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Glass balcony explodes in this heat


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I have seen some contractors replacing all the glass balustrades on a development near me. They were frameless and recently one of the panes failed, shattered into pieces and fell to the ground. It was only then that it became apparent that the glass should have been laminated as well as toughened so all the panels on the development were replaced.

 

The failure had nothing to do with the weather.

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a sheet of toughened glass can sound like an explosion if it shatters.

As @Mr Punter said and I've said in previous threads, balcony glass is best made out of two sheets of toughened glass that are laminated together. If one pane shatters it stays fixed to the other pane so (1) no broken glass everywhere, and (2) you've still got a functioning balustrade 

 

The 2 most common reasons for failure of toughened glass in a balcony are due to nickel sulphide inclusions (best to specify heat-soaked glass) or that there is a mis-match between the steel brackets holding the glass and the pre-formed holes in the toughened glass. Steel will expand & contract with changes in temperature and if it is too tight to the edge of the glass it will break it.

Edited by Ian
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We used to fit toughened glass doors to saunas and steamrooms.

They did shatter, but not because of the heat.  Usually happened when trying to fit them and they slipped onto the tiled floor.  Then the fitter said 'It just exploded'.

If anyone knows Swedish, a popular country for saunas, they always agreed with me about the fitters.

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50 minutes ago, jamiehamy said:

Friend had a glass coffee table shatter into a squillion pieces recently

 

58461909_10218765261107743_3117401642710859776_n.jpg

 

That does not look like toughened glass as it would shatter into far smaller pieces with very few sharp edges.

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