San Pedro Decks & Patios With Glass Guards
San Pedro decks with glass guards: laminated tempered panels in a stainless shoe or clamps, blocking behind the rim, and LADBS review of the guard detail.
Can the railing be glass, so nothing blocks the view from the deck? Yes, with conditions we spell out for a San Pedro deck before drawing. Each panel is laminated tempered glass, held in a continuous base shoe or clamped between posts, and every fitting is stainless steel suited to a lot near the ocean. The frame under the shoe needs solid blocking, because a glass guard sends any push straight into the rim.
Panels, shoe and frame
Laminated tempered glass holds together as a sheet if it breaks, and that is why guards use it. A base shoe is a metal channel bolted through the decking into blocking between the joists, with the glass locked in by the system its maker tested. A post system uses clamps or standoffs, with each post through-bolted to the rim and blocked behind. A cap rail along the top ties the panels together and gives a hand something to hold. Glass also catches wind that open pickets let through, so the anchors are checked for wind as well as for a push.
Upkeep and the permit
On a lot near the ocean, a film of salt dries onto glass and fittings, so a rinse with fresh water keeps both clear, and the shoe has weep holes so water does not sit in the channel. The guard detail goes to LADBS, the City of Los Angeles building department, as part of the deck plans, with the maker's tested data attached. Coastal zone status is looked up by parcel, and a lot inside that zone may need a coastal approval as a separate step. If the yard slopes, the engineer sizes the outer posts and the guard anchors together.
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Decks & Patios in San Pedro: questions
Glass guards add weight at the deck edge, and the outer footings carry it. The engineer sizes those footings from soil data and post loads, and on a San Pedro lot that drops away from the house the tallest posts stand at that edge, often on drilled piers. LADBS checks each excavation open.
A glass guard adds very little that can burn, though the laminate layer inside it is plastic. Whether the deck boards face ember rules depends on whether the San Pedro parcel falls in a mapped fire hazard severity zone, checked by address. In one, the surface must carry an ember rating and the joist space gets skirting or stays open. Outside one, regular code covers the boards.
The guard is a third line here, priced by its run, its fittings and the blocking under it. Beyond that, a taller frame brings longer posts and bracing, and a bigger footprint brings more joists and boards. Pricing the glass apart lets a wood or cable guard be shown beside it for the same deck.
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