Fluted glass: choosing thickness, pattern and fixing for interior work

Fluted glass — also called reed or ribbed glass — is rolled with parallel cylindrical ribs on one face. The ribs diffuse the view behind them without blocking light, which is exactly what a bathroom partition, a shop fitting or a cabinet door needs. The material is cheap. The mistakes are expensive.

Thickness decides everything else

The common thicknesses are 4 mm, 5 mm and 6 mm. For a fixed panel up to about one square metre, 4 mm is adequate. Anything larger, anything that will be touched, or anything installed in a door needs 5 mm minimum — and if it is a moving door, it needs to be tempered, not annealed.

A 4 mm fluted panel spanning 1.5 m will flex visibly when a door closes nearby. It will not break, but it will look wrong, and the reflection through the ribs will distort.

Pattern direction and the view behind

Vertical ribs elongate a space; horizontal ribs widen it. This is the part designers get right. What they often get wrong is the distance to whatever is behind the glass: a fluted panel 200 mm from a wall reads as a solid textured surface, while the same panel 2 m from a wall reads as a blurred image. If the intent is privacy, keep the object behind the glass within 300 mm.

Edge finish is where the corners chip

• For framed installations, a flat-polished edge is enough — the frame hides it.
• For frameless or butt-jointed panels, specify a polished arris or a small bevel. A raw cut edge on patterned glass chips easily and the chip runs along the rib.
• If the panel will be tempered, all edge work and drilling must be done before tempering. There is no second chance.

What to send us

For a fluted glass quote we need: overall size, thickness, pattern name or a photo, whether it will be tempered, and the edge treatment. If you are matching an existing installation, send a photo with a ruler in frame — pattern pitch varies between rollers and a 2 mm difference in pitch is visible at a joint.