Glass deck surround?

13 years ago

I'm curious about how the glass "railing" was done.
Is there a specific product or process involved?
It doesn't seem to have any support against being pushed outward.
Can you provide details? It's beautiful. But hard to keep clean?
Thanks.

Contemporary Patio · More Info

Featured Answer

PRO

Deck-Rail.com

13 years ago

It's called a "Baseshoe" railing system. It is engineered to meet the code requirement for a 42" tall guardrailing. I have installed a lot of them, they take a lot of time to install and need a lot of bolting to something solid like a steel beam. Therefore, they are not cheap, infact they are probably one of the most expensive glass railings you can do but it is a very clean look with no posts or cap rail, though in some jurisdictions you need a cap rail. As for cleaning, they aren't that bad, we suggest to clean them as often as you clean the windows. If you have any questions feel free to contact me at sean@deck-rail.com. We also fabricate and install and/or ship railing systems like this and others

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Comments (7)

sliplips
Original Author
13 years ago
Thank you very much for your prompt - and complete - reply.
Very much appreciated.
PRO
User
13 years ago
sorry, I didn't get to this faster, and thanks to deck-rail for the very thorough answer. :)
as he mentioned, we did indeed need a cap to pass inspection but then took it down after the home passed. Even if we had to leave it it would have still look fantastic, but this home has an ocean view, from a hillside, so i did not want to break up the view with a horizontal line.
PRO
User
13 years ago
The glass, the colors, the depth and austerity of this design is absolutely wonderful.

So many light sources. These people will be bathig in light! It's beautiful.
PRO
RYAN SINGER DESIGN
13 years ago
@Deck-Rail.com Just curious, which company do you typically use? There are a couple companies out there.
PRO
Deck-Rail.com
13 years ago
Ryan Singer: I usually use a company called Deck-Rail.com, J/K! Though the two pictures I posted are my designs and my installs, the base shoe railing can be found at CRL or RB Wagner but I usually by the base shoe from my aluminum supplier at a much cheaper price than the other two. The shoe is basically a giant channel (20lbs/ft) and then I buy the glass directly from the glass manufacturer. A couple of things to keep in mind though, going with out a cap rail is much harder then going with a cap rail and the railing is only is strong as what it is bolted to and those railings have a lot of leverage, I've seen 4 x 12 rim joists rotate with the leverage from a base shoe railing.
PRO
RYAN SINGER DESIGN
13 years ago
ha!.
Yes, we use CR Lawrence too. I was wondering because we used to spec Julius Blum, but they're always expensive. I've been using this product for a while.

Re: Rotation... Always be sure to let your structural engineer what you intend to do. Taking off the top rail makes it a code violation and also weakens the baseshoe system as you said. There are waterproofing issues so we usually recommend a "side mount" version and isolate the supports from the stucco with a caulked gap.