Innovations, information and design concepts

Balcony Views magazine is launched with a print run of 25,000 as an effective way of communicating ideas, innovations, practical information and design concepts to architects, contractors, developers and self builders.

The magazine will be handed out our stands at all the major exhibitions we appear and will be received by all new enquiries over the next six months.

A real must

Incorporating features on innovative new products in the building industry both for new builds and refurbishment, Balcony Views is a real must for designers and specifiers.

Registration

It is possible to register and receive your free copy. click here http://balconyviews.co.uk/register.aspx

To enquire about including coverage of your products or services within the launch issue please contact Sam Banks on sam@balconette.co.uk or 01342-410411.

Use this link to view the media information pack: http://balconyviews.co.uk/media-information.aspx

Publisher Balcony Systems has partnered with several market leading companies to produce a new type of ‘non profit’ magazine with articles more focused on products, information and technical details and less on advertising.

The dream and the truth:

Isn’t it a dream come true, glass that cleans itself? No more dust, grime, calcium deposits and dirt to ruin the views?

One of the most tedious tasks in life is maintenance and cleaning. Just the words “self cleaning” will sell almost anything. There is no need to get into asking if this is a required trait or not. I think its quite obvious that most consumers will pay a bit more, within reason, for “self cleaning” glass.

We would like to believe that there is a glass that cleans itself but it seems again that, like life, there usually is a compromise and “self cleaning” should actually be renamed into “lower maintenance” to limit customers surprise when they wake up to dirt on their glass that should have cleaned itself.

What is self cleaning glass?

Well I would divide this area into two categories:

1. Glass coated or applied with hydrophilic layer that uses photocatalytic decomposition
2. Glass coated or applied with a hydrophobic coating. Also known as the “lotus effect”.

Now before you fall asleep from the words I will explain in simplicity what these terms actually mean and do and try to point out the important pluses and minuses of each type.

Lets start with the two major differences; hydrophilic and hydrophobic.

• Hydrophilic simply means that the glass will attract the water and make it spread out like a thin film.
• Hydrophobic means the glass will repel water and any water that comes in contact with the glass will tend to have a minimum amount of contact with the glass and will create spherical droplets on the surface.

Hydrophilic

this is glass that is based on having a film of titanium dioxide coating. The glass works in two stages. The “photocatalytic” (simply meaning the accelerated process of using the ultraviolet light to break down the organic dirt on the glass) and makes the glass hydrophilic, During the following “hydrophilic” stage rain washes away the dirt, leaving almost no streaks, because hydrophilic glass spreads the water evenly over its surface.

Pluses:

1. Under the right conditions, meaning frequent sun and rain, or if hosed down regularly will reduce the cleaning cycle required of glass.
2. The coating is stable and has a long life span.

Minuses:

1. Titanium dioxide-based glass cannot decompose inorganic dirt, thick non-transparent deposits, such as paint or silicone, waterstop fingerprints, or dust produced during construction.
2. This glass also negatively reacts with silicone and will require specialist glazing.
3. If damaged will require replacement of the glass as no onsite application is possible.

Hydrophobic

The second type of self cleaning glass is glass applied with a hydrophobic coating also known as having the “lotus effect” which refers to the very high water repellency exhibited by the leaves of the lotus flower. Dirt particles are picked up by water droplets due to a complex micro- and nanoscopic architecture of the surface which enables minimization of adhesion. This form of glass works in a similar way to “Teflon” on a frying pan. It produces a non stick surface and water will run off of this surface quickly and not streak. Glass, despite looking like a smooth surface, has on a microscopic scale, peaks and valleys which on untreated glass attract and deposit dirt and grime. The coating or applications of this type are silica based and create a nano scale film that covers these valleys or troths.

Pluses:

1. Works on organic and inorganic dirt alike.
2. Scratch resistant and will reduce the need for use of chemicals in any cleaning required as dirt will easily wash off.
3. Protects the glass from graffiti and paint.
4. Can be reapplied on site if required.
5. Cost wise the hydrophobic coatings and applications are usually about half the cost of the hydrophilic type glasses.

Minuses:

1. This application, depending on the exact product, has a life span of 5 to 10 years in external conditions.

In summing up we can say that to date there still is no ideal self cleaning glass or a glass that requires zero cleaning but there certainly are some great advantages to the use of these two types of glass products which will both greatly reduce the cleaning chore and cycle.

When it came to choosing the balustrade he knew exactly what he wanted and chose leading supplier Balcony Systems Ltd. The clean lines and round handrail coupled with the uncluttered finish matched the modern exterior. Most importantly, with no clamps or ugly fittings to get in the way the balustrade didn’t interrupt the spectacular view of the coast from the glass-walled sitting room.

A complicated design

Twenty eight metres of balustrade was ordered for the project, Mike Murray explains: “Balcony’s products are very easy to assemble and install yourself but because our design was quite complicated, it may have been better with hindsight to use a professional installer!

“A challenging bit was the slope leading up to the house where the glass had to be cut at an angle to fit the slope,” continues Mike. “The installation was also on natural stone paving which is not a smooth surface. Accurate measuring and cutting was vital, but Balcony helped me at every stage. They even made a mock-up in MDF to be certain we had it right.”

Great results

The installation took four weeks to complete and Mr Murray was delighted with the end result. “It complements the look of the house and adds to the value. I’d happily recommend Balcony’s products and service.”

Balustrades and railings are put in place with the basic purpose to protect users of buildings, and other areas, mainly from the danger of falling. In order for the railings to do this they must be designed and built not only to resist pressure on them but also impact.

No matter the materials that make up the balustrade; stainless steel, aluminium, glass or other metals the railing must resist pressure and impact. In order to make sure building users are safe, specific standards and codes of practice have been drawn up to give guidance and limitations as to the level of pressure and impact required on safety railings and balustrades. This is further detailed and specified to different areas and usages of buildings. The reason for this is clear as you would not expect a railing in your lounge to need to be as strong as in a public mall.

Required pressures

In the standard these loads are expressed in kN/m (kilo or thousand Newton meter) in simple terms this is a quantity very similar to 100Kg (220lb) of pressure per meter length. If for example it is stated that there is 1.0kN/m it will be appx the equivalent of 100kg pressure on one meter length.

There are two basic pressures that are required to be met; (a) pressure or load on the handrail of the balustrade and (b) pressure on the material that fills the space (infill) like a glass panel in glass railings for instance. The pressure or load the handrail is a uiformly distributed pressure load on the length of the handrail, basically defining that the load needs to be calculated so that it allows for even distribution of the loads along all the length of the handrail and not add the total load and put it all on one point in the middle of the rail.  The lpressure applied to the infill, whether it is glass, bars, metal or plastic, is checked twofold; a spread out pressure and a “point load”. Meaning the glass infill for instance of the balustrade, barrier or railing need to be capable of withstanding an evenly spead out load as well as a sharp concentrated pressure on a small point.

These pressures are tested and calculated insofar as the maximum movement (deflection) under pressure must not exceed 25mm or 1/65 of the length whichever is the smallest.

Standard basic areas

You can say the standard breaks down into these basic areas;

1. Private or single family houses for internal stairs/landings etc in which case the handrail loads must be able to take 0.36kN/m For exterior balustrades on balconies or terraces this is doubled to 0.74 kN/m (this can be seen as one person weiging 75kg applying their entire weight on every meter of the handrail – this makes sense as you cannot expect severe overcrowding in a private home)
2. Public areas where overcrowding can occur such as retail areas, bars & restaurants the handrail pressure must be able to take 1.5 kN/m. This is further increased to 3.0 kN/m in areas such as malls, discotheques and areas susceptible to overcrowding.

Loadings on the infill

As the point load is the more severe, the loadings on the infill panels of balustrades are as follows:

• Private or single family houses internal stairs/landings etc Point load: 0.25kN/m  For external balconies 0.5kN/m.
• On all public areas such as retail areas, malls, discotheques, areas susceptible to overcrowding, bars & restaurants the point load must be able to take 1.5kN/m.

Dealing with glass balustrades

When dealing with glass balustrades one additional element must be taken into the equation and this is resistance of the glass to impact.  Ten  millimeters (10mm or 3/8th inch) thick glass that has been heat toughened (fully tempered) should be used in areas where there is a  space wider than 1.5m.

These are the basics when trying to understand the loads and pressures that railings must resist.

This stems from two reasons; the first being lack of understanding of the required standards and the second a vested interest in sending customers towards a specific product.

I have had customers calling regards a juliet balcony saying they have been told they need to use 15mm toughened glass, or someone who wanted to glaze a landing staircase was told he had to use 19mm toughened glass. Both of the above turned out to be unnecessary and they had their railing made with 10mm toughened.

When glass is used in balconies, balustrades, Juliet balconies etc. there is an obligation to use what is designated as safety glass, this can be either toughened, laminated or toughened &laminated.

Definition of toughened glass: Glass that has undergone treatment also called “tempering” where the glass is heated to close to seven hundred (700) degrees Celsius and using air cooled quickly creating a strong layer on both faces of the glass while locking inside the glass a lot of tension. This causes the glass to become more resistant to impact four times more than regular float glass. When toughened glass breaks it will shatter into thousands of small glass pieces and therefore, not dangerous little bits.

Definition of laminated glass: Safety glass that is made from two or more glass panels with a plastic or resin based interlayer that is allowed to break under impact but must not allow the impacting body to penetrate the panel.

Throughout Europe, excluding the UK, single pane toughened glass is not allowed. Only laminated glass is allowed. But in the United Kingdom the majority of glass used in balustrades is toughened. Laminated glass is slowly becoming more widely used. Due to the extra cost of laminated glass I believe that until legislation turns this into a requirement toughened glass will remain number one in balconies and balustrades.

Thickness and type of glass depends on:

1) The area it must protect
2) Impact class required
3) Size of each single pane used.
4) The distance or depth of the balcony or terrace and..
5) The type of railing, balustrade or balcony

There are three British standards that are relevant to glass classification and specification on Balconies, railings and balustrades: BS6180, BS6399:1 and BS6206.

Please feel free to ask any specific question.

For internal balustrades or railings that are used in a single family home on landings or other areas but these balustrades must be INTERNAL, then the height required is 0.9 meters (900mm) from where you can stand on to the top of the handrail. For stairs this is the same in this area as well.

For exterior balconies, roofs or terraced areas the required height is 1.1 meters (1100mm) from where you can stand on to the top of the handrail.

Please feel free to ask any questions.