Big Bang!

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Richard C

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The outer pane in one of the doors in our 3 year old Rehau, Argon filled, French doors door has just shattered with a huge bang (17:30), & it seems, without any apparent cause. :eek:.

Highly unlikely anyone has thrown something at it as we are situated next to a farm on open fields out in the sticks. The door faces south & it’s been so unseasonably hot here today, I've been in shorts & had my shirt off up until around 16:00, so it has probably cooled down fairly rapidly. Any pros out there with any ideas what could have caused it to spontaneously explode after 3 years without any apparent cause :?:

I’m assuming (& hoping!) one of the insurances will cover it. :cry:
 
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Richard - bird strike perhaps? Wood pigeons are always flying into my French doors leaving behind a talc print on the glass as evidence but as your glass is in bits so that won't help. See if bird strike is excluded from the insurance. They make a really big bang when striking the glass often breaking their necks.
 
Richard C said:
The outer pane in one of the doors in our 3 year old Rehau, Argon filled, French doors door has just shattered with a huge bang (17:30), & it seems, without any apparent cause. :eek:.

Highly unlikely anyone has thrown something at it as we are situated next to a farm on open fields out in the sticks. The door faces south & it’s been so unseasonably hot here today, I've been in shorts & had my shirt off up until around 16:00, so it has probably cooled down fairly rapidly. Any pros out there with any ideas what could have caused it to spontaneously explode after 3 years without any apparent cause :?:

I’m assuming (& hoping!) one of the insurances will cover it. :cry:
Click to expand...

It was perhaps an attempted break in, did you not find the stone used to try and gain entry ;)

Perhaps you didn't find the stone until after you had cleared away the mess, just to be safe phone plod and report it. They will give you a crime number.
 
Symptoms said:
Richard - bird strike perhaps? Wood pigeons are always flying into my French doors leaving behind a talc print on the glass as evidence but as your glass is in bits so that won't help. See if bird strike is excluded from the insurance. They make a really big bang when striking the glass often breaking their necks.
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We get lots of those but they don't usually break the window; as you say some don't make it & I’ve seen others fly off after nursing their heads for 5 minutes or so. :rolleyes: The outer pane is shattered but still intact & the radial shatter pattern comes from a point on the lower half of the door but no other evidence as to the likely cause; very strange! :confused:


Bilious; no chance it was an attempted break in as we were in the kitchen at the time & this overlooks the doors.

No specific exclusions on the insurance but I do have a £100 excess. Not instigated any quotes yet, anyone got a rough idea how much a safety, K glass sealed unit approx 650 x 1770 should cost? The company that fitted them have now ceased trading (as they do!) so I can’t go back there for assistance; I have fitted a few windows including sealed glass units before but nothing of this size but if there isn’t much in it, I could self fit to save claiming & risk putting up my premium next year! :cry:
 
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I've experienced similar things with my windows and other glass items.

Frequently heard a load bang then noticed the talc print of a bird in flight on the outside of the window. However, one day I heard the bang then noticed a big crack across the inside pane. After taking the d/g unit out I found that the previous owners had used a screw to keep the net curtain track attached to the frame. This had been put in too far/too low and it was touching the glass. Therefore, when the bird flew into the window it smashed the glass against the srew tip and caused the crack.

Have you got anything screwed through your frames?

Another example. I had some glass place mats on the kitchen table. One day one of them just exploded and shattered into thousands of pieces for no apparanet reason, just missing my daughter who was sitting opposite with her head on the table. However, we concluded that as my daughter was 'playing' at the table at the time and swishing her hair around. It must have been the static from my daughters hair that caused it to explode when it touched it. Even when I was clearing the class up it was crackling as it was charged. Needless to say we dont use glass coasters or dinner mats anymore!

Maybe it was something similar, the rapid expansion and contraction could be to caused by the changing weather or maybe some sort of static build up?

(If you're positive it wasn't attempted theft or vandalism)
 
Probably no help at all, but you can blame events related to the big bang on the Hadron Collider, previously safe and secure units crashing are due to the credit crunch, and everything else is the fault of chavs, ****** or jobsworth councils.

Presumably the glass was safety (toughened) so some sort of point pressure would be most likely.
 
TheMrX said:
If you're positive it wasn't attempted theft or vandalism
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No chance, the most exiting thing that happens around here is the ducks walking up the road to the local pond every morning! :rolleyes:

^woody^ said:
Probably no help at all, but you can blame events related to the big bang on the Hadron Collider, previously safe and secure units crashing are due to the credit crunch, and everything else is the fault of chavs, ****** or jobsworth councils.
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:LOL: :LOL:
^woody^ said:
Presumably the glass was safety (toughened) so some sort of point pressure would be most likely.
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Yes it’s toughened & you can see the point from which the radial shatter pattern emerges & it’s not from the edge of the frame; it’s what’s caused it after 3 years of quiet happily sitting there that’s a mystery! :confused:
 
libby lou lou said:
Richard, something similar happened a while back, with glass oven doors, sure it would google.
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Yes I do remember seeing that; stress points & thermal expansion I seem to remember which may have been my problem. The 10 year independent warranty I have specifically excludes breakage of glass from whatever cause! so not much chance with that one then :confused: . Buildings insurance will cover it but with that £100 excess. :cry:

I’ve managed to track down the director/surveyor of the original company that installed who now works for another company! They did a lot of work for me here & we always got on very well so I’m hoping he will help out in supplying a new sealed unit at trade; I’ll then probably fit it myself but havn't done glass this large before. Thanks all for the input.
 
You wouldn’t believe it but a ruddy bird has this morning flown into what was the shattered but intact glass pane & broke it completely :eek: so now I have bits of shattered glass everywhere & replacing it will have to be a priority. Even more crazy is that it hit the glass in exactly the same place as the original fracture point! No casualty so the bird obviously survived, I expect the glass caving in around it cushioned the blow! :rolleyes:

Perhaps it was a bird strike that triggered the original damage, perhaps it was the same ruddy bird but god knows what they are sharpening their beaks on. :confused: Maybe the local pigeons have a vendetta against me for cutting down a large Weeping Willow which was their main roosting point in our garden! & before accusations fly I’m not a tree vandal, the once beautiful Willow succumbed to Honey Fungus 2 years ago & was as dead as Montie’s parrot!
 
I'm interested in this bit about birds leaving a talc print. So my wife isn't the only bird who uses talc?

Interesting that a bird should hit the window again in the very same place. Once it's replaced, get down to fly past height and see if you can see what was fooling the bird - there may be a patch of light or a reflection, which leads them to believe there's a way through. You can get stick-on kestrel silhouettes from the RSPB, which we have used in a similar situation and which seemed to prevent this.
 
RigidRaider said:
Interesting that a bird should hit the window again in the very same place. Once it's replaced, get down to fly past height and see if you can see what was fooling the bird - there may be a patch of light or a reflection, which leads them to believe there's a way through. You can get stick-on kestrel silhouettes from the RSPB, which we have used in a similar situation and which seemed to prevent this.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, this happens all the time because of our location with open fields next door & there isn’t a window in the house that hasn’t been hit at some time or another. It seems to be mainly the young birds that haven’t yet learned the ropes & stupidly just fly into the glass; they must think our house is some sort of open barn. :rolleyes:

Relatively good news is that a local glass company where the director of the original company now works is supplying me with a new toughened K glass unit for £69 delivered which I will then fit; doesn't seem a bad price but have no iea really. If I’d gone through the insurance the bill would have been £220 so that’s £150 for a 10 minute fitting job! :eek:
 
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