Window Walls

[MaiDong]

I'm planning a house design for my thai friend and he wants window walls in his house, his ceilings are going to be around 2.6 metres high and he wants the window walls to start 60cm up from the floor so 2 metre high window walls. Does anybody here know what kind of price we can expect to pay? They must be priced by the square metre I suppose, anybody got any experience?

My mate would prefer them to be made from wood so I suppose a regular window fitter might be able to do the job, howeve, metal would be ok if cheaper to produce.

the total area of window walls will be around 200 square metres, it's an awful lot but I can see the plan looking excellent!

Any ideas?

[trogers]

Suggest frame to be aluminum. Timber and steel have poor tolerance for movement of glass panels, resulting in frequent breakage.

[MaiDong]

Suggest frame to be aluminum. Timber and steel have poor tolerance for movement of glass panels, resulting in frequent breakage.

That's a shame because I think wood would be preferred, perhaps the aluminium could be sprayed a soft colour, not that metallic brown like we have in the kitchen of our house at the moment!

When you say movement do you mean the actual frames being slid to open or do you mean the natural movement by the wood or steel?

The windows in our house are made of wood, as are most I would imagine, and there doesn't seem to have been any movement in them since these houses were constructed around 15 years ago - apart from the whole row of townhouses moving, that is

[trogers]

Suggest frame to be aluminum. Timber and steel have poor tolerance for movement of glass panels, resulting in frequent breakage.

That's a shame because I think wood would be preferred, perhaps the aluminium could be sprayed a soft colour, not that metallic brown like we have in the kitchen of our house at the moment!

When you say movement do you mean the actual frames being slid to open or do you mean the natural movement by the wood or steel?

The windows in our house are made of wood, as are most I would imagine, and there doesn't seem to have been any movement in them since these houses were constructed around 15 years ago - apart from the whole row of townhouses moving, that is

Full height glass panels are heavy, unlike normal windows of typical size 0.8x1.2m. Also, the glass panel has to be thicker 8-10mm compare with 4-6mm.

Movement can be from the support structure, wind against glass or thermal (direct sunlight).

Powder coated aluminum can be ordered to a color of your choice.

[MaiDong]

Suggest frame to be aluminum. Timber and steel have poor tolerance for movement of glass panels, resulting in frequent breakage.

That's a shame because I think wood would be preferred, perhaps the aluminium could be sprayed a soft colour, not that metallic brown like we have in the kitchen of our house at the moment!

When you say movement do you mean the actual frames being slid to open or do you mean the natural movement by the wood or steel?

The windows in our house are made of wood, as are most I would imagine, and there doesn't seem to have been any movement in them since these houses were constructed around 15 years ago - apart from the whole row of townhouses moving, that is

Full height glass panels are heavy, unlike normal windows of typical size 0.8x1.2m. Also, the glass panel has to be thicker 8-10mm compare with 4-6mm.

Movement can be from the support structure, wind against glass or thermal (direct sunlight).

Powder coated aluminum can be ordered to a color of your choice.

Have you got an idea of the cost per metre of that type of frame?

And what about if the panels were separated half way up, so each section is 1 metre squared for example? Would that be possible to use wood then?

Edited September 19, 2009 by MaiDong

[trogers]

If you have an intermediate horizontal frame, thickness of glass can be just 6mm. The more the frames, the more leeway the glass can move.

Here is my 2.4m high glass partition using 2"x4" timber frame with 6mm thick green glass.

Cost about Bt4.5k/m2, excluding door frame and panel.

Edited September 19, 2009 by trogers

[MaiDong]

If you have an intermediate horizontal frame, thickness of glass can be just 6mm. The more the frames, the more leeway the glass can move.

Here is my 2.4m high glass partition using 2"x4" timber frame with 6mm thick green glass.

Cost about Bt4.5k/m2, excluding door frame and panel.

That's exactly what I've been looking for! So excluding the door frame and the glass panels it'll cost around B4.5k/m2?

The house I'm talking about is going to be in Nong Khai so could I expect a lower price there?(albeit with a lower quality, perhaps)

Edited September 19, 2009 by MaiDong

[trogers]

If you have an intermediate horizontal frame, thickness of glass can be just 6mm. The more the frames, the more leeway the glass can move.

Here is my 2.4m high glass partition using 2"x4" timber frame with 6mm thick green glass.

Cost about Bt4.5k/m2, excluding door frame and panel.

That's exactly what I've been looking for! So excluding the door frame and the glass panels it'll cost around B4.5k/m2?

The house I'm talking about is going to be in Nong Khai so could I expect a lower price there?(albeit with a lower quality, perhaps)

Make sure there is a rubber strip to sit the edges of the glass panels. Avoid direct contact between glass and timber.

Also, I would suggest the window starts 45cm above the floor rather then 60cm, the same level as the seat of a standard chair.

[MaiDong]

If you have an intermediate horizontal frame, thickness of glass can be just 6mm. The more the frames, the more leeway the glass can move.

Here is my 2.4m high glass partition using 2"x4" timber frame with 6mm thick green glass.

Cost about Bt4.5k/m2, excluding door frame and panel.

That's exactly what I've been looking for! So excluding the door frame and the glass panels it'll cost around B4.5k/m2?

The house I'm talking about is going to be in Nong Khai so could I expect a lower price there?(albeit with a lower quality, perhaps)

Make sure there is a rubber strip to sit the edges of the glass panels. Avoid direct contact between glass and timber.

Also, I would suggest the window starts 45cm above the floor rather then 60cm, the same level as the seat of a standard chair.

I'll pass all of this on, thanks for your time, just a couple more things though, if that's ok...

Can I ask where you had your house built? If it was in Bangkok I can expect to pay substantially less in the country for similar work, maybe not of the same quality though...

And is that B4.5k/m2 not including the glass panels?

[trogers]

If you have an intermediate horizontal frame, thickness of glass can be just 6mm. The more the frames, the more leeway the glass can move.

Here is my 2.4m high glass partition using 2"x4" timber frame with 6mm thick green glass.

Cost about Bt4.5k/m2, excluding door frame and panel.

That's exactly what I've been looking for! So excluding the door frame and the glass panels it'll cost around B4.5k/m2?

The house I'm talking about is going to be in Nong Khai so could I expect a lower price there?(albeit with a lower quality, perhaps)

Make sure there is a rubber strip to sit the edges of the glass panels. Avoid direct contact between glass and timber.

Also, I would suggest the window starts 45cm above the floor rather then 60cm, the same level as the seat of a standard chair.

I'll pass all of this on, thanks for your time, just a couple more things though, if that's ok...

Can I ask where you had your house built? If it was in Bangkok I can expect to pay substantially less in the country for similar work, maybe not of the same quality though...

And is that B4.5k/m2 not including the glass panels?

That partition was built in my condo in Bangkok. Cost includes timber frame (and full height metal stud approx every 3 vertical panels), glass panels and painting the frame. Cost excludes the door frame and door panel. So if your partition has to have some window panels that can be opened, cost for these panels will be extra. Maybe Bt5 to 6k each.

The metal stud used in my condo is to hold the partition rigid against floor to the soffit of the slab above.

Edited September 19, 2009 by trogers

[MaiDong]

That partition was built in my condo in Bangkok. Cost includes timber frame, glass panels and painting the frame. Cost excludes the door frame and door panel. So if your partition has to have some window panels that can be swinged open, cost for these panels will be extra. Maybe Bt5 to 6k each.

Lovely, thanks for your info!