How thick does glass need to be to walk on?

Walk-on flat rooflights from Natralight are designed to be flush with surrounding flooring, for example on roof terraces with decking.

As with other Natralight rooflights, an upstand is needed for walk-on glass, with the product fitted with the decking completed around the rooflight to achieve a flush finish. 

With a walk-on product, it's essential that the correct loading standards are taken into account and the products are fully backed up with structural calculations to ensure they are safe to use. 

For this blog, we will look at how Building Regulations affect walk-on glazing products. 

Building regulations and Applicable standards for walk-on-glass

In order to get an accurate thickness of glass for walk-on rooflights, we need to consider the requirements of the Building Regulations, regarding the amount of load the glass is needed to withstand and any compliance that needs to be adhered to for imposed loads set out in Eurocodes BS EN 1991.

BS EN 1991-1-1:2002 places the use of buildings, such as residential, social or commercial properties into different Categories with different uses within those buildings placed into further Subcategories. 

We stock walk-on glass that has been designed to meet the imposed load requirements of BS EN 1991 Subcategories A1, A2, A3 and A5. 

Product design explained

All of our walk-on glazing products incorporate double-glazed units with a centre pane u value of 1.2 W/m2k.

Our rooflights have been designed so that no unexpected stresses will be seen by the double glazed unit spacer bar or the inner pane of glass, no loads are transferred to the inner pane of the glass. 

Surface roughness and safety

If you are looking to use glass as a floor panel, you will want it to remain dry and make sure the soles and heels of shoes are dry by the time they come into contact with the glass. 

You should also consider that it is never feasible that glass will not break under significant abuse. Any damaged glass needs to be replaced immediately, with the walk-on unit not to be used in the meantime. When activities are planned where there is damaged glass, it needs to be protected. 

Get a no-obligation quote from Natralight

Natralight offer free no-obligation quotes on all of our rooflight products. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us today.