Glass for staircase

guideanna

Hi All,
We met the carpenter the other day to see about getting the stairs started on the house, i really ant a glass banister but carpenter doesn't do that. He said he's made stairs before that the glass has been fitted to but i don't know where i would go to get the glass.
Would a normal glass maker do it or does anyone know of a company that specializes in glass for stairs?

Out Of Order

I worked with it once before. It's hardened glass and you should be able to get it from any of the glass companies. I don't think they accept measurements so your carpenter will have to make plywood templates.
I'm told you can hit it with a hammer without breaking it. The slightest belt on the edge will cause it to splinter though. I know because I chipped it when sliding it into the van

Mellor

Normally, glass is fitted to steel stairs not timber. As quite a tight grip is required.
That doesn't mean it is impossible with a timber stairs. but certainly harder. Connections may need to be custom.

And I am referring to the stairs structure, not finish. A steel stairs could still have timber treads

joe1982

I have timber stairs with glass, there was no real issues with it. Its 10mm glass and the stairs company also supplied the clamp brackets. Its quite simple to fit, if you want to here the suppler just pm me.
Joe.

fuchia

Hi Joe1982,

Could you PM me the contact details of the company that manafactured your stairs.

Regards,

Fuchia

Monster Munch

Hi Joe,

Can you please PM me the details too?

Thanks

tiocimarla

tempered/hardened glass should do. Al you need is lenght and height measurement an pitch. bring that with you to a good glass company and they should do it there. as for a tight grip to hold, all you need is rebated frame and beadind to match. glued and tacked it will never move. works on the same principle as a window:)

guideanna

Thanks for the replies lads. We actually got a better quote from another guy who also supplies and fits the glass so we're going to go with him. I've been looking at the glass in the timber frame but held in with metal brackets, the guy said he can also have the glass fitted in the frame if i want so i'm looking for pics now to see which i prefer. Also think i might just get the landing done with glass now though not decided on that yet either...decisions decisions!! :rolleyes:

joe1982

Id agree any stairs company can do this with glass because there are only a few places in the country to temper glass so they all have to order it elsewhere, even the company I got my stairs from did and they also do windows in a large comercial way.

The brackets are pretty expensive I never got quoted the price from the stairs company but for cfl brushed stainless brackets i got are about e15 each and I got 50 of them, the stairs was solid ash with one turn and roughly 16meters of landing and a balckney. but what I did like about the timber was the thickness all good heavy strings post etc.. I paid e4300 and that was by far the best price I got but had to bargain hard for it I also bought my windows of them so it helped in swinging the final price.

John368

I have done some glass design of balustrades. You need to use toughened glass or laminated glass. Toughened glass looks the best as laminated glass is basically a sandwich of two pieces of glass with glue in the middle (or sticky backed clear plastic sheet) and can be produced locally and thus I think is quite cheap. The big disadvatage is that the edge does not look very neat even though it can look as good as any glass when looked at straight on - most car windscreens are made of laminated glass.

Toughened glass has to be cut to the exact required size and then heat treated at the factory. As someone said hardboard templates are usually used (for the non rectangular shapes anyway). The edge of toughened glass is really smooth and is in reality the only option in my view if the edge of the glass is exposed.


John