Today the glass floor can be found not only in expensive restaurants, nightclubs or shopping centers, but also in private houses or cottages. These are very beautiful designs that contribute to the free distribution of lighting throughout the room, giving it a greater volume and personality.
It can be used to cover both the entire room and individual fragments of the floor. A glass floor is made of a multilayer transparent or tinted triplex or of tempered laminated glass coated with a polymer layer.
Material Features
Triplex is a special glass that consists of several layers bonded together by different types of film. Its thickness can be up to 4 cm. This material is highly resistant to loads and abrasion, resistant to chemicals.
To ensure the strength of the floor, its upper part is made of tempered glass. When choosing a material, you should pay attention to its quality, which depends on the mounting film. It comes in several forms.
The glass floor made of triplex with an ethylene vinyl acetate film has a low quality. At high humidity and low temperatures, it delaminates, which affects the strength of the glass. You can distinguish such a triplex in appearance - it has a matte color.
The material glued with a polyvinyl butyral film has the best properties. Such glass is intended for installation on large areas. The most expensive and high quality is triplex glued with a thermoplastic polyurethane film. The glass floor must have a safety margin for safety reasons.
Glass floor construction
The base for the glass floor is made of metal, wood or reinforced concrete. It must be smooth, durable. To illuminate the floors , a hole is made in the base through which the wires to the distributor are output.
The floor structure is a glass niche, which has various shapes and sizes. Inside it may be decorative elements (pebbles, sand, plants, corals, etc.). The structural elements of such floors are: metal frame, glass panels and lighting. The steel structure is used as a support for glass plates. A metal frame is mounted around the perimeter of the niche using anchor bolts. It must be securely fixed, since the quality and life of the floor covering depends on it. To ensure a tight fit of the glass panels, a sealing rubber or silicone tape is laid between the frame and the profiles.
Glass plates are frosted, transparent or colored. They can consist of two parts. The first is made of triplex, the second is made of tempered glass. The glass floor arranged in this way allows the replacement of the damaged upper part of the floor covering.
Types of glass floors
The glass floor has many varieties, each type gives the room its own sophisticated and unique look.
- Tape floors. They are installed by paths along the walls, which visually increases the space of the room. It becomes lighter and more spacious. Under the glass, you can create various drawings, pictures that emphasize the originality of the coating.
- Sex in the form of a niche. Mounted on a frame and is usually small in size. Inside the aperture, you can perform a composition of any materials and supplement it with backlight.
- Colored mosaic. Such flooring is used in bathrooms, and together with the lighting, the glass floor in the bathroom creates a romantic atmosphere.
- It is possible to cover glass with a large space. Such a floor must certainly have an installed backlight. Due to the properties of the translucency of the material, a unique, unique design of the room is obtained.
Glass floor lighting
Illuminated glass floors have become a trend in design ideas. A variety of color palettes and transfusion of many shades contribute to their unusual beauty. You should be aware that not all bulbs are suitable for lighting. Neon or fluorescent lamps, LED strip are used as a light source. Do not use halogen lamps that will greatly heat the glass. Properly executed lighting emphasizes the uniqueness and transparency of the glass structure.
Advantages of glass floors
Glass floors, photos of various types of which are presented in the article, create an indescribable atmosphere of unusualness, overflow of colors and shades.
In addition, they have several advantages:
- withstand loads up to 400 kg;
- safe, shockproof;
- resistant to abrasion, aggressive environment, temperature extremes;
- have a high level of sound insulation;
- durable
- water resistant.