Daylighting panels for basement windows beneath porch decks?
I’m looking for suggestions/designs for allowing daylight to pass through porch or deck floors and into basement windows which are located below the porch. My parents’ old Victorian house in Massachusetts has a 6’+ deep front porch that wraps halfway around the house. To allow daylight through where the porch passed over the basement windows, 16” x 36” (approx) panels constructed of concrete and translucent glass discs were set into the floor. I’m now considering adding a porch to my own house, and want to know if anyone makes these panels today, or has instructions for making them. Or if anyone has a design for something which does something similar.
Sadly, the panels at my parents’ house were removed a number of years ago when the porch floor was replaced. Over the passage of a century or more, some of the glass discs had been smashed in. The contractors apparently didn’t know where to purchase a new panel. As far as I can remember, the panels were about 1” or 1.5” deep, and had a perimeter band of steel. Inside the band was concrete inset with several rows of light pink/purple glass discs about 2.5” diameter at the top surface. There was much more glass than concrete, so that there was perhaps only .5” or .75” between the glass discs. Presumably to keep the discs from just pushing out of the bottom, each disc had slightly sloped sides, such that the diameter was slightly smaller on the underside (bottom) surface. Does anyone even make this type of glass today?
(I’ve also seen this sort of panel in the sidewalks of older city streets, in New York City and Boston. Usually in commercial streets, where there was street access to a basement delivery/storage area below the sidewalks.)
Replies
How about beer bottles?
Take care ... don't cover/block basement egress required. Wouldn' t meet code and it is just a bad idea (that's why it is code).
You could just not cover the perimeter. You could use the CMU decorative block. It's not solid, but lets light through. You could use recycled glass block. Make your deck of glass ... then you won't have to worry about the sides!! ;) possible, but just kidding.
these windows too small for egress...
THere isn't an issue with using these windows for egress. They are already too small in any case to meet code. But the basement is not "finished" and is not a living space, so our local code doesn't require a second egress. In addition, the added front porch would not wrap the whole house so there are other small windows to go through in a pinch.
I thought of glass block, but am not sure that they are rated for use as a floor surface. Beer bottle bottoms have the same problem, only worse. The glass disks used in the old assemblies I described are very hard and thick glass. Thicker than a beer bottle...
Can't help you find that very cool glass inlay.
but, on a couple decks we used old style cast iron half circle grates which could be found in older (30's) homes with tabs that held them in place over the masonry window wells. Would just allow some light-also debris and rain.
In both cases these grates were salvaged from the property (we framed above and moved them up)