As a homeowner embarking on a new balustrading or staircase project, it is common practice to take your sub-contractor’s word as gospel and expect your project to meet or exceed all building requirements set out by SANS. However there is some crucial information that your should be aware of when employing the services of a balustrade subcontractor.
At Steel Studio we often address the concerns of homeowners being supplied with offers from competitors that do not serve their best interests. For example, a common experience that we are facing is that the client is guaranteed an engineer’s certificate for the balustrade installation that ensures that their building project complies with SANS.
Little do the homeowners know that in circumstances like this, they will experience an additional cost from the competitors to send out an engineer to their property to sign off on the project, and often the installation only complies with SANS 10400. Although the installation is compliant with SANS 10400, this is just one of the numerous codes that need to be met during the project. In order to ensure that you, as a homeowner, are receiving all the information you need in order to appoint your balustrade sub-contractor, we have outlined what we at Steel Studio offer on completion of a balustrade project for you to use as a reference when speaking to your balustrading sub-contractors:
- Steel Studio provides a professional engineers certificate on completion of your project stating that the balustrades comply with SANS 10160 and SANS 10400.
Where glazing is present in the balustrade installation, our products additionally comply with:
- SANS 1263-1:2006 – Safety and security glazing materials for buildings – Part 1: Safety performance of glazing materials under human impact.
- SANS 10160-2:2011 – Basis of structural design and actions for buildings and industrial structures – Part 2: Self-weight and imposed loads. Point 9.4.7 Resistance to impact will be proven using an impact of 400 J, delivered by means of a 250mm diameter bag filled with dry sand to a mass of 30kg, representative of the most severe conditions likely to occur. The impact test may be reduced to 200 J for instances where the perpendicular approach distance is less than 1,5 m.
- SANS 10137:2011 – The installation of glazing in buildings
By making sure that your balustrade installation complies with these codes, you are ensuring the safety of all that utilise the balustrades. We urge homeowners to question their sub-contractors about what SANS codes the balustrades must comply with, and not be fooled by contractors who say they will issue them an engineer’s certificate. It is important to remember that the balustrade sub-contractor must take full liability for the balustrade installation and not just partial responsibility. As professionals, we at Steel Studio only install a product that complies with all building regulations and is safe for all that utilise the balustrades.