A glass block, also called a glass brick, is a hollow unit made of two fused glass halves with an air chamber between them. Glass blocks are laid or stacked like a wall and thus form a partition that admits daylight yet still offers privacy and insulation.
Application
Glass blocks are used for light-transmitting partition walls, bathroom walls, stairwells and facade surfaces. They combine the solidity of a wall with the transparency of glass: light enters, but one cannot see sharply through the wall. There are clear, coloured and textured versions, each with its own degree of see-through.
The blocks are stacked with a special mortar or adhesive and reinforced with horizontal and vertical bars in the joints. This creates a stable, self-supporting wall that, up to certain dimensions, can be built without intermediate posts.
Characteristics
Thanks to the enclosed air chamber, a glass block has reasonable thermal and sound insulation, better than single glass. The blocks are not load-bearing for heavy structures and are therefore used as an infill wall. Movement (expansion) joints along the edges are important, because glass and the surrounding masonry or concrete expand differently. After laying, the joints are washed in and struck off.
Related terms
- glass brick
- glass
- mortar
- reinforcement
- movement joint
- light transmission
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