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Learn more →What the barrier has to do
A balustrade stops people falling. That is its job, and the building code sets the loads it has to withstand, the heights it has to reach and the gaps it must not exceed. Glass just happens to be a material that can do that while staying transparent, which is why it wins on balconies and decks where the view is the reason the space exists.
Because it is structural, the specification is not a matter of taste. Balustrade glass is grade A safety glass — toughened, or toughened laminated. Panel thickness follows the span, the fixing method and the fall height, and the fittings have to be tested and rated for the job rather than chosen for appearance.
The systems in practice
Spigot-fixed frameless. Panels stand in stainless or aluminium spigots bolted through the deck or slab. The most common frameless approach, forgiving of small level variations, with the spigots visible below the glass line.
Standoff fixed. Panels bolted back to a face — the edge of a slab or a stringer — through round standoff fittings. Clean from above, and it keeps the deck surface uninterrupted.
Channel or base shoe. A continuous aluminium channel grips the bottom of the glass. The cleanest look available and the least tolerant of an out-of-level substrate, because there is nowhere to hide a discrepancy along a long run.
Semi-framed with posts. Posts between panels carry the load, so the glass can be thinner and the substrate requirements are lower. Less expensive, and the sensible answer on a long deck run where budget matters more than an uninterrupted line.
Where it goes wrong
Two things. The first is substrate — a balustrade is only as good as what it is bolted to, and a deck or a balcony edge that cannot carry the load has to be sorted before the glass is ordered. The second is setting out. Glass panels are made to fixed sizes, so the gaps have to be planned across the whole run; a run of panels that gets progressively out of square, or gaps that vary panel to panel, looks wrong forever and cannot be adjusted afterwards.
Stairs, pools and the rest
Internal stair balustrades follow the same principles with different fixings, and often pair with a timber or stainless handrail. A glass barrier around a pool is a different job again, because it has to satisfy the pool barrier rules on gap sizes and non-climbable zones as well as the balustrade rules — see pool fencing.
For the glass rules behind all of it, read the AS 1288 guide. For glass roofs and awnings over the same outdoor spaces, and the cost guide for what moves a balustrade quote, follow those links.
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FAQs
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a handrail on a glass balustrade?
Where a single layer of toughened glass is used as the barrier and the fall exceeds one metre, a handrail is required so that the glass is not the only thing preventing a fall if a panel fails. Laminated or toughened-laminated panels can avoid the handrail requirement in many configurations. The fall height and the glass build-up decide it, not the look.
Frameless, semi-frameless or channel-fixed?
Frameless uses spigots or standoff fittings and thick toughened glass doing the structural work. Semi-framed adds posts between panels, costs less and tolerates less accurate substrate. Channel or base-shoe fixing clamps the glass in a continuous aluminium channel and gives the cleanest line, with the most demanding fixing and levelling requirements underneath.
What happens if a panel breaks?
With plain toughened glass, the panel disintegrates into granules and the barrier is gone, which is exactly why the handrail rule exists. With toughened laminated glass, the interlayer holds the broken pieces in place and the panel stays standing as a barrier long enough to be replaced. That difference is the main argument for paying more for laminated.
Can a balustrade be fixed to a timber deck?
Only if the structure underneath can take the load. A balustrade transfers real force into its fixings, and the code sets loads for barriers that a couple of decking boards will not carry. That usually means bolting through to joists or blocking, or fixing to a steel or concrete substrate. This gets checked before anything is ordered.
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