I am building a landing, roughly 42″ x 42″. I want to make it out of glass so that the area underneath is not dark. I read an article in Fine HomeBuilding some time ago about textured glass that was structurally intended as a flooring material, but I cannot now find it. Does anyone have any experience with glass as flooring? Who sells the material? What are the installation details. Any help would be appreciated.
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I've seen glass block done in floors, but not sheet glass.
Glass block would probably require a structural grid with perimeter lip details in each opening, to support each block all around.
Why not just light up your space below with a creative lighting solution?
42x42 wouldn't require a grid. Seen it done, but the link I had no longer works.
An historic home (1912) near me has glass panels in floors. It's a library with a 2nd story gallery around the top. The glass panels are set in the floor of the gallery to keep the space below brighter. These are clear glass. Pretty cool.
In both Boston and Seattle, they have glass 'bricks' embedded in the sidewalks to light the hollow space below. Came about as a result of raising the grade substantially, which put the old entrance level below grade. Problem is that sometimes trucks try to park on the hollow sidewalks, and they collapse.
Any glass is 'structural' if it is thick enough. Tempered glass in particular is strong stuff. Do not know what the code officials would say. They might require it to be laminated or somesuch.
check http://www.ibpglassblock.com/floor.htm
There was an episode of TOH that did that try thier website.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
I think the glass is approximately 3/4" to 1" thick. Apparently it was
commonly used in library balconies at the turn of the century to allow extra
light to the areas below. The top side is typically porous textured and the bottom side is smooth. A tint to the glass is common too... maybe blue-ish or green-ish?
As for sources, just did a Yahoo search for glass flooring...
http://www.circleredmont.net/html/products.htm
http://www.rogerwilde.com/flooring.html