IQ Glass (International), Sky House, Raans Road, Amersham, UK, HP6 6JQ
Specification
Technical Details
Glass Floor Glass Specification
Glass Floors Loading Requirements
IQ Glass International designs, engineers, and installs bespoke structural glass floors and bridges for luxury residential homes. Our frameless solutions deliver unmatched clarity and sophisticated aesthetics, seamlessly integrating with your home’s architecture to create visually stunning connections between spaces, maximize natural daylight, and enhance your living environment.
Glass Floors
Our glass floors are custom-designed structural glass surfaces, specifically engineered for luxury homes where transparency, refinement, and elegance are essential. Utilizing premium low-iron glass, these glass floors deliver crystal-clear transparency without the characteristic greenish tint of traditional glass. This ensures uninterrupted sightlines between multiple building levels, flooding interior rooms, basements, wine cellars, or subterranean spaces with abundant natural light.
Each glass floor is meticulously designed to suit your home’s architectural requirements. The frameless construction features silicone-jointed panels and concealed supports, creating the illusion of floating glass surfaces. We can accommodate virtually any size or shape, including large-scale installations or intricate bespoke designs. Toughened laminated glass is used to provide exceptional structural strength and load-bearing capability, ensuring safety and peace of mind.
For luxury homes that require enhanced privacy through glass flooring, we offer a variety of translucent finishes, including sandblasted treatments and custom ceramic frit patterns, balancing visual elegance with practical considerations.
Structural Glass Bridges
IQ Glass International also specializes in structural glass bridges; extraordinary architectural elements becoming increasingly popular in high-end residential designs. Our glass bridges elegantly connect separate areas of a home or provide a seamless transition between indoor and outdoor spaces, offering spectacular visual impact and enhanced functionality.
Each glass bridge is crafted entirely from structural low-iron glass, eliminating the need for intrusive steel supports and creating floating, transparent structures. Frameless glass beams and minimalist detailing preserve unobstructed views, providing residents with panoramic perspectives of their surroundings.
Residential glass bridges can take multiple luxurious forms. Skybridges suspended high above the ground can elegantly connect separate wings of expansive properties. Swimming pool bridges spanning pools create a breathtaking visual experience, allowing residents to swim high above the ground as though floating in mid-air. Additionally, panoramic extensions using glass bridges extend living areas outward, providing exclusive spaces for relaxation, observation, or entertainment.
Fire-Rated Glass Floors
IQ Glass International also offers specialist fire-rated glass floors, designed for luxurious residential applications requiring enhanced safety standards. These floors combine elegance with high-level fire protection, achieving a 1-hour fire-resistance rating when tested to ASTM E119 and UL 263.
Fire-rated glass floors and bridges are particularly suited for sophisticated yet secure installations such as wine cellars, garages showcasing valuable vehicles, dramatic entry foyers, or transitional spaces within your luxury home.
Slip-Resistant Glass Floor Finishes
Safety is paramount in structural glass installations, particularly for external walkways or areas prone to moisture. IQ Glass International provides multiple slip-resistant glass surface treatments. Our standard anti-slip finish is achieved through sandblasting, which creates a subtly roughened surface with excellent slip resistance (wet DCOF ≈ 0.55 per ANSI A326.3). Sandblasted glass floors and bridges also offer translucency, providing privacy while still maintaining high levels of natural light.
Alternatively, ceramic fritted patterns are permanently baked into the glass surface, delivering exceptional durability and slip resistance. This treatment provides a sophisticated appearance, balancing transparency with safety. Specialist anti-slip glass is also available with raised or etched surfaces, offering tailored slip resistance ratings, which can be precisely customized to match your project requirements and aesthetic preferences.
Photography: Quintin Lake
Technical and Design Excellence
IQ Glass International carefully engineers each structural glass floor and bridge to the specific technical requirements of your home. Our designs factor in critical considerations such as load-bearing performance, structural support detailing, acoustic insulation, thermal efficiency, and visual aesthetics.
Would you like to create exceptional glass floors and bridges? Contact us now.
Specification
Technical Details
Walkable glass floors can be specified for both interior and exterior residential applications.
In areas that require thermal insulation, our Invisio thermally broken mounting system is recommended. The precise configuration of these thermally efficient fixings varies with each home's unique requirements, and will be expertly engineered and detailed by our in-house design specialists upon project initiation.
You can download representative CAD drawings for the Invisio Structural Glazing System here.
Interior walkable glass floors may use the same Invisio fixing system or, alternatively, a custom steel-angle solution tailored specifically to your home's design.
Glass Floor Glass Specification
The specific glazing required for your glass floor will be carefully determined based on size, span, anticipated foot traffic, and your home's individual performance needs.
The uppermost glass surface consists of several layers of glass laminated together, creating a robust structural panel capable of safely supporting residential pedestrian loads.
For applications requiring thermal insulation, insulated glazing units will include internal glass panes and spacer bars within the panel assembly.
Anti-slip surface treatments are strongly recommended for all walkable glass floors and bridges, and several finish options are available to suit your aesthetic and safety requirements. Our team at IQ Glass International can help you select the optimal slip-resistant finish tailored specifically for your project.
Fire-rated glass floors can also be designed as a specialty solution.
Glass Floors Loading Requirements
The structural strength required for glass floors is defined by two key measurements: the Uniformly Distributed Load (UDL) and the Concentrated Load.
IQ Glass International takes direction from your project's architect or structural engineer, who will specify the appropriate loading requirements for your structural glass flooring. Determining these load specifications is the responsibility of your project's structural professionals, who will reference applicable U.S. building codes and guidelines.
For example, the architect on your luxury residential project will analyze your home’s unique structural needs and communicate the required loading parameters to our design team. IQ Glass International will then engineer the glass thickness, composition, and fixing methods accordingly.
Our recommended structural glass specifications are based on standard load requirements drawn from extensive experience with residential and commercial glass floor installations. Typical examples include:
In residential settings, the Uniformly Distributed Load generally starts around 30 pounds per square foot (psf), with concentrated loads beginning at about 450 pounds.
Please note that these loading requirements must be clearly specified by your project's structural professional in order for IQ Glass International to deliver a structurally appropriate and safe glass floor system.