Glass Class Glass block manufacturers have introduced new products and systems to make the product easier to specify and install. Pittsburgh Corning’s new design tool, Easy Design, is powered by SketchUp software. “A designer can configure a shower and draw it up by pulling and dragging components of block. You can see it in a 3-D configuration, and it gives you a materials list,” DeGusipe says.
For designers who are working with standard shower openings, the company offers pre-designed shower kits. “It takes the mystery out of it for the designer,” he says. The kits come in three configurations and include the shower pan and accessories. The company also introduced a mortarless installation system, where glass block is attached with silicone adhesive to rigid vinyl spacers. “The joints are finished with tile grout. Anything you can do with mortar, you can do with this system. It is ideal for tile setters,” DeGusipe says.
Remodeler John Tabor of Tabor Construction in Silver Spring, Md., likes having these design and installation options. “There was not enough information before — you were on your own,” he says. “I might use it more often now that they have this.”
Glass Block Windows Pittsburgh Corning offers the LightWise line of pre-assembled vinyl frame glass block windows that come in 78 sizes and install like standard windows. The company’s new 2-inch-thick glass block is lighter than the standard 3-inch glass block. The windows are shipped ready to install. www.pittsburghcorning.com. Hy-Lite offers glass block windows in 100 sizes. Gary Good, marketing manager, says the new Glacier pattern is more obscure than the original Wave pattern. Designers order the windows through a window distributor or lumberyard. The white vinyl windows take two weeks to ship, and the tan frames take three weeks. www.hy-lite.com.