Far-reaching countryside vistas don’t come much better than this. That’s why Steve Procter installed glass balconies and frameless balustrading from Balconette to keep the views from his elevated Yorkshire home.
With slick designer looks and an enviable view of the world beyond, have you thought about adding glass fencing to your home? From traditional handrail glass fence panels to barely-there frameless designs, glass fencing complements a broad range of architectural style.
Here at Balconette we have too often had to replace balustrading products supplied by others which were not fit for purpose or compliant with building regulations. Regardless of whether you choose to purchase from us or not, we want to give you some important tips and pointers to use as a checklist when sourcing and purchasing a balustrading system for your home or development project.
Balcony systems is a term that is used a lot but can mean many things.
First of all, let’s define a balcony. This is “a platform enclosed by a wall or balustrade on the outside of a building, with access from an upper-floor window or door”. So, in simple words, it is the floor and the low wall sitting on that floor, sticking out from a building for people to walk out onto.
The height of any finished external balustrade or railing needs to be a minimum of 1100mm above the finished floor level, or above where one can stand. This is according to BS6180:2011 – Barriers in and about buildings code of practice.
Not always is fixing balustrades a simple matter. This is because usually the finished floor level does not have a structural member to fit to. Structural members are often imbedded below the floor level, under insulation, screed, waterproofing etc.
Let’s have a look at what happened at the Grenfell Tower that made it such a disaster.
Well, people or I should say company’s installed cladding and insulation and other components such as fire doors, all of which had pieces of paper to say that they were compliant and met all building regulations etc., etc.
But in reality, when it actually came to the real test, we all saw what happened, it went up like a box of matches.
Balustrade installation left to the last moment is not a good idea!
We get some customers coming to us after all, or the majority, of their building work is almost finished wanting to order and install a balustrade. In these cases usually the walls are finished and the waterproofing has already been applied. The repeated request in these cases is “I want to install the balustrade but not fix through the waterproofing” or “We can’t fix to the floor…”.
When spring is in the air there’s nothing lovelier than spending time outside. Hear the birds singing, feel the welcoming warm rays of the sun and see nature spring back into life. Dining outside feels like a real treat at this time of year; whether you’re sitting on the decking for a lazy Saturday morning breakfast, enjoying a quiet cup of tea, or putting on a lunch for the whole family out in the sunshine – al-fresco eating is a delight after the dark days of winter.
There is some confusion regarding the requirement for a handrail on glass balustrades and glass railings and in order to ascertain this matter we need to get the answer to the following question: What are the legal or regulatory requirements in respect of handrails on glass balustrades? Are there criteria that allow glass barriers to have no handrail on top?
What architects don’t need is a headache. They want a company and a product that works well in their design and comes with all the backup and support so it is easily implemented on site. Not all projects and not all clients are the same. Here at Balcony Systems we deal with small, medium and large sized projects. Every project will have a different focus and different weight given to different aspects. Some clients will pivot the project around the cost and yet others will adhere to the design intent and will be willing to put up the required budget to meet their design.
