Building Glass Block

yop

Lads

anyone built glass blocks, any pointers, I built 2 line there the last nite but they have not set at all and are loose, not sure if teh very cold weather has wrecked the adhesive

thanks

CJhaughey

I am watching this with interest, I have a small area upstairs to glass block so I will need any tips you gather.

boo boo

don't forget the metal rods

yop

Glass rods it seems are not compulsory, I was talking to my brother who thinks that since there was a tear in the bag of mortar that it was gone off.

I am going to leave it a week before I start, let the house warm up.

Now the lad who I bought the blocks from suggests that I may use a silicon type adhesive called FixAll.

allnight_2002

Hi yop,
I recently did a glass block wall in my new build. It was one of the worst jobs I had to do in along time. You need to take your time. I think that your brother might be right about the mortar if there was a hole in the bag.
The was I built was 71/2 block high and 4 block wide see pic. For a wall this size I would recommend that you use the reinforcing rods. I used 3 vertically they can been seen in the pic & one rod every 2 row in height I went. The hardest part I found was trying to keep it all straight. But I built it all in one day. Should have only gone up two row at a time would have been a lot easier as when I was on the last 3 rows it all was unstable as the mortar had not set on the bottom rows yet. But I am happen with the way it turned out. If you have any more questions I will try to answer them for you.

yop

allnight_2002 wrote:

Hi yop,
I recently did a glass block wall in my new build. It was one of the worst jobs I had to do in along time. You need to take your time. I think that your brother might be right about the mortar if there was a hole in the bag.
The was I built was 71/2 block high and 4 block wide see pic. For a wall this size I would recommend that you use the reinforcing rods. I used 3 vertically they can been seen in the pic & one rod every 2 row in height I went. The hardest part I found was trying to keep it all straight. But I built it all in one day. Should have only gone up two row at a time would have been a lot easier as when I was on the last 3 rows it all was unstable as the mortar had not set on the bottom rows yet. But I am happen with the way it turned out. If you have any more questions I will try to answer them for you.

Allnight, thanks for that, I have a wall which is 6 wide, by 5 high, then it steps in, I have a pic attached,

The wall is free standing bar when it sits against the plastered wall on the left, I might tie this in with straping to give it some grip.

Tell me, what sort of texture was your mortar when u mixed it, I mixed mine so that there was no water squeezable out of it, I noticed though it seemed to go off fast though.
Did you point between the glass blocks before or after they were sitting side by side?
Also what thickness of mortar did u put between the blocks, I presume the middle was filled up above the leve of where the block sits on the spacer?

Thanks

boo boo

only do your grouting 24 hrs after blocks have set

allnight_2002

Yop,
The texture the mortar was about the same as what you would mix plaster to only a small bit dryer. As you said if it is too dry the mortar goes off to fast and you don't get enough time to work with it. I pointed between the blocks every 2 or 3 rows and repointed the whole wall once it was all completed. I used L brackets that I got with the block to tie them in at the sides. there was a plastic piece that slides over the L bracket to allow for expansion.

Wobs

Hi,

Does anyone know where you can get the glass blocks in a smaller size than the standard 190mm? I would need them to be about 170mm, I know you can get them in 145mm but this would be to small.

Thanks