Glass Balustrade & Railings

Glass balustrades on balconies, terraces, voids, stairs and eaves keep the view open and stop a fall. There are no vertical posts. Thick laminated safety glass is clamped in aluminium or stainless bases, either on the floor or on the edge of the slab.

For public buildings, shopping centres, hotels and housing, the glass is sized for impact and for a horizontal line load of 0.5 kN/m to 3.0 kN/m from wind and crowd pressure.

Fixing Types

A surface-mounted continuous aluminium base, heavy-duty F50/U, is a 6063-T6 extrusion fixed to the slab with heavy-duty chemical anchors. The glass is locked in the base with plastic clamping wedges and levelling screws, set plumb.

A recessed base sits below the screed and the tile finish. From outside, only the glass rising out of the floor is visible.

A side-fixed base, or AISI 316 stainless point rotules, is bolted to the face of the slab. The balcony or stair tread is not narrowed.

A slim stainless or aluminium U channel on the top edge protects the glass and locks the alignment. Where a fully frameless look is required, the channel can be omitted.

Glass Safety

The glass is always double-tempered and laminated, for example 8+8.2 mm or 10+10.4 mm, so a broken pane does not fall out of the shoe. On terraces with high wind load, a SentryGlas ionoplast interlayer is used. It is about five times stiffer than conventional PVB.