Wickes glazed door panel spontaneously shattered

[Black Bat]

I've got a pair of Wickes pine french doors, each with 8 bevelled toughened glass panels. The doors were "paint and peel", so once hung they were varnished and awaited the rest of the room to be decorated before cutting and peeling the plastic off the glass panels. The glass was peeled off on Saturday afternoon and around 15 minutes later one of the panels spontaneously started to shatter like a car windscreen. I could hear and see this going on for around 20 minutes.

I have two questions. a) What on earth could have caused this? and b) as I don't want to take the door back to Wickes and change it (it being planed to size, hung and completely finished) am I likely to be able to go to a glass merchant and have a piece of toughened bevelled glass made to the right size?

I've already approached Wickes who have said they do not sell the glass for the door but they have given me the phone number of Finnforest, who apparently supply the doors. I have not contacted Finnforest yet, but as the doors had "made in South Africa" on the bottom I think it unlikely that Finnforest will be able to supply me with a glass panel...

Any suggestions gratefully received.

thanks,

Justin

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yes - the glass is cut to size, then bevelled, then sent off for toughening. Won't be cheap, though.

[Rick Dipper]

When a similar thing happend to my car windscreen I was told a small chip from fitting the windscreen or bad handeling had caused the problem.

I'd approach wickes for a whole new door, and then when delivered take the glass out, if they want the old one back, give them the new one with no glass.

Rick

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Car windscreens haven't been made of toughened glass for a long time - they're laminated.

[Al Reynolds]

How much was the door? You might find it easier to buy another one and take one pane of glass out of it. You could keep all the others as spares as well.

You could also buy another door, take the pane of glass out, then take it back to Wickes with the fragments from your first door and ask for a refund. That way, they get their door back with just the fault which you experienced, and you get to keep the fitted door you have. Not sure how wthical this plan is though...

Al

[Tony Bryer]

Google on "toughened glass" and 'sulphide' and you'll see that this is not unknown:

"Toughened glass is very strong, but has been known to fracture spontaneously due to nickel sulphide inclusions"

[Christian McArdle]

I would guess that the door glass was fitted when the wood had expanded, but with no expansion (contraction?) gap allowed around the glass. Then after fitting/painting, the temperature or humidity has changed, the door shrinks, gripping the glass panels tightly until the glass can take no more and shatters. It's only a guess, though.

Christian.

[Christian McArdle]

Yes, and also get Wickes to pay for the new glass panel. This would be much cheaper than rehanging a new door.

Christian.

[Rick Dipper]

Laminated toughend glass ?

Rick

[Ian Stirling]

No, laminated untoughened. Throw a brick against a windscreen. You'll see a relatively small pattern of damage. If it was toughened/tempered then the damage would rapidly spread over the entire window, crazing it.

[Black Bat]

140 quid for a pair. I'd need to get a pair again as the doors have an overlap between them built in.

I called Finnforest, who said that they were the distributor and that Wickes often (wrongly) referred people to them. They then gave me the name and number of XL Joinery who supply the doors. XL Joinery said that Wickes should have arranged for someone to come out to inspect the door to see what the fault was, with a view to replacing it. XL cannot supply glass, and said as the door was preglazed with beads that the glass couldn't be replaced. I find this very hard to believe. My own belief is that as the doors are of South African origin the glass is sourced out there and is just not available in the UK. Maybe I'll just ask for another door and try and remove the glass from it (wouldn't want to damage it in the attempt though!)

Justin

[Black Bat]

See my comments above - XL joinery claim that the glass cannot be replaced!

Justin

[Black Bat]

It did seem to coincide with the plastic covering being peeled off though.

Justin

[Owain]

"Black Bat" wrote | "Christian McArdle" wrote: | >> "Toughened glass is very strong, but has been known to fracture | >> spontaneously due to nickel sulphide inclusions" | >Yes, and also get Wickes to pay for the new glass panel. This would | >be much cheaper than rehanging a new door. | See my comments above - XL joinery claim that the glass cannot be | replaced!

Then Wickes should replace the door. Your claim is against the retailer, not the importer/distributor/lorrydriver who brought them down the motorway.

Owain

[N. Thornton]

Your beef is with the retailer you bought it from, no-one else.

Ready glazed doors are regularly made with no separate beading strips, if so you'd need to cut a rebate with a router to be able to reglaze them. In short, replace the bust door.

Regards, NT

[Black Bat]

Not sure I understand this. How can the door be glazed without beading strips?

-- Justin

[Tony Bryer]

You machine all the door bits with grooves rather than rebates and assemble them around the pieces of glass.

[N. Thornton]

A door is made from several pieces of wood. 4 of them (etc) are grooved to accept an edge of the glass, and the door assembled around the glass. This is common now. On these doors it looks like there is beading, but in fact the beading is just moulding detail, and not a separate piece. Its a lot more work to replace glass, but it was slightly cheaper to make.

Regards, NT