Installation
Installation by our own fitters, and what happens on the day
Most of what we make is fitted by us. Our own fitters, our own vans, our own drawings in their hands. That is deliberate, and it is the part of the job that is hardest to buy in, because a fitter who was not at the survey and has never seen the drawing before that morning will find a way to make it fit rather than making it right.
This page covers how a job runs from first enquiry to the fitters leaving, what we need from you, what we do not do, and how it works if you would rather fit it yourself.
Survey first, drawing second, manufacture third
Nothing is made from a phone measurement. We come out, measure the opening or the run properly, take levels where levels matter, and go back and draw it. You get a general arrangement drawing with real dimensions on it before anything is cut, and nothing goes into production until you have signed it off.
This matters more than it sounds. Toughened glass cannot be altered after it is toughened. Neither can a hole in it, an edge on it, or a notch out of it. A stainless post can be shortened; a glass panel cannot. So every decision that affects the glass has to be made on paper, before the order goes to the toughener, and the survey is where those decisions get made.
Buildings are not square, and the drawing accounts for it
Almost nothing on a real building is square, level or parallel. Staircases run out. Walls bow. Patios fall away for drainage, correctly. Skirting boards, architraves, newel posts and floor coverings all sit in the way of something.
The point of surveying is not to find out whether a building is out; it is to find out by how much, and where, so the parts can be made to suit it. That is why we set out panel sizes and post centres from the survey rather than dividing a run into equal bays on a calculator. Even gaps look deliberate. Uneven gaps look like a mistake, even when the mistake belongs to the building.
What we need from you before we come
- Somewhere to park within reasonable carrying distance. Glass is heavy, awkward, and cannot be dragged.
- Clear access to the work. Furniture, plants, pots and cars moved out of the way beforehand saves time on the day.
- A power socket we can reach, for core drilling and cutting.
- Finished floor levels. If tiling, decking or screed is still to go down, tell us the final thickness at survey, because guarding heights are measured from the finished surface, not the one that is there now.
- Somebody who can make a decision, contactable on the day.
Fixings, and why the substrate is our first question
What a balustrade or a door set is fixed into decides how it is made. Core drilled and resin grouted into concrete or stone is different from bolting through a timber deck, which is different again from side fixing to a steel edge beam or fixing to the vertical face of brickwork.
Expanding anchors develop their load by pushing outwards against the material around them. Near the edge of a slab there is not much material left to push against, and the failure mode is the edge spalling rather than the anchor pulling out. That is why we core drill and resin fix close to edges, and why we ask about the build-up of a raised patio or a balcony deck before we quote it, not after.
On a cavity wall, the outer leaf is not structural. Anything cantilevered off it has to be resolved through to the inner leaf, and that usually needs a structural opinion rather than a longer bolt.
What is not included
Worth saying plainly, because it is the commonest source of surprise:
- Making good. We fix neatly and we clean up after ourselves, but we do not plaster, paint, tile, re-point or re-lay flooring. Where an old balustrade is removed there will be holes where its fixings were.
- Removing and disposing of the old one, unless it is written into the quote. Often it is. Ask if it is not clear.
- Scaffolding, tower hire or traffic management where the job needs it.
- Electrical work. Lighting inside a wine store or under a balcony is somebody else's trade, and it wants doing before we glaze the front.
- Structural design of what we fix to. We will tell you if we think the substrate is not up to it. We are not your structural engineer.
How long it takes on site
A domestic under-stairs glass door set or a short run of balustrade is normally a day. A larger balustrade over several levels, or a balcony that has to be built and then glazed, runs to two or three. Commercial work is programmed against the main contractor's dates.
The long part is never the fitting. It is the toughened glass, which is made to order and cannot be pulled forward, so the sequence is survey, drawing approval, glass on order, then a fitting date that follows the glass. Anyone offering to survey and install in the same week has not ordered the glass yet.
Nationwide, from Sheffield
We are based in Sheffield and we fit throughout the UK. Distance affects the price of a small job more than a large one, simply because a day's travel is a day's travel whether it is one panel or twenty. On longer jobs it disappears into the rate.
We also supply without installation, and export. See below.
If you would rather fit it yourself
Plenty of our customers do, and we are happy to supply on that basis. Two things change when you do.
First, the dimensions become yours. We will still draw the job and we will still tell you if something on your sizes looks wrong, but we make to the figures you give us, and toughened glass made to a wrong figure is scrap rather than a rework.
Second, you take on the setting out. That is genuinely the skilled part, and it is worth reading the product page and the regulations guidance before you measure anything.
Everything is supplied with fixings, and we will talk it through on the phone. We would rather spend twenty minutes on a call before you order than have a panel made twice.
After it is fitted
Stainless steel, galvanised steel and powder coating all keep their appearance with very little effort, but "very little" is not "none", especially within a few miles of the coast or on a road that gets gritted. There is a short guide to what each finish actually needs on the product maintenance page, and a longer explanation of the finishes themselves on the material finishes page.
Frequently asked questions
Do you charge for the survey?
For most domestic jobs the survey is part of the process and is not charged separately. Where a job needs a general arrangement or planning drawing before anyone can decide whether it is going ahead, that drawing is chargeable, and the charge is deducted from the order if the job proceeds.
Can you fit to a deck that is already down?
Usually, yes, but the fixings have to reach something structural rather than just the boards. Tell us the build-up at survey. Side fixing to the edge beam or the joists is often the better answer, and it keeps the deck surface clear.
Will you fit glass we have bought elsewhere?
No. We fit our own product, because the fit depends on the tolerances the glass was made to and on our own drawing.
What happens if something does not fit on the day?
It is rare, because the drawing is approved before manufacture, but it happens on buildings that have changed since the survey. Steelwork can often be adjusted on site. Glass cannot, so it is remade, and we come back. We would rather do that than force a panel in.
Do I need building control involved?
It depends what the work is and where. Guarding heights and gap sizes are covered by Approved Document K and BS 6180 and are worth reading up on before you decide the design. There is a plain English summary on the regulations page.
Do you work for main contractors?
Yes, on our own order and terms. We do not take on JCT contract work.
Talk it through before you order
The cheapest time to change your mind is before the glass is on order. If you are weighing up an idea, send a photograph and rough sizes to sales@diometonline.co.uk or call 0114 243 9009 and we will tell you what is straightforward, what is awkward, and what we would do instead.
Have a look through our bespoke projects to see how jobs like yours were resolved, or start from the glass balustrades, wine cellar doors or stainless steel handrails guides.
