Four glass Juliet balconies on one house, with a terrace balustrade running below them, all made to the same design so the elevation reads as one thing rather than five separate purchases.
That is the point of this job, and it is the part people get wrong. Juliets are usually bought off a range and a balustrade is usually bought separately, so they end up near each other on the same wall in different metals, different post shapes and different handrails. Here everything is System 5: galvanised and powdercoated steel, glass infill, and an iroko handrail on a steel ribbon rail. Surveyed, supplied and installed by us in the Knowle Lane area of Sheffield.
Project overview
- Location: Knowle Lane area, Sheffield
- Scope: Surveyed, supplied and installed by us
- Juliet balconies: Four, made to the System 5 design rather than taken from the standard Juliet range
- Balustrade: Terrace run below, same design and colour
- Uprights: Flat bar rather than the tubular posts System 5 normally uses
- Handrail: Solid iroko on a steel ribbon rail
- Infill: Toughened glass
- Finish: Hot dip galvanised then powdercoated RAL 7015, a dark grey
- Also supplied: A large steel flat bar to the front of the terrace, to tidy up the existing edge detail
- Fabrication: BS EN 1090-2, UKCA marked
Get a price for something similar
The balustrade here is our System 5, powdercoated steel and glass with a timber handrail, priced online by the metre. The Juliets were made to match it, and there is now a standard Juliet with a timber handrail to go with it, called the Knowle.
Why the Juliets were not bought off the Juliet range
We make a range of standard Juliet balconies and any of them would have worked on these windows on their own. None of them would have matched the balustrade.
The finish was never the problem. Several of our standard Juliets are offered galvanised and powdercoated, in white, black or anthracite grey. The handrail was the problem. The terrace below has a solid iroko handrail on a steel ribbon rail, because that is what suited the cedar cladding, and at the time not one Juliet in the range had a timber handrail on it at all. Put a metal topped Juliet above a timber topped balustrade on the same elevation and you have not got a design, you have got two things that happened to arrive.
This job is the reason there is now one in the range. The Knowle is a powdercoated steel Juliet with glass and a timber handrail on a ribbon rail, priced online in eight opening sizes. It gets you most of the way to this elevation off the shelf. It does not get you all the way, because these were made with the balustrade's own flat bar uprights and finished in RAL 7015, and neither of those is a standard option.
So the Juliets were made to the balustrade's design instead of the other way round. Same flat bar uprights, same glass, same iroko handrail on the same steel ribbon rail, same RAL. From the garden you read one line of metalwork across the back of the house at two levels.
It costs more than ordering four standard Juliets. It is worth it on an elevation where you can see them all at once, and it is not worth it where you cannot.
Flat bar uprights instead of tube
System 5 normally stands on tubular posts. These are flat bar.
A round post is the same width from wherever you look at it. A flat bar is not: seen square on it is a slim line, and it only shows its depth from an angle. On a Juliet sitting flat against a window that matters, because the upright is the one solid thing between you and the view out, and anything that makes it narrower from inside the room is worth having.
It also sits better against flat surfaces. The cladding boards and the window frames on this house are all straight lines and flat faces, and a flat bar belongs in that company in a way a tube does not.
Iroko on a steel ribbon rail
The handrail is solid iroko, carried on a steel ribbon rail that runs the length of the run underneath it.
The ribbon rail is what makes the timber work. The steel does the structural job, so the timber is not being asked to be the barrier, only to be the thing you put your hand on. That means the timber can be a comfortable section rather than an oversized one, and it can follow the run without having to be jointed over every post.
Iroko is the standard choice here and it is the right one outside. It weathers rather than rots, and it takes an oil once a year to hold its colour. Left alone it will silver off, which some people want. Oak is available and is the other common pick, but iroko is the more weather tolerant of the two.
Against the cedar cladding on this house the iroko does something a metal handrail cannot. A colour matched steel top rail would have given a continuous dark line. The timber picks up the boards instead, so the balustrade reads as part of the building rather than as a barrier bolted onto it.
Galvanised first, then the colour
RAL 7015 is a dark grey, and it was picked to sit with the window frames rather than against them.
What matters more than the colour is what is under it. The steelwork is hot dip galvanised and then powdercoated, so the paint sits on a zinc coating rather than on bare steel. If the finish is ever chipped, by a ladder or a wheelbarrow or a dropped tool, there is galvanising underneath instead of something that will start rusting from the chip outwards.
Black, white and anthracite grey are our standard colours, and any other RAL, including the 7015 used here, is priced on enquiry. Our material finishes page covers the options.
The extra nobody asks for
One more thing went on this job that was not a balcony or a balustrade.
The front edge of the terrace, under the balustrade, had an edge detail the client was not happy with. So a large steel flat bar was made to run along the front of it and tidy the line up, in the same finish as everything else.
It is a small thing and it is the sort of thing that only gets picked up on a survey, because nobody writes it on an enquiry. It is worth mentioning because it is cheap to add while the steelwork for the rest of the job is being made and coated, and expensive to add on its own afterwards. If something near the balustrade is bothering you, say so at survey rather than after.
Juliet heights and loadings
A Juliet is a barrier across an opening at height, so on a house it is designed to the same 0.74 kN/m line load as a walk out balcony, normally at 1100mm.
What applies to your own opening is decided against your building rather than from a photograph, and your building control officer has the final say. Our balcony and Juliet building regulations guide sets out the heights and loadings in plain English.
One practical point from this job: a Juliet is made wider than the door or window opening so the fixings land in solid masonry either side of the reveal rather than at the edge of it. That is why the opening width we ask for is the structural opening, not the door.
Get a price for something similar
Send photographs of the elevation and the width of each opening to sales@diomet.co.uk, or call 0114 243 9009. If you have Juliets and a balustrade on the same elevation, say so, because matching them is a decision taken at drawing stage.
- System 5 powdercoated glass balustrade with timber handrail, the design used throughout this job
- The Knowle powdercoated steel Juliet with a timber handrail, the standard Juliet this job led us to make, priced online by opening size
- Wide span glass Juliet balcony, powdercoated or stainless, for openings from 2400mm to 3500mm in one run
- Wembley stainless steel and glass Juliet, the standard glass Juliet, with the glass in a slotted rail
- Modern glass Juliet balcony, the same idea with the clamps on show, held in stock
- Canterbury frameless glass Juliet, no posts and no top rail at all
- System 10 powdercoated balustrade and handrail, the same frame with a colour matched metal handrail instead of timber
If you are not sure what to send, our how to get a price page sets it out.
Before you order
- Balcony and Juliet building regulations
- Glass balustrade building regulations
- Glass balustrade buying guide, comparing the systems
- How to measure for a Juliet balcony
- Material finishes
- Installation
- Our certification and what it covers
Frequently asked questions
Can Juliet balconies be made to match a balustrade?
Yes, and on an elevation where you see both at once it is worth doing. The Juliets here were made to the balustrade's design rather than picked from the standard Juliet range, so the uprights, the glass, the handrail and the colour are all the same. Tell us at enquiry stage if you have both, because it is a drawing stage decision.
Is there a standard Juliet with a timber handrail?
There is now, and this job is the reason. The Knowle is powdercoated steel with glass and a timber handrail on a ribbon rail, priced online in eight opening sizes and in our three standard colours. Before it, every Juliet in the range was topped in metal. A Juliet drawn for the job is still the answer where it has to match an existing balustrade exactly, or where the colour is outside the standard three.
Are your Juliet balconies available powdercoated?
Many of them, yes. The galvanised steel Juliets, the wide span glass Juliet and the Canterbury are all offered in a powdercoated finish, normally white, black or anthracite grey, with other RAL colours priced on enquiry. The stainless steel Juliets are stainless and are not painted.
What is a steel ribbon rail?
A steel rail running under the timber handrail along the whole length of the run. The steel does the structural work, so the timber only has to be the thing you hold. It lets the handrail be a comfortable section and follow the run without being jointed over every post.
Iroko or oak?
Both are offered. Iroko is the more weather tolerant and is our standard outdoors. Oak is the other common choice. Either wants an oil once a year to hold its colour, or you leave it and let it silver off.
Why flat bar uprights instead of round posts?
A flat bar is slim seen square on and only shows its depth from an angle, so on a Juliet across a window it takes less out of the view from inside. It also suits a building of flat faces and straight lines better than a tube does.
Does powdercoating over galvanising cost more?
It is how we do it as standard. The point of galvanising first is that a chip in the paint exposes zinc rather than bare steel, which is what makes a coated finish last outdoors.
How wide does a Juliet need to be?
Wider than the opening. Ours are made 150mm wider each side as standard so the fixings land in solid masonry rather than at the edge of the reveal. Measure the structural opening at its widest point, not the door frame.
Do you survey?
Yes, and this job was surveyed before anything was drawn. On a job with several items on one elevation it is worth it, because matching them depends on getting all of them off the same set of dimensions. Site surveys are a chargeable visit in their own right.