A frameless structural glass roof floods this garden extension with light

When installing a glass roof, it is important to consider the direction that water will drain away to. This can be done in several ways, including installing a structural gutter to the join between the glass and the vertical supporting wall. For this project, the glass roof was designed to sit over the top of the supporting rear wall, at a slight pitch to allow rainwater to drain in that direction, away from the glass walls and casement doors.

Heat soak testing was conducted for each of the large glass panels before installation, a process which dramatically decreases the risk of the glass spontaneously shattering post-install, due to nickel sulphide inclusions. This precautionary treatment is recommended for projects with glazing that cannot be easily accessed to be replaced, as was the case with this glass roof - due to the large size and heavy weight of the glass panels, a crane was required to complete the installation.

A solar control coating was then applied to the heat tested glass, in order to help control the internal temperature of the extension. With such a large surface area of glass across the roof and two walls, sunlight is able to warm the space throughout much of the day, making it important to prevent too much solar gain occurring through the glazing.