Advice on or specification of fixings

Loadings are based on what type of use the building is. There are different loading requirements which appear in BS 6399-1 and the majority of the balustrades and balconies that we deal with refer to residential balconies which require 0.74 kilo Newtons.  Our generic structural calculations which we have and tests are all relating to this and with relation to these, these generic calculations and past test information all give guidance to the subject of how the client/person installing, designing, specifying or ordering the system needs to relate to our system.

Choose the fixing that fits

Our system is designed and has been made to work with all its components.  If it is not fixed with a fixing which can take the loads that are required, then the whole thing can fail.  If it’s fixed to a wall which isn’t strong enough to support the loads which are applied to it, it can all fail.

A chain is as strong as its weakest link; the chain I refer to in this analogy is the system, the structure and the fixings. If any of these three fail to support the required loads the whole thing will fail to perform the required function.

The reason we do not give any form of advice on fixings, which fixings to use or if it can be, or cannot be, fixed to a certain structure is because we are not responsible to ascertain that.  When we supply a balustrade, we can give the client all the relevant data on the system and its requirements for the client to decide and choose the fixing that is pertinent to his building and situation. If he’s fixing it into steel or into a concrete wall, into a block wall, timber or whatever they have on site, they should choose the fixing that fits that.

Giving correct advice

We will give the customer, and this is present in the generic structural calculations, the required maximum loadings that these fixings need to meet, so with the data that we give of what are the loadings that the fixings are meant to withstand they can ascertain what fixing to choose. Knowing the structure they are fixing into together with the specified required loads it can be ascertained which fixing will fulfil this suitable function.  The client can go to their structural engineer or they themselves will go to a building merchant and say, look I need a fixing which can take X load here which is specified and I’m fixing it into this Y structure/substrate, can you give me the fixing which suits that.

Obviously they also need to meet the diameter of holes that we have in our system whether it’s a Juliet bracket, a wall fixing bracket, the post baseplate, all of those holes are defined in the system and can be given at any point pre or after sale.  If they need to fix a post down and it has a 13mm hole they can use up to a M12 (12mm) fixing. This 12mm fixing must be one that suits and can withstand the loadings that are defined in our generic calculations and that fixing with those loadings is suitable for the material substrate that they’re fixing to. If this is done then everything is hunky-dory and that is how we are able to supply enough data for the correct fixings to be chosen by allowing the client to check the exact site and exactly what is needed. We do not risk giving incorrect advice as we do not inspect the site and are not responsible for the building itself.

Balcony 1 fixings

Balcony 2 fixings

Wall fixings

The specific site data

We always supply any of our pertinent data in terms of technical data, test reports, structural engineer reports or calculations, everything that we have that can give the relevant required information that can be used by the client to ascertain what to use or choose in their specific application. It can be that a client wants or requires site specific details to be checked and for this employment of a structural engineer is required. The engineer will need to produce a specific report on that site and most probably the engineer will need to visit site and assess the specific site data and that is of course an extra cost in any case, whether employed through us or directly, it is an extra cost and not included in our supply.

External balcony