We have been planning to have a balcony at first floor level, with a wooden balustrade. However I recently found a great glass balustrade on FB market which I have now bought. 
 

Do I need to revisit the structure/design of the balcony to accommodate the extra weight of the balustrade, which must weigh around 400kg (approx 7 metres of 10mm toughened glass panels, plus 5 metal posts and handrails). 
 

image of original design below…

Does the ballastrade system meet all the design requirements?

 

"In general there are three main uniformly distributed line load requirements for barriers or balustrades and these are, 0.74kN/m, 1.5kN/m and 3kN/m. This refers to the force applied to the balustrade per linear metre of balustrade at 1100mm above finished floor level. These loads in general cover the following locations (although it is always prudent to refer directly to the standard to ensure that every situation is covered).

 

Areas not susceptible to overcrowding in office and institutional buildings including stairs, walkways and balconies – 0.74kN/m

Areas where people might congregate and public walkways and pavements less than 3m wide that protect a drop – 1.5kN/m.

Footways or pavements greater than 3m wide and public areas such as theatres, bars, shopping malls and other areas susceptible to overcrowding – 3kN/m

 

You should revisit the changes with structural engineer, for loading and general balcony design.

Yes. Quick phone call to your SE.

There’s a previous thread on this subject & Gus gave some v good descriptions of the loading.

Generally how well it can be bolted.

 

"Give me the place to stand, and I shall move the earth." Archimedes

 

How are you going to keep the outer pane clean? and stop people like @Pocster standing outside looking up your frock?

 

Edited August 11, 20242 yr by SteamyTea

39 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Generally how well it can be bolted.

 

"Give me the place to stand, and I shall move the earth." Archimedes

 

How are you going to keep the outer pane clean? and stop people like @Pocster standing outside looking up your frock?

 

Nothing like a glass floor for a nice view 

Does your new glass have a bannister or similar above? If not, it’ll be the torque around the fixings at the bottom that is the problem. As others have said, your BC will almost certainly require SE sign-off. The weight of the glass itself probably isn’t the problem.

1 minute ago, Pocster said:

Nothing like a glass floor for a nice view 

Slipping my knicker off now for you.

45 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Slipping my knicker off now for you.

Slowly please , I like the suspense…

Just now, Pocster said:

Slowly please , I like the suspense…

Suspender suspense, which I think is a structural engineering term.

You guys 🤪…

 

Back to the balustrade:

 

It does have a handrail around the top, and this bolts into the wall of the house. 
 

The upright posts will be bolted into the Balcony floor with three bolts in each foot. I did have a look at Gus’s comments on the indoor balustrade and its fixings previously, but will go back and have another look. 
 

I’ll also speak with the SE about whether she did any calculations for the balcony in the first place (which I can’t see on her drawings) and if not whether we now need to pay her to do that. 
 

The building control drawings have a wooden balustrade so we will def need to communicate the change to the BC officer and understand his expectations. 
 

Cleaning: probably a very long brush with integral hose (which we will need for some of our first floor windows as well!)
 

photo of the balustrade in its original home below:

 

OK a lot of those glass balconys don’t have the balustrade and some linear ones obviously not the returns and fixings to the walls. The setup you have makes life a lot simpler. Still all down to the BC and SE. I think it’s posssible they might just wave it through.