Adding frameless (no handrail) glass balustrade to existing stairs...

[bernardgreen]

it's about whether the leverage of someone leaning on the glass, or falling against it, will wrench the stringer off the side of the staircase..

Or the glass snaps and the person is injured by falling onto the sharp edges of the broken glass.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Or the glass snaps and the person is injured by falling onto the sharp edges of the broken glass.

15mm laminated glass will absolutely not 'snap' provided it's properly specified.

I would suggest the OP needs to approach a specialist balustrade supplier who offer a supply and fit service and are prepared to take on the project but deep pockets will be required.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

15mm laminated glass will absolutely not 'snap' provided it's properly specified.

Agreed. I have seen pieces shattered a couple of times, but it takes some force

 

[bernardgreen]

15mm laminated glass will absolutely not 'snap' provided it's properly specified.

If the channel does not release it's grip on the glass then the force ( the weight of person falling ) will snap the glass. Think of car windscreens the have been head butted.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

So are you saying that a structural glass balustrade suitably mounted to an adequate structure and designed to enable people falling against them and subsequently breaking will actually break if someone falls against it? The image you posted is irrelevant and woefully inadequate to support structural glass.

 

[CotleighKid]

From speaking with several glass balustrade suppliers, 15MM laminated glass appears to be what is typically recommended for this use case. Providing an appropriate channel system is used (e.g. Sabco), then it all comes down to whether the channel system itself can be adequately fixed to the stringer to withstand the loads it might be required to bear.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Precisely.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

From speaking with several glass balustrade suppliers, 15MM laminated glass appears to be what is typically recommended for this use case. Providing an appropriate channel system is used (e.g. Sabco), then it all comes down to whether the channel system itself can be adequately fixed to the stringer to withstand the loads it might be required to bear.

Interesting project you've got there, good luck with it (& for certain get some professionals in to do it for all sorts of reasons). If there isn't a top bar on the glass then yes you'll need something very chunky at the bottom to resist the leverage. A cheaper (but not as pretty) alternative might be a tube frame with the glass mounted inside the frame?

 

[Deleted member 174758]

If the channel does not release it's grip on the glass then the force ( the weight of person falling ) will snap the glass. Think of car windscreens the have been head butted.

On most of the bucket section I've seen the glass is resin bonded into place - you'd certainly want to do that on a staircase to circumvent any tendency for the glass to slide downwards. A lot of the glass used is thick laminated glass, like this:



(Alright, not bucket held, but illustrates the same sort of glass). I can assure you that it takes quite some force to break one of these thick pieces of glass and breakages are often ascribed to faulty toughening (not that.you see many) - I have seen then being hit by pallet trucks loaded with a tonne or more of cement or timber.