Glass Balustrades in Nairobi: Toughened, Fixed Properly, Not Just Clamped
from KES 8,000 / metre
Toughened is not the same as laminated
Toughened glass is heat-treated so it is much stronger and, if it does break, shatters into blunt granules. Laminated glass has an interlayer that holds the pieces together when broken.
For a balustrade protecting a drop, the important property is what happens after breakage. Fully toughened glass that fails leaves an open edge with nothing in it. Laminated, or toughened laminated, stays in the opening.
Where a balustrade is the only thing between people and a fall (a stair, a mezzanine, a first-floor terrace) we specify laminated and we will not substitute plain toughened to hit a price.
Frameless, and what it actually requires
Frameless glass looks superb and it puts the entire load into the base fixing. That means either a channel cast or chemically anchored into a structural slab, or a spigot system with a real substrate behind it.
On a suspended slab or a timber stair that is a structural question, not a metalwork one. We will ask what is underneath before quoting frameless, and where the answer is uncertain we will recommend a posted system instead.
Rates
KES 8,000 – 15,000 per metre for glass with stainless posts. A stainless handrail with 10mm tinted glass runs around KES 12,500 per metre. Premium and structural systems reach about KES 17,200 per metre, which is the top of the market rather than typical.
Edges and handling
Every exposed glass edge is polished, not just ground. An unpolished edge chips, and a chip in toughened glass can propagate into a full failure weeks later.
Panels are handled with suction lifters and carried on edge. Glass carried flat flexes and breaks, usually in the doorway.
See what railings cost, or the areas we cover.