From glass showers to barn-doors, glass whiteboards to decorative glass, glass hardware has got to be the last thing anyone ever thinks about on any glass project ever created by man. Planners, designers, and architects, will simply say let’s laminate it to the wall. Really? Let’s do wall cladding! Do you know what that is? Let’s drill it to the wall! Okay, I think you don’t understand this whole hardware thing.
Case in point; there was a project once, long ago. The designers saw some work that FGD-OSS did for a skyscraper in Atlanta. This was wall cladding with one inch stand off mounts installed through half-inch holes in the glass. Now, I can totally understand why they wanted this. It looks like the inside of the death star in Star Wars, and if you know me, anything Star Wars makes me happy.
What they didn’t know was the wider range of glass hardware mounting options that we offered and they ended going with z-clips for a totally clean glass wall look, floor to ceiling.
I’m going to walk you through the four main hardware mounting options and help you decide which one is best for your project.
Glass Hardware Mounting Options
On some occasions, you simply want your glass to mount flush with a wall and not see any hardware. This is something I really like, especially if the room’s environment is very clean and sleek. For this purpose, the Z-channel mount is a great option.
If you still want the glass to remain flush with the wall, but want to see some bling, the U-channels and the J-Channels are great. The U-channel will have a broader strip of brushed metal along the bottom and top of your glass panel whilst the J-channel has a neat strip. The names are derived from the shape of the mount.
Now to get to the heavy hitting glass jewelry, is the Edge Grip and Stand-Off mounts. These bad boys will float the glass about an inch off the wall, giving you a pretty cool dimensional perspective. The edge grip simply hugs the edge of the glass, while the stand-off mount is installed through a hole in the glass. Your call, but be mindful of what you’re hanging. If it’s a glass whiteboard, the edge grips are better because they won’t get in your way while writing.
Pretty much all hardware is available in chrome or brushed in any finish. You can always DIY some cool artsy stuff to make it look however you want, but glass and chrome always go together. Apple seemed to base a whole company on it and look where they are!
