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shnnnh
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# Posted: 17 Jul 2012 04:43pm
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My dad got his hands on some pieces of tempered glass and is excited to have me install one or two of them as vertical windows in my cabin.
The trouble is, these suckers are 10'6" tall, and my plan calls for walls that are balloon-framed at a 10' height using 2x6 studs. The gable is framed separately on top of the walls. The width of the glass pieces varies from 9" to 36" and I would probably opt for ones narrower than 16".
My building overall will be 12x12 with a 12/12 gable roof.
My first thought was to increase the wall height to fit the windows, but I'm getting confused reading the IRC and trying to understand how to brace the walls sufficiently to be allowed to use a stud height greater than 10'.
In addition to looking at the NC state code, I also looked at a publication called "Wall Bracing and the IRC" and I found an online calculator for wall bracing at http://www.strongtie.com/webapps/BracedWall/#top.
But I'm still not sure I'm reading it all correctly. The way I'm interpreting it, I can go to 12' height if I have 6' of bracing, and "bracing" just means putting on the 3/4" plywood I was going to put on as sheathing anyway. Is this correct?
My dad is thinking these could be installed outside the sole/stud/top plate structure, just as sheathing is installed on the outer face of that structure, but I am concerned that wouldn't provide enough structural support for the heavy glass--we would just build a 2x2 frame around the windows and attach the frames to the outer face of the studs.
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VTweekender
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# Posted: 17 Jul 2012 05:20pm
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To be honest, I would cut the glass a little before I changed all my plans....you could pick up a cheapie glass cutter or throw a few in the back of the truck and go to a glass shop...
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shnnnh
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# Posted: 17 Jul 2012 07:33pm
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I would except it's not possible to cut tempered glass--it would shatter into a million pieces like a car windshield
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VTweekender
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# Posted: 17 Jul 2012 08:01pm
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ahhhh, I missed that it was tempered. You would have to take them to a shop and they can mill them down with a edge machine.
Another idea I was thinking of to make use of the glass the way they are is to put one on each end in the gables horizontally as transom windows just above the walls, with the 12' cabin width you would have enough to do that, make some nice grids to fit in them, actually would look really nice I think. You could frame them in with a header and not worry about stability on the gable ends..
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Martian
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# Posted: 17 Jul 2012 09:10pm
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You could mount them horizontally, up high, outside of the studs. Take some 2X material and rabit it for the window on the inside and the sheathing on the outside. Use that as the frame attached to the studs. Flash it across the top, and bed the window in butyl rubber and attach the retaining pieces to hold the glass. Viola'! Instant light. Trim the inside between the studs. Paint the exterior face of the studs and trim black before installing the window; they will disappear once the glass is in place. From the outside it will look like a long window, but from the inside it will look like individual panes. 16" pieces would be ideal for this application.
You could header out the entire length, and not have the studs breaking up the view, but that adds greatly to your cost.
Tom
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shnnnh
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# Posted: 18 Jul 2012 01:30pm
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Mounting them horizontally was my first thought too but my dad is excited about seeing them vertically. Maybe I'll do one of each.
Tom, if they can be mounted outside the studs horizontally, is there any reason they couldn't be mounted outside the studs vertically? On the gable wall this would have the effect from the inside of having a small window in the gable and a tall window in the wall below.
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VTweekender
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# Posted: 18 Jul 2012 03:21pm - Edited by: VTweekender
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full length transom in the gable end pic....and Tom's mounting idea is brilliant and I think would work either vertically or horizontally....
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shnnnh
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# Posted: 18 Jul 2012 05:34pm
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Lovely, thanks for the pic!
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Martian
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# Posted: 18 Jul 2012 07:16pm - Edited by: Martian
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There is no reason you can't mount the windows in any orientation as long as you remember to shed the water. That means horizontal frame members should have a slight angle on top. With a little ingenuity, you could even have a big "X" on your wall. But, what I really see, would be three vertical panels in the gable end with the center panel a couple of feet higher than the other two.
Tom
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