contractors attach our ballistic panels to existing walls, similar to how they would for a new wall. Place the ballistic panels over the existing drywall. Self-tapping drywall screws are then drilled into the ballistic fiberglass and through the drywall into the stud behind them. In other cases, construction adhesives (as described above) are used.
Since these ballistic panels are exposed, we recommend painting them since touching fiberglass fibers can lead to minor skin irritation. One can also easily clad them with any facade of their choosing – such as an engineered wood grain – to provide an attractive look.
Installation onto an existing wall requires limited adjustment and provides the same high-level security, though it results in a slightly thicker wall.
A circular saw with a diamond grit blade is the typical way to make large cuts in a ballistic fiberglass panel. If making many cuts in thicker level material, you may need more than one blade for multiple panels. When cutting bulletproof fiberglass, ensure you follow proper safety protection, as summarized above.
Small Cuts (e.g. electrical cut-outs)
For smaller size cuts, such as for electrical outlets or pass-through drawers, a diamond grit saw blade on a reciprocating saw is a suitable method.
Seams And Corners
The seam formed by two panels meet could be a vulnerability in protection, but it is a very improbable one. Therefore, using a batten strip is ideal. About 40% of clients do so.
A batten strip is merely a 4″ wide post of the same material. The strip covers the seam, overlapping each panel by 2″. Strategically notching a spot in the bottom plate where the batten strips line up allows you to avoid creating an uneven wall surface. Also, make sure where your bullet resistant panels meet is offset from the location of vertical wall studs.
Where panels meet at a 90-degree angle, no extra protection is needed –so long that the panels overlap, as shown in the diagram to the right.
It is ideal to cover cut-outs, such as electrical boxes, with a small square of extra ballistic material that spans the length between two studs.
Safety Information
Contractors can cut bullet-resistant fiberglass to size, but – like all fiberglass – the material can irritate the skin.
When the ballistic material is sawed, drilled, or cut in any manner that creates dust, skin irritation can occur. Dust can irritate eyes, as well.
When creating dust from this product, wear a respirator mask, safety glasses or goggles, and protective clothing to avoid skin or respiratory irritation.
For general handling, such as moving bullet proof panels, we recommended wearing leather gloves to avoid irritation of fibers on hands.
To Make Your Walls Bullet Resistant, Follow These Steps:
Measure the wall space to protect
Determine potential threats and the resulting protection level
Select a ballistic material, such as fiberglass or Kevlar
Determine the optimal sheet sizes and batten strips to order
Prepare tools you will need and review safety information
Cut if required. Install and anchor paneling to wall studs
Cover seams with batten strips for complete protection
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.
Ballistic drywall or “bulletproof sheetrock” is not a precise term and can refer to a few different bullet-resistant materials.
This term can refer to an actual chemical formula applied on top of the drywall, such as Ballista-Crete. However, modular ballistic panels in the same size as drywall, such as ballistic fiberglass or Kevlar, are much more popular and convenient.
The cost of bulletproof drywall depends on which material a client uses. Surface applied liquids require expert installation and tools. Various ballistic panels range in price from hundreds to thousands of dollars per 4′ x 8′ sheet.
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.
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.
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.
Photo shows a gradient of the least expensive and lowest UL ballistic level fiberglass panels on top to the most costly and highest ballistic panel options on the bottom.
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.
Our team provides safe room and secure home solutions to clients around the USA. 1-844-656-FORT
Fortified Estate, LLC
1900 Jay Ell Dr.
Richardson, TX 75081
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