Window in door has shattered?
Question:I have a beautiful (or was) front door with a large oval window with beveled glass and some "frosted" glass. Today we discovered that it has completely shattered, and within the last few days. It looks like that popular "cracked glass" except this isn't that! If you touch it you can hear it creak and I am just waiting for all the glass to explode out.(The liability exposure alone has me cringing) The door is about 5 years old and wasn't cheap. It isn't even the main door we use, not that this should matter. Has anyone ever heard of this? Any chance there might still be a warranty? We bought it at a locally owned lumber yard/home improvement vendor, not a big place like Lowes or Home Depot. Hoping they treat us better because of that.
Answers:
First off, if its bevelled then its not safety glass. It's tempered glass. Safety glass is actually two separate lites of glass laminated together. It will break but not fall out because the laminate keeps all the glass together.
What YOU have is tempered glass. When they temper the glass they heat it in a large oven until it is nearly molten, then they quickly "quench" it in colder air. this causes the little glass molecules to suck in a little tighter together. The result is glass that is very easily hundreds of times stronger on the surface of the glass, but inherently weaker on the edge.
Don't even worry about it falling out on someone. they will not get anything worse than a scratch, although it makes quite a mess. The probable reason for breakage is that it was glazed improperly into the door frame, the edge of the glass moved against a piece of the fibre glass frame and caused it to shatter.
If you want to avoid a mess, I'll give you a glazier's trick. Run duct tape (that old secret weapon) across the entire door-lite (the glass). Even just one side will work. Then carefully remove the door and you wont have glass all over your door step.
It's a 5 year old door----I doubt there is ANY kind of warranty on it-----it sounds like its going to be very expensive to replace that glass BUT, if you have home owners insurance, you MIGHT be able to get it through THAT. I'd check the insurance and THEN call a glass company... it MAY have to be a specially made window ESPECIALLY since it's 5 years old.
Don't worry its not going to explode on you, its safety glass and that's why it in your door to prevent someone from getting hurt, you should try the lumber yard you bought the door from as they might have the glass in stock if not they can tell you what the cost is to replace it and order you one.
This kind of glass insert usually doesn't break by itself. Very occasionally one might get a stress fracture, but it would be safe to bet it took a fairly good impact.
Warranties on this kind of glass vary, 1 year would be "normal", I have seen up to 10 years. It is worth looking into, but if there was some kind of impact the warranty is not an issue anyway. On the other side of that, if there was an impact your homeowner's insurance might do some good.
You don't say what kind of door this is, just that it has oval glass. The size of the glass inserts is fairly standard. If this is a steel door, you should be able to just replace the glass, although the you may have to choose a different design. Saves the trouble of refinishing the whole door. If you go this route, make sure you get a new glazing trim - the plastic piece that holds the glass in. After five years, yours probably will not hold up to removing and replacing.
If it is fiberglass, the situation is the same if you have one with a glazing trim. Some fiberglass units are "direct glazed" or "flush glazed" -- both mean the same thing. These doors have the glass put in at the factory and can't be field glazed.
Wood doors can be done, but it is a bit more complicated. You will need to remove the wood glazing trim without breaking it as replacement may be hard to find.
The glass in an oval unit reflects most of the cost of the door, so don't be surprised to pay more for just the glass today than you paid for the whole door five years ago. A locally owned lumber yard probably will help you a bit, but don't expect a whole lot. They will have to pay full price if it is not under warranty.
I agree 99% with b_a_lert, above.
I'm guessing that your door, like he says, is likely a steel door or a fiberglass door. I'm willing to be that it is not "flush glazed", as I have not seen an oval glass done that way.
As far as the warranty, I would bet that it is more than one year. May be as long as 10 years; however, he's right that if an impact caused the break, you're out of luck on the warranty.
Definitely go to the lumberyard you purchased it from. (And thanks for supporting local lumber dealers!) They can tell you about the warranty, and if it is a warranted situation, they will get you a new glass "insert" - this includes the glass AND a new frame to hold it in, so you won't have to worry about saving the old one or having it arrive and not fit.
A couple of things to help the lumberyard: try to find the manufacturer of the door: do you still have your receipt? If not, look at the door's hinges and see if a name is stamped on them. If not that (and this is kind of difficult) look on the top edge of the door and write down any numbers that you might see.
Good luck!
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