Can you drill into our balcony slab?

With care and a scan first. A suspended slab has reinforcement in it, and on some newer Kilimani towers post-tensioned strands as well: cutting one is a structural incident, not a mistake. We locate before we drill, and where we cannot be confident we use a fixing method that does not require it.

Our office has security grills on the stairs. Is that a problem?

Potentially a serious one. A commercial building needs escape from the upper floors, and a padlocked stair grill prevents it. We replace them with gates carrying an internal release, which gives the same overnight security without trapping anyone.

Plumber in Kilimani, Nairobi

We cover Kilimani including Yaya, Dennis Pritt, Wood Avenue, Rose Avenue, Chaka Road, Ring Road Kilimani, Kirichwa, Milimani, State House. Off Argwings Kodhek Road, Ngong Road and Denis Pritt Road. Core drilling in occupied towers is scheduled outside quiet hours.

What is different about plumbing in Kilimani

Kilimani tower balustrades fix into suspended slabs, so core drilling positions on Dennis Pritt Road have to avoid the reinforcement rather than being set out by eye.
Converted offices around Argwings Kodhek Road need stair gates that still allow escape rather than the domestic security grills the buildings came with.
Blocks near Yaya Centre have balcony openings of repeating size, so one balustrade template serves an entire stack of flats.

Balustrades and gates in Kilimani

Kilimani gives us two distinct jobs: balcony balustrades in the newer towers, and stair and window metalwork in houses now operating as offices.

Drilling into a suspended slab

A balcony balustrade fixes into structure, and in a tower that structure is a suspended slab with reinforcement in it: on some newer buildings, post-tensioned strands.

Cutting a strand is a structural incident. We locate reinforcement before drilling, and where the slab construction is uncertain we use a fixing method that avoids deep penetration entirely.

Nobody should be setting out core positions by eye on a balcony forty metres up.

Escape, in converted offices

Many of the converted houses came with domestic security grills on the stairs, sometimes padlocked. In a building now holding staff, that is an escape problem rather than a security feature.

We replace them with gates that carry an internal release: the same overnight security, without trapping anyone on an upper floor.

Repeating openings

The advantage of tower work: balcony openings repeat. One template, verified on a couple of units, serves an entire stack. That makes a block-wide balustrade replacement far cheaper per flat than a one-off, and it is worth a management company knowing.

What we are usually called out for in Kilimani

Glass balustrades Toughened and laminated glass balustrades, fixed to spec rather than clamped and hoped. Stainless steel railings Stainless balustrades in the right grade, welded and finished properly rather than assembled from kit parts. Window grills Grills made to each opening, with spacing that resists entry and at least one escape route per floor. Mild steel railings Mild steel railings, galvanised and powder coated rather than painted, for balconies, stairs and boundaries.

Landmarks we work around here: Yaya Centre, Kilimani Primary, Adams Arcade, Dennis Pritt Road. See what railings cost.