Was there a special name for the old timey thick glass walls?

[jasg]

I grew up in a town where they made both glass blocks (hollow, made from two halves - with various patterns and colored coatings) and glass bricks (solid and clear).

I have seen some striking architectural uses of both but they suffered from a bad market reputation that followed from their early use in bars and prisons (easy sales as unbreakable).

[Mister_Rik]

@DrCube

The WOBO bottle never took off, but using bottles as building material is pretty tried and true, if not very widespread.

When I was a kid growing up on the outskirts of Vancouver, WA, there was the cellar of a house that had burned down decades earlier out in the woods near my neighborhood. The concrete walls of the cellar were bottle walls. I’ve never seen such a thing since, so always remembered it as some weird anomaly.

[wguy123]

@Joey_P

I think that (at least in part) is what’s so nice about them. They let light in, you can kinda see if there’s something moving around on the other side, they look nice, but they still give you a lot of privacy. They’re also modular so there’s of accessories that fit right into them. Dryer vents, tilt down windows etc. And I don’t know if we just found a good company or there’s a lot of profit built into them, but a few years back my dad had all (6?) his window wells replaced with them. He called a glass block place. They quoted him $100 per window (with a smaller tilt down window in each one) and asked if he wanted them to install it for him. As he was about to say that he’d rather just save the money and do it himself (have zero experience as a mason/glazier), they went on to say that it’s $20 per window for the install and removal of the old ones. Yes ma’am. $120 for him to not have to spent two weeks messing around with this, not even a question.

Another benefit for glass block windows in your basement is they can be larger than conventional framed windows so you get more light. No need for the wood framing around the opening in the foundation along with the framing for the window itself. The actual area of glass letting in light can be quite a bit higher with glass blocks.

[Mean_Mr.Mustard]

They are very common 'round these parts for basement windows. They are more attractive than the old ‘cranker’ windows, they let light in, they can be vented, and they add a measure of security. I had them installed 20 years ago or so.
mmm

[davida03801]

Glass Block. You can see many varieties here.

[Joey_P]

@Mean_Mr.Mustard

They are very common 'round these parts for basement windows. They are more attractive than the old ‘cranker’ windows, they let light in, they can be vented, and they add a measure of security. I had them installed 20 years ago or so.
mmm

Interesting you mention security. I was watching some home renovation show and they were removing a huge glass block wall. The plan was to knock the wall down by taking a sledge hammer and knocking out all (or most) of the blocks near the bottom. What was odd is that as they hit them, they didn’t just obliterate the wall, the glass in each block just sort of popped out, and then they had to push the wall over (because it had no integrity left). If you did this to a regular (even full sized) window, no one is going to crawl through it. Of course, you could use your sledge hammer to remove the mortar as well. You could also use it to remove one of the other traditional plate glass windows that you’ll probably find less than 30 feet away.

[TruCelt]

@Amateur_Barbarian

Glass block seems to be the more common name now, but I’d swear they were glass brick walls in my youth - a few trendy neighbors had them in entryways, around pools and in bathrooms.

The openings in them, though, are not called glass holes.

:golf clap:

@markn_1

In some applications, not being able to see through them was the point. They were often used in bathrooms to provide light but not allow people to see in from outside. I’ve seen them used as shower walls for the same reason. They’re not obsolete by any means. Here are current do-it-yourself guides to installing basement windows and shower walls. They’re called glass blocks there.

My neighbors growing up did an entire exterior wall in their bathroom with frosted glass brick. It took a few weeks for one of the Moms to notice and inform them that the “frosting” became almost completely transparent when wet. She (meaning the Mom who noticed) and her husband were clearly on the outs for several weeks after that. We theorized that he had been enjoying the neighbor lady’s shower time.