stair railing in glass custom.

What the glass replaces, exactly.

In a traditional railing, the balusters fill the gap between the high slate and the step, and the glass takes their place: a continuous panel, held at regular intervals rather than every ten centimeters. The handrail, however, does not change its role — it is always the only piece that the hand grasps as it climbs, and it remains almost always in hardwood in our house.

The gain is not only visual. In a narrow cage or staircase with a window, a railing filled with balusters cuts the light into slices.The glass lets it through a block, and the room behind the stairs remains visible from the foot of the flight.

Three ways to hold the glass.

Poles and clamps. Steel poles, usually matt black, are fixed in the stringer or step; the glass is clamped.This is the most common, most tolerant to on-site adjustments and least costly of the three.

Recessed profile. An aluminum profile is drowned in the stair nosing or the frame of the landing, and the glass is stuck in it without visible hardware. The clearest result, but the profile housing must be planned at the time of the staircase manufacturing — not afterwards.

Glass with holes. The panels are drilled in the workshop and bolted directly, without high smoothness.The drawing is minimal, but everything is played at the manufacture: a drilling is done before the quenching, never after.

Tempered, never annealed.

The glass of a railing is always tempered. In case of breakage, it will break into small shards rather than sheets — that is the difference that matters in a staircase. The thickness is not chosen in the catalogue: it is calculated according to the span between supports and the method of fixation chosen. The height of the railing and the strength of the fixations are set by the Quebec Building Code, and we respect them without exception.

The panels are ordered to the dimensions measured at your home. Tempered glass does not cross on the site. For this reason, the measurement is made after the staircase is laid, never on the plane alone.

When glass is not the right answer.

Glass shows everything: fingerprints, dust, and the underside of the treads. In a house with young children or a dog, it requires a regular wipe — a mild soap and microfiber cloth is enough, never abrasive.If this maintenance is a burden on you, vertical stainless steel cables or treads balusters to wrought iron give transparency without the same requirement.

Glass also doesn't go well with a frankly traditional interior: on a classic staircase to Closed risers and mouldings, it creates a gap in vocabulary that few pieces absorb.It is, however, the natural companion of themodern staircase and thecentral-stringer staircase.