We have just completed a project in West Cork which involved complete stainless steel balustrades and stainless steel and glass balustrades to external balconies and step areas.

We polished all the stianless steel to a 240 grit satin finish and where possible welds we hidden or fully polished out. Welds should not be seen on Architectural Metalwork.

Well done to all our Guys and keep up the good work.

Regards,
Martin.

As I indicated earlier, we are currently installing a feature staircase in a home. The stairs is manufactured from 304 grade satin polished to 240 grit finish stainless steel stringers complete with glass treads and balustrades. We have managed to install the stairs without the use of glass fixings, spider brackets, patch fittings etc. This project is bolt free. We are using a product called CT1 clear adhesive which has allowed us to bond the glass treads into polished stainless steel fabricated brackets. This is a perfect example of architectural metalwork where our client allowed us to design a working stairs which is a real feature in the home.

We got the glass balustrades manufactured in large panels to go from the first flight, pass by the landing and up to the second flight. This minimised the gap required in the well at the half landing.

The stringers are fabricated in our workshop and polished to 24o grit satin finish.

The installation takes some time as the centre glass panel weights over 320 kgs and is rather difficult to get into place. We manufactured a special lifting frame to handle it.

The adhesive needs to be left for over 24 hours before the cleaning process can begin.

The site crew are more than qualified metal fabricators, they need to have knowledge of glass handling, adhesive applications and cleaning processes in order to complete the glass stairs as it was designed.

By using a single glass panel to guard both flights of stairs we managed to reduce the well gap in the half landing from at least 200mm down to 45mm. This allowed us to maximise the width of the flights and so providing a far more comfortable staircase.

I will have the completed photos shortly.

Regards,
Martin.

As I indicated earlier, we are currently involved in the manufacture and installation of a helical stainless steel staircase with frameless curved glass balustrades. Here are some pictures of the progress to date.

This 3D drawing shows what the finished helical stairs will look like. The drawing shows the stainless steel feature stairs complete with the curved landing. This 3D drawing shows exactly what the finished helical stairs will look like.

We mapped out the through shape and size on a full scale drawing on our workshop floor.

We then built it step by step with the use of lazer levels and lazer pointers.

It gets a bit more difficult as the height increases.

There is still another full flight to be added.

We are building it to a tolerence of 2mm which is pretty good for a piece this size. We are using 304 grade stainless steel and polishing the stringers to 240 grit satin polish finish. The total weight of stainless steel when complete will be over 3 tonnes.

Well, it’s week 3 into the 7 week programme. Due to a delay in sourcing and polishing the 20mm thick stainless steel stringer plates which needed to be rolled into the spiral shape we find ourselves needing to pick up the pace a little. We have decided to complete the fabrication on site and so eleminate the time in packing, transporting and trying to get large sections in through the 3rd floor window of the building. However, each item still has to be landed by crane onto an external temporary platform outside the 3rd floor window and carried through it. Not easy………….

One of the difficulties we are facing here is that the 19mm toughened curved glass is now in production and we have to make sure now that the site installation is carried out to a tollerance of plus or minus 2mm in order to be sure the glass will fit.

We have installed safety rails along both edges of the feature stairs structure and we are now in a position to install the stringer plates. We are following the highest levels of Health and Safety proceedures and the Lads are really doing a brilliant job inder such tight and difficult conditions.

The stringers are now complete at this stage and we are installing the curved glass elements so we are on the home straight. All of the items you see we lifted onto an external platform at the 3rd floor level and carried through the window. Not ideal but you do what you have to do.

The spiralled stringer plates are manufactured from 250 x 20 stainless steel plates with 250 x 10 stainless steel plates fixed to the outer face to create a continious channel in which the 19mm toughened glass sits.

All welded joints are ground and polished completely to give a very flush and joint free look. This is very difficult to achieve when you are dealing with curves and spirals.

At last, we begin to install the curved glass panels. This section of glass is the largest on the feature stairs and it had to be carried up through the existing escape stairs as it would not fit in the lift. Once the glass is all positioned correctly we then begin the chemical grouting process. Due to the helical shape each panel of glass is completely different but thanks to our design team they all fit perfectly.

The landing glass is completed and awaiting the timber handrail.

We supplied stainless steel curved cover pieces to the floor finishes to provide a clean edge to the opening in the floor.

The finishing touches being applied to the completed feature stairs. All that is left are the wallnut treads to be fitted and then clean off the glass.

The timber treads really add the finishing touch.

This view shows the stainless steel stringer plates spiralled and polished. The joints are seamless and this level of polishing is required to achieve top quality finish.

Well that’s it. Another feature staircase completed by CDS. Thanks and well done to all the team from Design, Fabricators, Transport, Crane and Site Crew. Keep up the good work.

Regards, Martin.

We are currently on 2 rather exciting architectural metalwork projects incorporating glass. One is a balcony come canopy for a private house and the other is a stainless steel and glass staircase also for a private home. Using these two materials is not unusual but what is unusual is that we are bonding the glass to the metalwork and so eliminating any brackets, patch fittings and bolts etc. We are managing to assemble both projects without the use of what can be unsightly items.

There is not much to see yet but I will post more pictures later as we progress.

Martin.