Notes from the atelier
The Vetrova blog.
On glass, hardware, and the rooms we work in. Indian context, made to the millimetre.
Back-painted glass backsplash on a curved wall in Frazer Town: substrate tolerance when the drywall curves 8mm over 1.2m
A Frazer Town curved-wall backsplash reveals why substrate flatness tolerance—not finish—is the critical spec when back-painted glass meets …
Frameless shower glass and monsoon seepage: when the joint line needs thicker sealant in a Hebbal ensuite
A Hebbal architect's as-built reveals the joint-line detail that stops monsoon spray: why frameless shower gaskets need thicker sealant when…
Feature wall textured glass in a north-facing JP Nagar living room: why fluted diffusion outperforms sandblasted under ambient monsoon light
In north-facing Bangalore living rooms, fluted glass preserves colour saturation where sandblasted glass flattens it. A technical look at li…
SmartGlass wiring through a partition in a Marathahalli home office: why the conduit placement breaks the dimming relay spec
A Marathahalli partition's conduit placement can break your dimming relay coordination. Here's how to write the electrical spec so the signa…
Backlit feature wall in an east-facing Hennur bedroom: why 8mm fluted glass needs a 220mm cavity, not the standard 150mm
A Hennur east-facing bedroom with a backlit fluted feature wall forced a cavity depth of 220mm instead of the standard 150mm. Here's why LED…
Pool-mosaic grout in a Kalyan Nagar lap pool: why epoxy-hybrid wins over standard silicone when chlorine meets Bangalore's pH 8.2 water
Bangalore's groundwater sits at pH 8.2. Add chlorine cycles and standard silicone grout fails in 18 months. Here's why epoxy-hybrid is the o…
Mirror in a Domlur steam shower: IP65 adhesive selection when condensation peaks at 95% RH every monsoon morning
A Domlur architect's six-month condensation audit reveals why adhesive selection matters as much as glass thickness when daily steam cycles …
Lacquered-glass wardrobe shutters under west-facing Hebbal afternoon light: why saturation fades by 4pm, not dusk
A west-facing wardrobe in Hebbal doesn't fade at dusk—it fades by 4pm. Here's why gloss matters more than colour when specifying lacquered g…
Pergola glass in a north-facing Rajajinagar courtyard: why 5mm tinted outperforms 8mm clear when diffusion loss matters more than heat gain
A north courtyard in Rajajinagar shows why tinted 5mm glass outperforms standard 8mm clear—the numbers on visible-light transmittance and so…
Glass-and-steel railing on a Sarjapur Road south-facing balcony: thermal expansion and the joint-gap tolerance at 45°C summer peak
Steel expands more than glass in Bangalore's 45°C summer peak. A Sarjapur south-facing railing demands a 5mm joint tolerance—not 4mm—to prev…
Floating glass shelves in a Basavanagudi dressing room: why the 280mm unsupported span holds half-load but fails at full, and the bracket-spacing spec architects revise
A Basavanagudi dressing room reveals why unsupported span matters more than glass thickness. The 280mm shelf holds half-load in testing but …
Frameless shower glass at the niche corner: why perpendicular sealant joints demand thicker panels in a Bellandur ensuite
When the sealant joint runs perpendicular to the glass edge—not parallel—the stress concentration doubles. Here's why 10mm toughened becomes…
Lacquered-glass wardrobe shutters under north light in Sadashivanagar: why edge-banding colour shifts at dusk, not dawn
North light reads neutral at midday, but the angle drops at dusk. A lacquered shutter's edge-banding reveals this shift—and matte finishes h…
Antique-mirror grout-line sealing before monsoon in a Rajajinagar kitchen: the epoxy vs. silicone protocol architects miss
Silicone fails on back-painted mirror grout lines when monsoon humidity hits. Epoxy holds—but only if sealed before June. The protocol archi…
Back-painted glass backsplash substrate prep on existing tile in a Frazer Town kitchen: when adhesive tolerance breaks the spec
Retrofitting a back-painted backsplash over subway tile looks simple until adhesive tolerance stacks. Here's the substrate spec that prevent…
Glass-and-steel railing newel-post bolting tolerance stack: why the 40mm sphere rule demands oversized holes on a Yelahanka spiral staircase
The NBC sphere rule is tight. When you bolt a steel post to the newel on a tight spiral, tolerance stacks: 2mm on the glass hole, 1.5mm on t…
Backlit mirror cavity thermal management in a Koramangala powder room: why LED strip placement breaks the adhesive spec
A backlit mirror cavity that looks perfect on the elevation can fail by month four if the LED strip sits too close to the mirror back. Therm…
Frameless glass partition acoustic rating in a Domlur open-plan: the decibel trade-off when a full wall isn't an option
A frameless partition feels elegant but acoustic reality demands calculation. Here's how to spec acoustic performance in an open-plan, and w…