The idea of using glass in construction residential buildings originated at the beginning of the last century, gradually gaining very wide popularity. Over several decades, engineers and builders have developed many different technologies that make it possible to implement almost any design solutions, implying the use of translucent materials in construction.
Modern two-story glass house
If the owners shopping centers, offices and banks, when choosing a house with glass facades, are guided, first of all, by the prestige of such buildings, then the owners of private houses and apartments pay attention to a number of other characteristics. For example, a living space must have the required amount of sunlight, since its lack can cause headaches, fatigue, bad mood, depression, etc. in residents. Translucent facades not only provide the required level of lighting, but also allow significant savings on electricity, which is spent on artificial light in the premises. It is also worth noting that such walls do not create any obstacles to the view of the landscape surrounding the house (due to which you can always keep an eye on children walking in the yard without any inconvenience).
Many people think of concrete and glass houses as boring and uninteresting, but in reality, these materials allow you to create structures that stand out from the crowd. Concrete provides excellent stability of the building structure, and glass provides high-quality insulation of the premises.
The most simple projects economical country houses made of glass and concrete Concrete, which today is produced using all kinds of special additives, has high quality, which allows you to significantly expand the scope of its application. Currently, more than 1000 types of this material have been developed, among which you can easily choose the most optimal option for yourself. The most widespread cellular concrete, having a porous structure. The volume of these pores directly affects specifications material. Another, no less popular material is rustic concrete, which perfectly imitates some types of natural materials. Now you can even find a type of concrete that can absorb various harmful substances from the air, which is especially important for people who care about their health.
Modern glass also has many advantages. For example, it easily allows you to maintain the necessary temperature regime indoors throughout the year. In addition, on sale you can find glass with built-in solar panels or a self-cleaning system.
Original project houses made of glass and concrete (USA) Another equally popular material includes glass blocks, which have high sound absorption rates, light transmittance and strength. The glass block structure is not afraid of exposure to fire, so the fire safety of the structure fully meets all necessary standards.
Read also
Construction of a quality private house
Based on all this, it turns out that houses made of glass and concrete can be safely described as durable, reliable and very economical buildings. It is also worth noting the external attractiveness of this type of house, since glass blocks amaze with a rich selection of textures, shades and light transmittance.
Project economical home glass block Advantages of a house with a glass facade
- High-quality room lighting. The use of glass in the design of the façade of a building allows the level of insolation to be increased so much that the use of artificial light can be reduced to a complete minimum.
- Energy efficiency. According to experts, by using glass in housing construction, it becomes possible to save about 7-10% of the energy that is spent on providing heat and light in the house.
- Naturalness. The main difference between glass and many other materials is that it is environmentally friendly, so you don’t have to worry about your health or the health of your loved ones.
- Attractive appearance. Beautiful tinting of house windows will guarantee a stylish, unusual and chic look for your home.
The range of products on the glazing services market is simply amazing in its diversity. Today there are many different technologies: structural and semi-structural, mullion-transom, additional facades, spider and planar glazing. One or another option, along with a number of other factors (brand name, work of specialists, quality of products used, complexity architectural forms etc.) directly affect the cost of the finished glazed facade. In addition to the above factors, the pricing is influenced by the following components: the shape of the double-glazed windows, the aluminum system, the size of the mullion-transom mesh, the number and type of openings (tilt-and-turn, bottom- and top-hung, hinged and sliding).
Houses with glass doors
The glass that is used to decorate indoor doors has good strength and resistance to mechanical stress (in such cases, heat-resistant and tempered material is used). The entrance glass doors of the house are 3 centimeters thick and can withstand even a blow from a sledgehammer. Therefore, when choosing front door, it is always necessary first of all to pay attention to the frame itself, which can withstand such a strong structure. During production budget options As a rule, aluminum is used, more expensive - steel, more original - wood.
Wooden house with glass walls
Currently, glass house designs designed in Scandinavian style. The most pleasant feature of such structures is that they fit very beautifully and easily into the surrounding landscape, thereby achieving a unified composition between the home and the garden.
A house made of wood and glass requires very careful design of the interior and proper selection of each piece of furniture (ideally, it should be in harmony with the glass, without standing out too much from the general background). The combination of glass and wood can rightfully be considered very original and unusual, which not every person will decide on. The ideal color scheme for the layout of such a house would be light colors diluted with gray and beige. These colors will help have a good rest and relaxation after hard times working day. In most cases, glass is not made external walls, but internal ones, but if you want to create the illusion of the roof floating in the air, it is recommended to give preference to external glass walls. Such houses are quite suitable for permanent residence(and not just seasonal), they combine wonderfully with the surrounding nature.
HideThe idea of using glass in the construction of residential buildings became popular at the beginning of the last century. Over several decades, architects and builders have developed a lot of technologies that involve the use of glass walls in home decoration.
House with a glass wall - its features
Glass wall
The secret of the popularity of glass walls is that a house design with a glass wall looks more prestigious than an ordinary stone or wooden structure. The properties of the so-called glass houses are obvious:
1. Internal glass walls provide the necessary level of lighting. Thanks to the glass external wall- just like internal ones, you can significantly save on electricity. If you use regular or sliding glass walls when building a home, you can save about 10% of the energy used to provide light and heat in the house.
Glass wall
2. Walls made of glass do not create any obstacles to the view of the surrounding landscape near the house, which is convenient when supervising children playing on the street playground. 3. Environmentally friendly, because natural materials are used. 4. Glass walls are perfect option for people who constantly suffer from allergies. 5. Thanks to glass, it is easier to maintain constant required temperature during a year.
Smart glass glazing
6. There are different types glass For example, you can install a wall with glass inserts, or purchase glass with built-in solar panels or with a self-cleaning system (). 7. Long service life - 70 years. 8. Excellent sound insulation and excellent protection from moisture and wind, as well as dust, poplar fluff, pollen and other allergens. 9. Externally attractive appearance with a solid choice of textures and light transmittance. If desired, you can stick an art film on the glass wall or apply a graphic design of any complexity.Or if you don’t want strangers to see you at the wrong moment, then use Stalinite. This is the so-called Tempered glass with a matte finish and 5 times stronger than plain glass.
Projects of houses with glass walls
House made of glass and concrete
Most people believe that a residential building made of glass and concrete is something uninteresting and ugly. In fact, with the help of these materials, structures are obtained that significantly stand out from the crowd. In addition, it is concrete that allows the structure to stand for many years, and glass provides good lighting of the premises.
To build a house, you can use glass blocks, the so-called. glass cubes for walls. They also have light transmittance. And in addition, high sound insulation and resistance to both mechanical stress and fire.
How to build a glass block wall yourself? Read about it in the instructions
Glass entry group- this is not the whole house, but a very significant part of it. Read more on our website
One of the technologies for creating glass walls is frameless glazing.
Glass House in Scandinavian style
Nowadays, the most popular designs of houses with glass walls in the Scandinavian style. Such houses are not only magnificent, but also fit harmoniously into the surrounding natural environment. And in the end we see a single composition of the house and garden.
In addition, the combination of wood and glass is quite unusual and original. If you want to be strikingly different from your neighbors, then this is undoubtedly your option.
Choosing color scheme for home decor, give preference to light colors, diluted with beige and gray. This color palette will contribute to excellent relaxation after hard working days.
If you want the roof of your house to “float in the air,” then install external glass walls.
Glass walls of the house - price
House made of glass
You can also order them low. The cost of one standard glass cube is on average 110-310 rubles.
House with glass walls - photo
At the end of our review, we invite you to familiarize yourself with the photo gallery
Glass walls: inside view Glass walls of a rustic-style house Glass walls in the kitchen
There is something incredibly mystical and exciting about glass houses. Of course, the very concept of a “glass house” does not imply that everything in it, without exception, is made of glass. Simply, floor-to-ceiling windows can transform any traditional home. We offer an overview of amazing houses around the world, amazing with an abundance of glass and light.
Stuttgart studio Werner Sobek Design brought the Haus D10 project to life in the city of Biberach an der Riß in southern Germany. The constructed glass house looks very organic and alive. The open dining and living areas allow guests to enjoy amazing views of the garden.
Covered by a vast flat roof a courtyard surrounds the house, uniting the interior and external space. The first floor of the house rises above the surface of the earth, and the basement is hidden underground. The living room is located on the ground floor, all other rooms are in the basement. All the necessary energy is generated immediately thanks to photovoltaic panels on the roof and a geothermal heat pump.
A uniquely shaped glass house was built in Italy. What’s amazing about it is that you don’t need to think about wall decor at all. Situated on a hillside, on the shores of Lake Lugano, the house consists of two spaces, organized at different levels according to the characteristics of the landscape. The polygonal pavilion houses the dining and living rooms, kitchen and utility rooms, while the lower level contains bedrooms, bathrooms and a garage. Each level has a separate entrance. The architects paid great attention to the problem of ecology, so geothermal energy, a roof garden, and a rainwater collection system are used.
All additional functions pavilion are concentrated in the central lacquered wooden block, which serves as a kind of wall separating the kitchen from the living room. The block contains a bathroom, kitchen, staircase, all mechanical, technological and audio-visual equipment.
The overlapping house by Chinese architects Neri and Hu consists of two L-shaped halves, forming a patio in the middle. The authors took the traditional type of houses in northern China as a basis. Three families live on its three floors, with one of the floors hidden underground.
The glass house is located in an amazing place, where only a wall of trees blocks it from passers-by. The authors of the project embodied in it one of the main architectural principles “Less is better”. So they minimized the materials used. The concept was taken from the Farnsworth house, built by Mies van der Rohe. The difference is only in symmetry and foundation.
The entire space of the house is surrounded by glass, the frame forms a cube and is limited only by a metal frame painted black. It creates an amazing feeling of being under a roof, but still outside the house.
An original glass house of an interesting shape with blue walls. It has glass walls and ceiling, through which maximum natural light enters. It was built by specialists from Wiel Arets Architects from Maastricht.
The glass house in California boasts not only its beauty, but also its size. Architect Jonathan Segal Lemperle Residence built a house on a plot near the ocean in La Jolla. The authors managed to create a connection between the interior and exterior through the large-scale use of glass and the construction of terraces. The area of the house is 445 square meters.
Interesting shape glass house looks almost futuristic. The house is dug to a depth of 2 meters, the roof is insulated and covered with grass. This miracle was created by the architects Bercy Chen Studio, who decided to modernize the traditional housing of Native North Americans - a pit with a roof. But despite the seeming primitivism of the housing, it uses all modern technologies: built-in HVAC system for heating, ventilation and air conditioning, water heating.
In the autonomous community of Christiania near Copenhagen there is a strange house. Its walls are built from old windows, and the entire house is made from reclaimed materials. It is original, unique and functional. Once upon a time there were military barracks on this territory. When the military left, homeless people moved here and showed their creativity to the fullest. Local authorities tried several times to demolish all these creations, but residents said that they are an integral part of Denmark's cultural heritage.
The house is located in a densely built-up area of Long Island (New York). It has an area of 510 square meters, which includes six bedrooms, six bathrooms, which overlook the sand dunes surrounding the Atlantic. To ensure a wonderful view from every window, it was decided to build a “house on legs.” Downstairs there was space for four cars and a glass hallway. From here a glass staircase leads to one of two floors.
Those who have nothing to hide can try to live in a transparent house called “House NA”. There is a lot of light and air, but there are no secluded places at all. The authors of the project work at Sou Fujimoto Architects. The concept of life on a tree is taken as a basis. The area of the house is 85 square meters.
From glass to glass
When glass appeared 2000 years ago, almost immediately people thought of covering the entrance to their homes with it. It never even occurred to anyone to make windows in the house: glass let in light, but did not protect well from cold, wind and rain.
Centuries passed, house building actively developed, and many architectural masterpieces- however, glass was still practically not used. Until the 20th century, when there was a sharp jump in glass consumption, the reinforced concrete frame was invented.
However, the frame was not enough to start a real glass building project. Having enjoyed the first delights of “glass walls”, the architects realized that in the summer it is unbearably hot in such buildings, and very cold in the winter. It is still possible to build an office as a sacrifice to art, but a private residential building is unlikely.
Meanwhile, already in the late 1940s, research began on how to improve the thermal insulation of glass. In reflection on this topic, the concept of double hermetic glazing was developed - what we today call a double-glazed window. And when in the 1970s Western Europe The energy crisis began, the production of double-glazed windows became widespread.
It is clear that in a double-glazed window there is also a profile, a spacer frame between the glasses and air or gas released inside, which provides that additional insulation. However, 80% of any window consists of glass. Protection from external noise (and restful sleep), temperature control in winter and summer, the appearance of the house, the safety of the home and even the health of its residents depend on the properties of glass. These window properties are provided by special glass.
I don't care about frosts
Do you still not believe that it might not be cold in a “glass castle”? It seems that Irkutsk architect Andrei Tiguntsev has dotted all the i’s once and for all: he built a residential building with glass walls on the shores of Lake Baikal, where it drops to -50 in winter.
How? For what? Why? Upon completion of construction, the miracle house was filmed by several television channels at once. And it turned out that the architect perceived the request of the head of a family of three to make “more glass and fewer canopies” as a challenge: to local traditions, mentality, and climate.
As a result, the two facades facing the sunny side are completely glass, and the facade from the entrance to the house, on the contrary, is almost completely blank. Stopsol Supersilver Clear glass from AGC was used in this house with a pyrolytic coating and improved solar control properties.
An alternative heating system—warm floors—fights the Siberian frosts. The air naturally rises from bottom to top, condensation does not form on the glass, and the windows themselves are not blocked by bulky radiators.
But the main condition for the possibility of building “ transparent house» in such a harsh climate - of course, choosing the right energy-efficient double-glazed window.
Gases, metals and plastics
Energy efficiency is the next step in improving the thermal insulation of double glazing. The next one is after the idea of combining several glass plates into a single one multilayer structure and pump various gases into the gaps (experiments have shown that the lowest heat transfer coefficient is for inert gases such as argon).
They moved from gases to metals: it turned out that applying a metallic - magnetron vacuum or pyrolytic - coating makes glass low-emissive, that is, it reflects absorbed heat back into the building. Compared with ordinary glass low-emissivity looks and transmits light exactly the same, but at the same time significantly - by 70% - reduces heat loss in the room.
Well, the latest thermal insulation development is a plastic spacer frame, including one reinforced with metal, which replaced steel and aluminum. The thermal conductivity of plastic is much lower than that of steel or aluminum, so the plastic spacer reduces heat loss in the edge zone of the glass unit.
Sun, stop!
With the help of a special coating, the glass is given not only thermal insulation, but also sun protection properties. And we're not talking about tinting at all.
The fact is that the heat penetrating from outside to inside the room comes from the general flux of solar radiation, that is, visible light, ultraviolet and infrared radiation. Therefore, if we can learn to block UV and IR radiation, but at the same time transmit visible light, then the amount of heat can be limited and controlled. Glasses with such properties are called selective (“selective”).
It does not interfere?
Obviously, truly “smart” glass must be multifunctional: protect from noise and sun, control lighting and indoor microclimate, be durable and safe. And such glass already exists!
A typical example is Stopray Neo from AGC Glass: glass used, in particular, in all the cottages of the Seven Oceans village near Vladivostok. A nanocoating applied to the surface cuts off the entire invisible part of the spectrum, thereby limiting the aggressive effects of summer sun rays. And in cold weather, a layer invisible to the eye does not release heat from the batteries.
In summer, air conditioning costs are reduced, and in winter, heating costs are reduced, so windows with energy-efficient double-glazed windows pay for themselves within a year.
The enemy will not pass
It is difficult to imagine that a transparent-looking window can have properties similar to metal or concrete. It is even more difficult to believe that such characteristics are given to it by two layers of film enclosed between glass plates - Stratobel glass from AGC, constructed in a similar way, according to GOST, received the official status of “Safe glass”.
It is impossible to make a hole in Stratobel laminated glass with a glass cutter. And if a thief wants to break the glass, he will have to spend so much time on it and make so much noise that there will be no chance of remaining unnoticed. It turns out that such glass does not need additional grilles or roller shutters.
Separately, it is worth mentioning the soundproofing properties of Stratobel. It reduces any sounds from the outside to 34 dB - whereas according to GOST, permissible level indoor noise 40 dB during the day and 30 dB at night.
Finally, Stratobel glass takes on the function of protecting the interior from paint fading: two layers of film will not let harmful ultraviolet radiation inside. And if one of your own manages to break the glass, then the same film will prevent it from flying into small pieces, all the fragments will remain on it, and the risk of cuts will be minimized.
It turns out that today you can not only build a house from glass, but also make it a real fortress - modern, cozy and at the same time reliable.
“All the locals think that I’m freezing behind glass walls, but I’m warm,” says Vadim, the owner unusual house. He “invented” it and built it himself: without technical education or construction skills. It turned out just like the pictures in glossy magazines - colorful, spacious, light. The house used the most modern engineering solutions, while the owner managed to save considerable amounts (6 thousand euros on glass systems alone).
Atypical project
Vadim says that when creating the project, he already had an idea of what he wanted, so he drew the house in detail himself. I borrowed the glazing systems from a magazine and “implanted” them into the project (further the narration will be in the first person).
- When they ask me: how did you master it all, build it, create it, how did you come up with it, I answer that this is the material realization of my inner world. I am the same as this house: voluminous, spacious, roomy, with character and modern style, light and comfortable. And at the same time, he is budget-minded and tight-fisted, like all Belarusians.
According to this project they built
Designer Daria Lapitskaya helped me in the design. I coordinated all decisions and ideas with her, asked for her comments on every issue related to aesthetics and design. The project itself, believe it or not, was drawn on an A4 sheet. Already when the house needed to be put into operation, it was necessary architectural project. It was made in the architecture of the city from a ready-made building.
House layout
Foundation
The house was built in the Kobrin district, in a village, on 22 acres. The geometry of the site is quite convenient: 53x40 meters, the difference in horizon level is 45 cm. The house project was “planted” on a site oriented to the cardinal points.
The trenches were dug with a chain tractor, then the accuracy of the dimensions was adjusted with shovels. I was lucky with the materials for the foundation: I had support concrete columns 50*50 cm in size with a huge margin of safety (they used to have a concrete roof at one of the production facilities). I saved a lot on concrete, but I had to incur costs for loading, unloading, laying columns and their delivery. The rest of the trench was filled with concrete from a mixer. For greater savings, I bought several machines for breaking concrete (instead of rubble stone), also with industrial production. As a result, the savings on concrete turned out to be very significant.
The part 60 cm above the ground was laid out with demoler blocks, and in a double wall: on the outside there was a facing block Brown 10 cm thick, then air bag 5 cm and a standard block 20 cm thick.
Looking ahead, I would like to note that I really wanted to build a foundation according to German technologies, with insulation, waterproofing, but at that time it was prohibitively expensive and labor-intensive, and this design the above-ground part of the foundation made it possible to avoid “cold bridges” in the area where the walls meet the floors and significantly reduce the cost of the project. The foundation is filled with white sand and compacted, with water shrinkage. Before the walls were erected, the foundation was given time to “mature” for a whole year.
Tips on the foundation: it may sound trivial, but it must be reinforced (I know that some builders do not do this). I would personally recommend that before pouring the foundation, lay a small gravel pad, 5 cm thick, into the trench and compact it. In case of construction without a design of engineering systems, provide plugs in the foundation for openings for the introduction of communications. When buying demolition blocks, be careful when choosing a manufacturer, since I almost bought blocks from a private seller, instead of cement they contained only dye, and they crumbled right in my hands.
Old log house or expensive blocks?
Regarding the material for the walls, the choice was between gas silicate blocks and wooden beam from an old village house (realt.tut.by has just this topic, and I fully support and share the author’s conclusions). The fact is that at that time (2010 - the time of construction of the walls), gas silicate was for some reason extremely expensive, so I was looking for a solution on how to save money. But there was a “planned collapse” of the ruble, and the blocks became more accessible. As a result, I purchased GSB from the Berezovsky plant, size 60*30*30, considering the thickness of 30 cm to be quite sufficient for our latitude with the future prospect of insulation. The blocks have arrived perfect quality, so installation was easy and simple. My friend laid the blocks, at prices below market prices at that time, and I was his helper. I had to take direct part in the construction for several reasons. I immediately planned to pour a warm (hidden) armored belt around the perimeter of the walls, and U-blocks were not on sale at that time. So I cut them myself from standard blocks using a drill with a long bit and a grinder. Apart from me, this operation was not successful for any of the tested hired helpers.
Mauerlat rests on a “warm” monolithic belt In the end, I saved on a helper, on U-blocks, and at the same time checked the quality of my friend’s work during installation. Yes, the presence of the customer on site allows us to improve the quality of the work performed and avoid irreparable mistakes by builders, especially if the project is complex.
Geometry lessons
If we somehow managed to cope with the walls, then the roof was my headache. It is 8-slope, hip, combined with two reverse slopes, a second light. I’ll be honest: the drawing (if it can be called a drawing) was drawn on an A4 piece of paper by one village guy with 8 grades under his belt. I just turned out to be a talented person in this area.
However, none of professional builders I didn’t want to take on the roof according to this drawing, even for a lot of money. As a result, the roof was assembled by the children from the village.
The rafter system is assembled from pine lumber. Only in one place (above the dining room, in the reverse slope area) was an I-beam laid for additional structural rigidity. It is located on the edges of the walls in the dining room, and in order to prevent the edges of the walls from suddenly being destroyed under pressure, the corresponding unloading heels were filled in gas silicate.
Waste OSB
The village roofers turned out to be talented guys. And they took payment from me at that moment absolutely at market prices, without an “addition” for complexity and level of responsibility. The material was cut so competently that out of 240 m² of OSB, only a few strips and small pieces remained, in a total area not exceeding 2 square meters(!!!). After work, I myself came to their aid as a helper and spotter. Designer Daria also approved the design in terms of proportions and geometry.
The extension of the roof onto the walls is 95 cm, which was unusual at that time, but now this is done everywhere. I recommend that everyone under construction use wide roof overhangs, but do not lose sight of the proportions of the entire roof and the building. This allows the walls and foundation to remain dry. It has been noticed that even with slanting rain, the façade is only partially moistened.
For such a complex roof of all roofing materials with minimal waste and reliability could only be achieved, so I bought TechnoNIKOL tiles, the Jazz collection. It was laid on an OSB board according to all the rules: with an underlay carpet, greasing of the starts, vapor films from the inside, installation of aerators and other nuances. The additional elements are made of brown matte tin to prevent glare in the sun.
Was immediately installed drainage system Hunter. Water discharge is provided by five risers with direct output to the local storm drainage system. The roof overhangs were covered with soffit from Brest production “Vox”. The soffit is fixed on 5*5 cm slats. Then this allowed me to relatively easily and painlessly implement stylish lighting for the terraces, a welcome light in the parking lot and on the porch of the house.
“I thought I would give up glass structures”
All windows and doors are made of a five-chamber profile, with external dark oak lamination and Roto fittings. The inside profile was left white. Double-glazed windows, with an 8 mm frame, with low-emissivity glass. There are windows in two children's rooms and one bathroom. standard sizes- 150*150cm. In the master bedroom, instead of a window, a double-leaf, hinged glass door, with symmetrical doors, measuring 155x240 cm. Two identical windows measuring 95x145 cm are installed in the second bathroom and kitchen.
The entrance door is also glass, hinged, 150x220cm. It is asymmetrical in the width of the doors: the entrance door is 80 cm wide, the second auxiliary door is 63 cm wide.
The hinged design of the doors allows you to easily bring any furniture into the house. Moreover, such a door is an element of a barrier-free environment - a person wheelchair can easily move into the house.
The glass system in the dining room is two stained glass windows, three meters high, installed at an angle of 90 degrees.
When it came to installing the clear wall glass system, the roofing didn't seem so complicated anymore. It was necessary to solve the problem of how to cover the opening of a large bay window with glass: the height on the larger side is 512 cm, on the smaller side - 350 cm. Width - 390 cm. This glass wall hung like a “sword of Damocles” over my head for almost a year. I was afraid to implement it using a PVC profile - a large area, a huge sail load in the wind, the “breathing” of the structure when opening and closing the doors.
It was decided to assemble it from an aluminum system. I turned to a well-known Minsk company that had experience working with such material. Sent the dimensions of the opening. But when I received the answer, I was very upset - the price was “atomic”. I called my designer, who oversaw the project, and explained that there was a miscalculation in the project, in particular, the glass system of a large bay window was financially prohibitive... On the same day I decided to lay the wall with gas silicate blocks and install windows three times smaller in size.
The designer showed technical and professional audacity: he responded with a categorical refusal to my proposal to block the opening by two-thirds. Daria did not accept my attempt to divide the structure into two parts by placing a concrete lintel in the middle. The verdict was this: the structure should be from floor to ceiling, without crossbars or lintels, light and floating, crushed into no more than 8 parts. And she proposed a new solution: we install the frame from metal, durable, 100 by 50 mm, with a wall of at least 5 mm, we buy only overhead elements of the glazing system, I do the installation myself, I order double-glazed windows under required sizes. And so it was done. I welded the frame myself from pipes and painted it. The glazing system was implemented on an aluminum profile with a thermal break AGS 500, bought in Minsk. I assembled and installed it myself. To further limit heat loss and prevent sintering and galvanization of metals among themselves, I laid a paronite strip between iron and aluminum, thereby creating another thermal break.
But we had to tinker with double-glazed windows - none of the companies wanted to take on double-glazed windows with a height of 2500 mm - most manufacturers did not have technical feasibility. And no one wanted to tinker with such bulky bags by hand.
The director of the Steklolit company came to the rescue and agreed to produce such bags on his own responsibility. Now this is normal, but then it was a novelty. The double-glazed windows are made on the 16th frame, two-chamber with low-emissivity glass. Made specially on Friday evening so as not to stop manufacturing process in the cutting shop. On Saturday everything was ready. The installation of double-glazed windows was also carried out on my own.
Here they took up the lamination of aluminum decorative overlays glass system in the color of “dark oak” - no one else wanted to do this. The lamination engineer gave his word that the coating would not “peel off” under any circumstances. He held back. As a result, the frames of all glass systems, windows and doors are the same color.
Due to the fact that steel racks were used rather than aluminum, the system aluminum profiles was purchased directly from the importer, and not from the dealer, the double-glazed windows were purchased without extra charges for complexity, and I did all the assembly and installation work myself, I saved about 6,000 euros. This is the most significant savings in the entire construction of my house.
I am grateful to designer Daria for her support and ideas, for adapting the project to Belarusian realities, for her professional audacity. It was very difficult to decide to implement all these ideas. It was hard to be an innovator: it was 2008, gable slate houses were being peacefully built around them, covered with white sand-lime brick, there were arched openings in the corridors, and here there was a glass facade. Fellow villagers, acquaintances, passers-by opened their mouths, curious, would I die there and how could I walk in such a house in shorts? But I wanted it like it was in the West, like in the pictures in glossy magazines - colorful, spacious, light.