A frameless glass balustrade to a raised terrace at a house in Thurgoland, on the border of Sheffield and Barnsley, with the glass raked to follow a terrace that falls across its width. It is our System 4 frameless base channel balustrade, in brushed aluminium channel with a slimline stainless handrail.
Surveyed, made in our Sheffield workshop and installed by us.
Project overview
- Client type: Residential
- Location: Thurgoland, between Sheffield and Barnsley, South Yorkshire
- Scope: Survey, supply and installation
- Product: System 4 frameless base channel balustrade, with slotted handrail
- Glass: 15mm clear toughened safety glass, structural grade
- Channel: Brushed aluminium base channel
- Handrail: Slimline stainless steel, for a clean top edge and extra rigidity
- Site: Terrace falling across its width, so the panels were raked
- Fabrication: BS EN 1090-2, UKCA marked
Get a price for something similar
This is our System 4 frameless glass balustrade, priced by the metre, cut to your own run including a terrace that is not level.
The brief
Will's garden looks out over open countryside, so keeping posts and railings out of the view was the whole point. A frameless base channel run gives you glass and a thin line of metal at the floor and nothing else.
Much of our work in this area comes from recommendation, and this project was no different: Will came to us after seeing a balustrade we had done on a nearby property.
Levelling a balustrade on a terrace that is not level
This is the problem we meet most often on hillside gardens around Sheffield and Barnsley, and it is worth explaining because there is a wrong answer that looks fine on a quote.
The wedge system inside the channel lets each panel be set plumb, so the glass does not lean towards you or away from you. What it does not do is cope with a terrace that falls from one end of the run to the other.
The wrong answer is stepping the panels, which gives you a run that goes down in stages like a staircase handrail, with a step in the top line at every joint.
The right answer is raking the glass. Each panel is cut so the bottom edge follows the slope of the ground and the top edge is cut at an angle that keeps the handrail dead level along the whole run. From the terrace you read one straight line across the top and the glass simply meets the ground wherever the ground is.
That is glass cut to a shape rather than to a rectangle, so it is drawn and cut from a survey. Toughened glass cannot be trimmed afterwards.
Not damming the terrace
The other thing a continuous base channel does, if you let it, is act as a dam across the terrace.
A patio normally has a fall on it so rainwater runs off the edge. Bolt an unbroken channel along that edge and the water has nowhere to go, so it sits against the glass and finds its way into whatever is underneath.
So the run is either packed up slightly to let water pass beneath the channel, or deliberate gaps are left in it. Which one depends on the terrace, and it is decided at survey rather than discovered during the first heavy rain.
Why there is a handrail
A slimline stainless handrail was added along the top. It gives a clean finished edge, something to lean on, and it ties the panels together so the run acts as one thing rather than a row of separate cantilevers.
It also changes the glass. With a rail across the top, toughened glass on its own is normally accepted, because the rail remains if a pane is damaged. Without a rail the glass has to stay in place after breakage on its own, which means toughened and laminated and a higher cost per metre. Which arrangement your own terrace needs is a decision for your designer and your building control officer against BS 6180 and Approved Document K. Our glass balustrade building regulations guide covers it.
Get a price for something similar
Send a photograph of the terrace, the length of each run, the height of the drop and a note of whether the ground is level, to sales@diomet.co.uk, or call 0114 243 9009. If it falls across the run, say so, because the glass is cut differently.
- System 4 frameless glass balustrade, the system on this job, priced online
- System 7 side fixed frameless glass balustrade, where the glass fixes to a face rather than the top of the terrace
- Round glass spigot balustrade, frameless on spigots rather than a continuous channel
- System 1 stainless steel glass balustrade, the posted alternative, which costs less per metre
- System 11 patio glass fencing, for a screen or boundary rather than a guarded drop
- Shaped glass panels, raked and cut to shape for an uneven run
If you are not sure which of those fits, our how to get a price page sets out exactly what we need from you.
Before you order
- Glass balustrade building regulations
- Glass quality standards
- Material finishes
- Installation
- Product maintenance
- Our certification and what it covers
Frequently asked questions
Can a frameless balustrade go on a sloping terrace?
Yes, by raking the glass. Each panel is cut so the bottom follows the ground and the top stays level, which keeps one straight handrail line across the run instead of stepping it down in stages.
Will the base channel trap water on my patio?
Not if it is detailed properly. The channel is either packed up slightly so water passes under it, or gaps are left in the run. It is settled at survey, because a continuous channel across a falling terrace will otherwise act as a dam.
Do I need the handrail?
It depends on the glass specification and what your building control officer requires. With a rail, toughened glass is normally accepted. Without one, the glass has to be laminated too, which costs more per metre.
How level does the surface need to be?
Level is easiest, but it is not a requirement. The wedges in the channel set each panel plumb, and the raking takes care of the fall. What matters more is that the channel has something solid to fix into.
Do you supply only, or install?
Both. We installed this one because it is local and the panels were raked, which is easier done by the people who cut them. Straight runs go out as supply only kits all over the country.