Interior frameless glass stair balustrade completed in Hamilton

This interior frameless glass stair balustrade was completed in a home in Hamilton. It uses 12mm monolithic tempered glass anchored with concealed mounting channels, which preserves open sightlines through the home. It was built to Ontario building standards and comes with a 5-year warranty on labour and 5-year warranty on hardware. If you are weighing glass for your own staircase in Hamilton, Burlington or Oakville, here is what to think about before the measurement.

How a glass stair guard is held in place

The mounting method shapes the look of a glass staircase as much as the glass itself. The main options are:

• Concealed channel: the bottom edge of the glass is held in a channel that stays out of sight. This is the method used in this Hamilton project.
• Spigots: short posts that clamp the base of each panel. Lux Glass uses Duplex 2205 marine-grade spigots for pool and exterior railings.
• Standoff pins: round fixings that hold the glass to the side of the stair stringer. Lux Glass uses 316 stainless standoff pins.
• Post systems: panels set between vertical posts, often with a top rail.

Side-mounted standoffs keep the full tread width clear and let the edge of the stair show. Top-mounted systems keep the face of the stringer clean. Which is right depends on how the stair is built and how you want it to look. Our page on stair railing options compares these in more detail.

What the code asks of a stair guard

A glass guard on a stair is a safety element first. In Ontario, guards follow the Ontario Building Code, Division B, Subsection 9.8.8, and the glass, its thickness and its mounting have to work together to meet it. Lux Glass uses 12mm tempered glass for railings, made to CAN/CGSB-12.1.

Think about the handrail as well as the guard. Decide early where the handrail will go, whether on the wall side, on the glass, or both, because that choice affects the design of the whole run. If your project needs drawings for a permit or for your own records, engineer-stamped drawings are available upon request for an additional fee.

Preparing the staircase for measurement

Glass is ordered to measurements taken on site, so the stair should be as close to finished as possible when it is measured:

• treads, risers and landing flooring installed, since they set the heights the glass relates to;
• a plan for removing any existing railing, including who will patch the holes it leaves;
• the structure under the mounting line confirmed as solid, since the anchors need something strong to hold;
• the walls painted, or at least primed, where the glass will meet them.

Open staircases often turn at a landing or continue as a guard along an upper hallway. If the glass carries on from the stair to a landing or balcony edge, plan and measure it as one continuous run so the panels and joints line up from bottom to top.

How glass changes the feel of a staircase

A staircase with solid walls or heavy balusters can split a home into separate zones. Glass lets light from upper windows reach the hallway below and keeps the view open from one level to the next. The stair itself becomes something to look at, whether its treads are wood, stone or carpet.

Glass on a stair also gets touched more often than most glass in a home, so expect to wipe the panels regularly, especially near the top and bottom where hands reach for support. If you want the panels to look as neutral as possible next to white walls or pale oak treads, low-iron (Starphire) glass is available on request; clear tempered glass remains the standard.

Lux Glass is based in Oakville, owner-operated by Bojan Stojic and WSIB insured, and serves Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville and the wider GTA. For more local work, see our page on glass railings in Hamilton. When you are ready, book a free on-site measurement by calling 416-897-0767 or through our contact page.