Frameless Glass Doors & Screens

Frameless glass doors are usually made from 10mm or 12mm toughened safety glass, with the thickness chosen to suit the door height and its hardware. With no frame, the glass itself carries the hinges, handles and locks, so every fitting is specified together with the glass.

A frameless door hangs on one of three main hardware types. Patch fittings clamp to the corners and pivot on a floor spring or top pivot, glass-to-wall hinges suit lighter internal doors, and sliding gear runs the panel along a track fixed above the opening.

A floor spring sits in a steel box set into the floor below the door, controlling closing speed and hold-open. It needs a recess cut into the screed, so it is far simpler to plan before tiles, stone or timber flooring are laid than to retrofit later.

In England, Approved Document K treats glazing in a door within 1500mm of the floor, glazing within 300mm of a door edge and within 1500mm of the floor, and other glazing within 800mm of the floor as critical locations. Glass in these positions must break safely or be suitably protected.

The guidance in England asks for glass meeting Class 3 of BS EN 12600 in most critical locations, and the higher Class 2 where a door or door side panel is more than 900mm wide. Toughened glass for doors is made to suit, and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own guidance.

In buildings other than dwellings in England, large areas of clear glass that people could walk into need manifestation at two levels, 850–1000mm and 1400–1600mm above the floor. A frameless door with a large handle or push plate on each pane is one example the guidance accepts without markings.

Toughened glass cannot be cut, drilled or notched once it has been toughened. Holes for patch fittings, cut-outs for locks and handles, and any shaped corners are all made before toughening, which is why we template the opening first and the glass is made to order rather than cut on site.

Toughened glass can very occasionally break on its own because of nickel sulphide inclusions. Heat soak testing to BS EN 14179 reduces that risk by breaking flawed panels in the factory before delivery, though it cannot remove the risk entirely. It is often specified for large doors and screens in busy buildings.

Fixed glass screens are held in slim channels or clamps at the floor, walls and ceiling, and the head fixing needs something solid to bite into. Walls and ceilings are rarely perfectly square, so templating records the true shape and the glass is made to follow it, keeping gaps even.

In workplaces in England, Wales and Scotland, the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 require glass in doors, walls and partitions to be of safety material or protected where needed for safety, and to be marked or otherwise made apparent so people notice it.

For buildings other than dwellings in England, access guidance says a manual door should open with no more than 30N of force at its edge from closed to 30 degrees, and 22.5N from 30 to 60 degrees. Heavy glass doors and closers are set up with that limit in mind.

Frameless doors run with small gaps at the edges and under the door, so they do not seal against sound or draughts the way a framed, gasketed door does. Clear seal strips can reduce the gaps, but where privacy or noise matters, an acoustic framed system may suit better.