Glass Blocks

[Bodysnatcher]

Hi All. I am wanting to use these glass block u get from most DIY stores to throw some light onto a stairway. I am only thinking of maybe using three or four in a staggered position. The thing is the blocks are only 50mm thick and the wall is normal breeze block of 100mm . What would be the way to go in doing this project. Any suggestions

[Bert Coules]

I'm fitting out a new kitchen in which the space between the worktops and the base of the wall units will be tiled, probably with those small tiles on a mesh background, to make cut-outs for the electrical sockets easier to arrange.

I'm very tempted to do the tiling *before* the units go in, to minimise the mess and inconvenience. I can see that it will be straightforward to arrange the top of the tiled section to be at the right height for the wall units to rest on, but what should I do with the bottom edge of the tiles?

Should I tile down to the exact height where the worktop surface will come, and then slide the worktop neatly beneath the tiled edge? Or would it better to tile down to just below the level of the surface and bed the worktop up against the face of the tiles?

I can see advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. If anyone has any experience with this, I'd be grateful for any thoughts or advice.

Bert

[G&M]

These glass blocks are non-structural. If you want to put them in an existing wall you need to put lintels over them. Once you do this, just leave the 50mm gap behind them - or in front - whatever you prefer.

[John]

*after* the units are in. It won't work doing it the way you are thinking of, far too many things to take into account, i.e. is the floor level, so the bottom row can be set at the *exact* distance for differing floor units and a worktop, is the wall flat so you don't need to scribe the worktop to fit back against it can you *guarantee* that the worktop will "slide neatly beneath the tiled edge"? It's not gonna happen, you will be causing yourself major heartache and frustration if you go down this route!

HTH

John

[R Taylor]

from his post, I gather he's only dotting a single skin wall with a few glass blocks to borrow light into a stairwell, so assuming the wall blocks are

440mm long there'd be no need to have a lintel over a 150mm glass block. ?

RT

[Bert Coules]

John,

Thanks for the reply.

But surely the base units will have adjustable feet, and can therefore be levelled to a pre-determined line, even if the floor is not exactly level?

I take your point, but I don't see the difference between cutting a worktop to fit against an untiled wall and cutting it to fit against an untiled wall which happens to have tiles fixed to its top half. Surely, if anything, the overhanging lip of the tiles + adhesive will help hide any minor discrepancies where the worktop meets the wall?

Bert

[G&M]

The block is 150mm but they say you have to use the supplied surround which I think is another 25mm or so. Thus I don't think the block above is that well supported to my mind. Indeed I would imagine some of the modern thermal blocks to be quite weak if not supported in the middle.

[R Taylor]

'breeze' blocks are usually 440mm x 220mm x 100mm (ish) so if you /inset/ a glass block into a breeze block thus:

------------------------------------- | | | | | ________ | | | | | | | | | | |_______| | | |

--------------------------------------

I don't think you'd need to worry about lintels.

obviously, 2 x 50mm deep glass blocks fit nicely into 1 x 100mm deep wall but, personally, I'd choose 100mm deep blocks, for ease of use ;-)

RT

[Christian McArdle]

Because if it is really bad, you can slap on a bit of plaster or adhesive to fill in the deeper indentations. It's too late when the tiles are in.

Christian.

[Bert Coules]

That's a fair point. Thanks.

Bert