Stairs: part 3 - glass

After a few months the glass for the stairs and landing had all been cut to size, so the stair company returned to get it installed. We'd finished all the prep a few weeks ago, so everything was in place for the fitters.

This was not a job we could do ourselves; although relatively straightforward to fit, the glass was extremely heavy (needing two people to carry each piece). Plus if anything got broken, it was nice to know it was someone else's responsibility (for once).

The fitters started out with the glass on the landing. After lugging it up the stairs, this was just dropped into the pre-prepared aluminium channel and then adjusted with a series of plastic wedges.

Getting the glass straight took a bit of time. Once everything was level, more wedges were added to clamp everything tight. Using small bits of plastic to hold a heavy glass safety barrier in place seemed a bit worrying, but the system is well established so it was probably best not to think about it too much... especially when leaning casually over the edge!

Once the first sheet of glass had been secured, the next piece could be dropped in alongside it.

Getting the two sheets aligned took quite a time (mainly because the fitters had turned up with the wrong installation kit and were having to bodge something together - sigh). But once the glass was all level, it was clamped into place and a rubber seal fitted on both sides of the metal channel. 

The glass for the stairs was a trickier prospect. When the staircase was first installed, the ends of each step had been pre-drilled with pilot holes and these had been transferred to a template from which the glass had been made. That meant that the holes drilled in the glass would hopefully line up perfectly with the holes in the steps.

The pilot holes were drilled out to size and special 'pig nose' bolts were screwed tightly in position.

Despite having reminded the staircase fitters (about 20 times...) that they would need a right-angle drill in order to access the top part of the stairs, it was no surprise to find that they turned up without one! They had to borrow some of Alan's tools (irritated tut) and also had to waste time trying to bodge a DIY adapter to get the tools to fit (even more irritated tut).   

We had removed the bottom Fermacell panel (that runs diagonally under the stairs) to allow access to the top bolts. It was a tight squeeze, but eventually all the 'pig nose' fixings were secured at the top of the stairs.

Once all the pig nose fixings had been secured, each glass panel was carefully lifted into position. After the bolts had been tightened up, the glass was held rigidly in place.  

It seemed surprising that a few small bolts screwed into the side of the oak could hold such a heavy weight, but the glass certainly felt nice and solid. 

The glass bannister was used to open up the staircase and make it feel less confined. It certainly worked in that respect, but we're still expecting some scrutiny from the building inspector when the house is submitted for completion. Building regs allow for no handrail on the first two steps, but whether the curved glass will be judged as an acceptable 'handrail' for the third step is rather open to interpretation... we'll see. 

The worst case scenario is that the building inspector will demand we put an additional handrail on the left hand side of the stairs, which we will naturally do in order to get approval (then promptly rip out and toss straight into the bin as soon as he has gone).

Conventional bannisters, with thick handrails, stringers and posts would have narrowed the stairs by at least 100mm. Not only did the glass make everything wider, but it made everything feel clean and light too.

We do have the option of fitting an oak or stainless steel handrail over the top edge of the glass in future, but for aesthetic (and budgetary) reasons we decided to stick with the all-glass look. 

The glass reflects a lot of light onto the stairs from the windows upstairs and casts some interesting shadows too.

Still a little way to go; the bare oak requires oiling, the under-stair cupboard needs a door and we will be fitting stair lights into the wall.     

The site inspector was not impressed to find his shortcut had been blocked off.

It wasn't possible to climb over the glass...

... or squeeze through any gaps...

... so there was nothing for it but to walk round the long way.

Epilogue: The fitters attempts to bodge the job using the wrong installation kit didn't work. A few days after they'd gone, the landing glass on one side started to work loose (gulp)...

 

Before anyone could plummet to their doom, the (apologetic) staircase installers promptly returned - this time with the correct installation kit - and the glass was thankfully clamped tight. Of course, it would have saved everyone a lot of trouble if they'd used the right kit in the first place, but as we've discovered, this kind of palaver happens all too often in house-building!