Breaking Glass Shower Doors & Enclosures
Glass shower doors and enclosures, while adding a touch of elegance to any bathroom, can sometimes shatter unexpectedly, leading to alarming and potentially dangerous situations. This phenomenon, often referred to as spontaneous glass breakage, has been a concern, particularly in hotels and multi-unit facilities where numerous such incidents have occurred. Understanding why these incidents happen and how to mitigate the risks is crucial for both homeowners and facility managers.
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Why Do Glass Shower Doors Break “Spontaneously”?
The term “spontaneous” can be misleading, as there’s almost always an underlying cause for a glass shower door to break. The primary material used for these doors and enclosures is tempered glass, a type of “safety glass” mandated by the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) in 1977 through their Safety Standard for Architectural Glazing Materials, 16 CFR Part 1201. This regulation was enacted due to numerous severe injuries caused by breaking ordinary glass.
Tempered glass is designed to fracture into small, relatively harmless, cube-like pieces rather than large, jagged shards. This safety feature is a direct result of its manufacturing process.
The Tempering Process: A Tug-of-War Within Glass
Glass starts as float glass, formed by melting raw materials like silica sand and floating them on molten tin. This ribbon of glass is then slowly cooled, a process called annealing, to reduce internal stresses. For tempered glass, this annealed glass undergoes a secondary process:
- Heating: The glass is heated to approximately 1300 degrees Fahrenheit, nearly a plastic state.
- Rapid Cooling (Quenching): Strong blowers rapidly cool (quench) both sides of the heated glass simultaneously.
This rapid cooling causes the outer layers of the glass (about 20% of the thickness on each side) to cool and solidify more quickly than the core. As the core then cools and tries to shrink, the already solid outer layers resist this shrinkage. This creates a permanent internal “tug-of-war”:
- The core is in a state of tension, being pulled apart by the outer layers.
- The outer layers are in a state of compression, as the core constantly pulls on them.
This intense internal tension and compression are fundamental to tempered glass’s properties. To be considered fully tempered (FT) per ASTM C1048, the residual surface compression must be at least 10,000 pounds per square inch (psi).
This high compression is why tempered glass shatters into thousands of small pieces when its integrity is compromised. The release of this stored energy is speedy, with cracks propagating at speeds of approximately 4,900 feet per second (over 3,300 miles per hour).
Top 10 Causes of Tempered Glass Shower Door Breakage
While tempered glass is robust, certain factors can compromise its integrity, leading to breakage. Here are the most common causes:
Edge Damage Under Normal Operation
The edges of glass are its most vulnerable points. In frameless enclosures, these edges are exposed. If a door repeatedly strikes a hard surface like a ceramic tile baseboard instead of a soft bumper, it can lead to microscopic damage that propagates over time.
Edge Damage Under Stressed Operation
Even if a door typically hits a bumper, excessive force or twisting during opening or closing (e.g., a child pushing the door out of alignment) can cause the edge to strike the frame or another hard surface, leading to breakage.
Stressed Operation Without Impact
Excessive “slop” or movement in a sliding door can allow it to be twisted, putting undue stress on the glass, especially around drilled holes. This stress can cause existing micro-fissures to propagate and lead to breakage.
Edge Damage Under Forceful Operation
Slamming a shower door can cause it to “hop” if the bumper isn’t positioned at the glass’s center of mass, leading to contact with overhead or side frames. Repeated forceful impacts can compromise the glass’s integrity.
Edge Damage at Hardware Penetrations
Hardware such as towel bars or hinges should always be separated from the glass by rubber grommets and washers. If these grommets deform or are improperly sized, direct metal-to-glass contact can occur, leading to stress concentrations and breakage, especially near drilled holes.
Bad Hole Fabrication
The quality of drilled holes in glass is critical. Imperfections like chips or flakes at hole edges (exceeding 1.6 mm or 1/16 in. as per ASTM C1048) or rough inner surfaces of notches can weaken the glass, making it more susceptible to breakage under stress.
Hole Misalignment
When holes are drilled from both sides of the glass, a misalignment can create a “cusp” or uneven bearing surface. If hardware applies uneven pressure at this point, especially if it aligns with the tensile zone of the tempered glass, it can initiate a crack.
Nickel Sulfide Inclusions
These microscopic impurities, often as small as a grain of salt, can be present in the glass batch during manufacturing. In tempered glass, if a nickel sulfide inclusion is located within the tensile zone, it can expand over time when exposed to moderate heat. This expansion creates internal stress that can lead to sudden, spontaneous breakage, even when no one is present.
Doors Come Off the Track
In sliding shower door systems, if the overhead rollers lack anti-jump devices, the door panels can lift out of the track and fall, leading to immediate breakage.
Excessive Tempering
While a minimum surface compression is required for tempered glass, glass tempered to a significantly higher degree can become overly sensitive to imperfections. This “over-tempered” glass can be more prone to breakage with minimal provocation. The industry often uses cube size (60-80 cubes in a 5cm x 5cm area) as an indicator of desired compressive stress.
Preventing Glass Shower Door Breakage: Proactive Measures
While spontaneous breakage can be alarming, there are several steps you can take to minimize the risk:
- Handle with Care
- Maintain Hardware
- Proper Bumper Placement
- Quality Manufacturing
- Anti-Jump Mechanisms
- Safety Film for Facilities
To Sum Up
If you find yourself in the frightening situation of a shattering glass shower door while bathing, here’s what to do:
- Stay Still
- Assess and Escape
- Create a Path
- Gradual Movement
- Clean and Document
- Call an Expert
While most injuries from breaking glass shower doors are minor, the potential for severe harm exists. Understanding the causes and taking preventive steps can significantly enhance safety in your bathroom or facility.
Contact us if you need help with shower door breakage or problems.
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Mark,
I really liked your article on tempered glass in shower doors. The “reputation” that tempered glass is obtaining, not just for shower doors but glass balustrades, glass handrails, canopies, etc. is both changing and expanding at a rapid rate.
Attached is a recent article on glass balustrades that was sent to me from one of our engineers in Milwaukee. I wonder what you think about the impact of widespread fabrication techniques in glass and how not all suppliers follow the rules laid out in the ASTM and AGMA guidelines.
Click here to see the article – A Tale of Three Cities and Lots of Broken Glass
Again, great article. You should find someone better looking to do the video on the shower door explanation for more “hits” ( hahaha)
Jim Zorn
Excellent research and report.
Nice work and tone.
Well made, well produced and very informative , Mark. Good job.
Hi Jim,
Thanks for reading and writing!
When it comes to railings, no matter how good the glass, the fabrication and the hardware, the glass can still break by
impact and leave a fall hazard. With a filmed or laminated product, this risk is minimized or eliminated.
As for finding someone better looking for the video, you said you were busy!
Thank you for spreading the word about the dangers of glass shower doors, and guiding people to the safest practices.
My mother has drilled this thinking into my head all my life, ever since her friend lost a loved one in a shower door accident.
This friend’s father was taking a shower as usual, but this one time he slipped in the tub. As he fell, he somehow hit the shower door. It shattered, and by the time his wife got to the bathroom, he had bled to death. A horrible loss for his family.
So grateful that you are helping to prevent this from happening to anyone else!
— S.S. in Skokie, Illinois
Thanks Mark,
Too bad I didn’t have this info 20 years ago when my shower door and its replacement shattered! Lol.
Best,
Wendy
Spontaneous failure of toughened glass is common in all sorts of glazing configurations. Break characteristics of this glass type mean that once broken there is a totally integrity failure where all the glass leaves the frame. As a window film company we often work in care homes and hotels fitting anti shatter safety film to shower screens because of this very problem. Although this film will not necessary stop the glass from breaking, it will help to contain the glass and hold it together so that is does not fall on the occupant of the shower.
Fiona, I believe we will be seeing more and more acceptance of retrofitted films used to hold broken glass together. Have we arrived at any acceptance of this strategy by code/trade organizations?
n the UK the safety film we use modifies glass to safe breakage in conformity with EN12600 2b.
Heat soaking for frameless shower enclosures is not highly recommended considering the cost of heatsoaked glass. You could reduce only the occurrence of spontaneous breakage but how about the other factors that will result for glass breakage. (i.e: glass processing defects & installation defects). Safety film could be used but must be applied first prior for the installation of hinges/hardwares & to ensure that the film clamped also by the hinges.
Glass in shower enclosures is governed by product standard EN14428 here in Europe. There is however a loop hole in the EN12150 standard for thermally toughened soda lime silicate glass in that it is only applicable for flat glass and not bent glass. So by making shower enclosures with bent glass you can effectivly bypass the EN12500 – not ideal.
I very much appreciate your information on European standards.
Here in the US I don’t think we have a code-accepted way to add film to annealed glass so that it qualifies as safety glass. Anyone with experience on this, please join in.
Fernando. I agree that heat soaking only filters our NiS inclusions and does nothing for impacts and damages that occur post-tempering and your comment about applying the film to the whole piece of glass is right-on.
Niels, thanks for bringing to our attention the curved glass exclusion. We in the glass industry need to be vigilant for situations where public safety is threatened especially when not addressed by codes and standards.
Dear all, with respect to all mentioned above, first heat soaking is to minimize the percentage of glass breakage due to availability of Ni sulfide in glass but not prevent it which means we can’t guarantee 100 % that this case will not happen. Second, safety film is one way to hold glass during breakage but this depends on glass thickness. Take in your consideration also that you installed that film via self glue with water. Even the detergent used in bath may start to remove the film from the glass surface itself. Client should replace it from time to time which means big cost with time.
Best way is to laminated safety glass 2 X 5mm and professional hardware that can carry the load for that panel so in case of breakage it will stay in its position and will not harm the person who uses it, even kids. In case the client didn’t like the look of 2 glass pane laminated together the weather sealing can be applied as water proofing.
I would add that using Heat Strengthened or fully tempered laminated glass would achieve the optimal results of increased psi strength and anti-shatter properties. Heat Strengthened or even annealed lami would be preferable as the panels will remain more rigid in the event of failure. The added plus is the ability to include decorative inter layers to enhance the appearance of the enclosure.
Try to look in to safety film that is used to hold glass together if it breaks.
Breakage is probably due to toughed glass and that is quite a common problem.
It must be the spontaneous breaking of tempered glass, which is a common sense to many glass manufacturers. To minimize this breakage, the tempered glass must be heat soak tested before release from the factory. But this requires extra cost to do so!
Its got to be the edge of the glass making contact with the fasteners. Perhaps rubber spacer blocks were not installed to maintain clearance between the screws and the glass.
Nice article. You covered almost all of the issues I was contemplating.
One you didn’t discuss, thermal stress, can contribute to the potential for breakage, especially if there was already stress in the fabricated areas.
The old manual or semi-automatic hole drilling can stress the glass by using the wrong type tool, the wrong feed rate and the wrong speed on the drill. The microscopic fissures can cause the glass to break in the quench. Viewing the tempered glass through a polarized lens and you’ll see some of the stressed areas.
The advent of CNC high speed drilling allows controlled to the speeds and feeds. The tools are matched to the fabrication process, and cooled with automatic flooding of the area. The alignment issue also goes away with the more advanced equipment.
For managers that are trying to lessen the probability of breakage, maintaining what they have in place by doing exactly what you advised. A reasonable and prudent manager, that had multiple incidents, would call an expert.
These days, it seems that there are far fewer tempered glass door fabricators that fabricate manually. There may be those facilities that allow the glazier to fabricate his own glass, for tempered only orders, but many are pricing the service higher to discourage the practice.
Spontaneous breaking of tempered glass, is quit common put tension it into any thing releasing it can be quit interesting. I agree to minimize this breakage, the tempered glass can be heat soak and tested at the factory before installation. This brings the risk of breakage way down. As heat soaking become more popular the cost will come down but all quality has a cost!
I disagree with the assertion that spontaneous breakage is quite common. The term “spontaneous breakage” is misleading. Many of the instances of “spontaneous breakage” are in actuality delayed breakage from stress. Those stresses can be created by any of the issues Mark outlined in his article. Although nickel sulphide contamination does occur, the float facilities are very conscientious of the issues and take precautions to eliminate the contamination.
Well, I found the articles at last and it was a nice job, Mark!! I ‘d like to add one more comment on spontaneous breaking: not only can NiS stone cause breaking but other stones, like Silicon or Sapphire, do the same. I collected many butterfly particles over last decade and only 1/3 of them were identified NiS, the rest were Silicon or Al2O3 stuff. My conclusion is any impurity formed in hard stones in tension zones with diameter over 200 microns are most likely to cause glass to spontaneously break during service, in addition to mechanical edge damages. It is not difficult to tell the difference between spontaneous breakage caused by embedded stones and mechanical breaking caused by imapct, before disposal of broken glass
Todd we process 30,000 units a week and for what ever reason mostly material impurities some processing batch problems “spontaneous breakage” is quite common 5 % to 6% is common to us! Some manufacturers are having a lot more problems with new product than is commonly known. Heat soaking reduces breakage in the field,
Mike 5-6% is a lot of breakage. Are you catching it in the heat soaking? The additional cost to heat soak test would be even higher if it caused a loss of 5-6% of production. That is interesting. Spontaneous implies there is no cause for the breakage, where as the proximate cause of the breakage is seemingly defined by impurities. Which float producer is the worst offender?
This is a very interesting article, and definitely helps us on the installation end to make sure we are doing everything we can to limit breakage. Knock on wood, but we have very little, and I agree with Todd in that we see very little “spontaneous breakage”. Usually somebody did something they weren’t supposed to! Mark, I’d like to add a page to my website referencing this information if that would be okay with you?
Todd yes it is seemingly defined by impurities. Which float producer I will let you know privately as we still have to use them we do get 80% credit. And 30-20 higher end heat soak.
Hi everyone,
Was out of town on assignment and too busy to check this thread but now I am back and gratified to see so much interest and activity on this topic. Thank you for sharing your experiences!
Some responses to individuals:
Denise, thanks for your comments and feel free to link to the article from your website. This goes for anyone else who wants to link.
Mike and Todd, being in the UK and Bermuda respectively, are you seeing variations in float glass purity based on country of origin? Any general comments on which countries are better and worse? (I hope this question is not considered offensive to some readers, and I apologize in advance if it is.)
Jianjun, thanks very much for pointing out the other types of glass impurities. I had to dig deep to find a study on silicon inclusions and this is the first time I have heard about sapphire.If you have pictures of breakage patterns of these, I would be very happy to post them at the article with credit to you.
I have been in the glass industry since 1967 and have never seen spontaneous breakage of toughened glass. I have seen a very few breakages from inclusions but most breakages I have seen have been caused by ‘external’ factors. Bad handling, poor edgework, glass to metal contact etc etc.
Good quality float glass has a low incidence of inclusions and I would worry if I was getting 5% ‘spontaneous’ breakage from my production.
Mark I am a project manager in Bermuda. I have seen no “spontaneous breakage” since I’ve been in Bermuda. My previous experience, we were losing glass in the quench, but not all because of float impurities. We tempered float from almost all of the melters.
I have purchased tempered glass from Columbia, China and other countries over the years. There is no discernible difference in the quality of the shower door products. Last year I did ESPN’s Superbowl portable soundstage. The 1/2″ tempered lites were roughly 60″ x 132″. I chose to buy the glass from Columbia, SA. The quality was excellent.
I had a conversation with Rischer Hall about “spontaneous breakage” some years ago. He felt the occurrence was very rare. His idea “something was the proximate cause of the stress that eventually made the glass break”. He sited the damage done by a bird in flight, the bird hits the glass, falls to the ground and a cat takes the bird. The glass breaks and falls to the ground. There is no apparent cause – must be spontaneous breakage.
Mark, I read your article and find it an excellent description of the glass and it’s properties and issues. I have one question. You mention that the glass is 1300ºF. In my business I kilncast 10mm glass to give it a decorative texture. I then take it to a tempering factory for tempering. I have had the good fortune to observe the tempering line at work. When the glass exits the heating chamber, there is an overhead optical pyrometer that reads the temperature of the traveling glass. It reads 600ºC (1112ºF). From my testing, I know that float glass begins to change shape at 1100ºF. So this temperature makes a great deal of sense to me. It is just soft enough to begin to change. The temperature nuances are critical to my understanding of how the glass works. I get it that that temperature is not critical to understanding the process.
I have been experimenting re-fusing broken tempered glass, to make art objects. This glass behaves strangely to me. There seem to be quite a bit more internal stresses in it than when working with sheet glasses.
I disagree with Chris Hogg, it’s know by nickel sulphide inclusion leads to spontaneous breakage of toughened glass and glass industry calculate with 7%. I have seen it in façades, sport centres (during the night without any reason of stress). That’s the reason Europe has in its EN norms the heat soak test as standard, which is a semblance security, because 3% breaks spontaneous still. Balcony and roof glazing I would always go for laminated and depending of stress load chosen for heat strengthened of full tempered glass use. why not for showers, most for the obvious reason is money, single tempered is much more cheaper the laminated-tempered, but more save, also by any breakage for personal injury.
What is a reasonable amount of protection from injury? The end user, the developer/hotel owner has to decide what the acceptable risk should be. The use of monolithic tempered in showers seems to meet the expectations of the general public. If the injuries sustained became problematic, the economic impact on the hotels would cause the issue to be addressed.
The seemingly “spontaneous” failures “at night”, “no-one around”, “un-occupied rooms” may all be delayed reactions to earlier mishandling of the glass. see the article linked below:
http://www.usglassmag.com/USGlass/2008/June/CrackedUp.htm
How exactly is a heat soak test conducted?
We know that microstarts on the edge, from wheel cutting, or caused by drilling or sawing defects can cause the glass to fail in the quench. Do these flaws show up as possible causes for spontaneous destruction, or only at the quench?
Bert I think that some of the stresses that the cutting, drilling, sawing, etc. create can survive the quench process. Overtime the glass may be subjected to additional stress that literally pushes it to the breaking point. It may seem “spontaneous”, but the failure might really the result of the initial stress.
Here is a link to Guardian’s Heat Soak Testing description:
http://www.eu.en.sunguardglass.com/SpecificationsResources/TechnicalLibrary/TechnicalInformation/gi_010765
Interesting to note, both the article form USGlass and Guardian’s site state the HST is not 100%.
You might think of heat soaking as an accelerated aging test where destruction indicates failure. It will do a reasonable job of filtering out initial flaws, including inclusions but it is powerless to address events that occur in the future.
With products, such as shower doors and balcony railings, that function in a dynamic environment, especially with edges exposed, I don’t think we will see a time where a form of lamination will not be needed to hold the pieces together for safety.
If any of the variations of lamination are used, it would then probably be the most cost effective solution to forego the heat soaking in favor of the lamination.
Mark, if I am reading your comment above correctly, I think the popularity of exposed edge designs will limit the use of laminated products. The exposure of the interlayers to the environment set-up potential delimitation issues. The fabrication of the component tempered lites can create alignment problems during the laminating process. Not to mention the price difference.
Its a question of semantics. If Nickel Sulphide or any other inclusion creates the breakage
then it is not spontaneous.
I have also seen toughened glass broken in strange circumstances but not always found the
‘butterfly’.
Whilst Heat Soaking has an EN Standard its is not mandatory. It is also worth mentioning that the thicker the glass the greater the post installation problem risk. Inclusions in thinner glass more often than not cause breakage in the toughening process.
I agree with Paul on using laminated Heat Strengthened to give a slightly stronger composite glass but I believe that impact loads, preventing water ingress, weight and overall thickness are just as problematical as cost.
I think this comment from Todd is right on target
Hi Todd and Chris,
Our industry has a known problem with edge delamination when laminated glass is exposed to moisture and weather. Yet we see a trend toward more exposed edge designs.
This says to me that we need to develop laminated processes that are more weather resistant.
Does anyone out there have experience with any laminated or applied-film processes that are weather resistant?
What about edge deleting the PVB and filling the space at the edge with silicone?
Mark the lay-up of the sandwich doesn’t really allow the edge deletion of the p.v.b. If the p.v.b. doesn’t get good adhesion as it pass throughout he pinch rollers there can be delimitation issues. Also, silicone is not a good sealant for stopping water vapor. I recall there being a compatibility issue with p.v.b. and silicone as well. There are different types of interlayers, even different p.v.b’s. There are also different types of silicone. Serious compatibility issues could be avoided by some compatibility testing.
http://www.aisglass.com/laminated-glass/AIS-82.pdf
Hi Mark
I have never been involved with sealing the edges of a laminated product with PVB, EVA or lonoplast interlayers but know it is being done.
However, Todd is correct in that there are definitely compatibility problems with some silicones and PVB as have personal experience of that in glazing situations.
Other materials are involved in the sealing and I seem to recall mention of a butyl edge sealant being used, perhaps in Germany, but I’m not sure.
I assume that the interlayer manufacturers must have some knowledge as I understand that edge seal is not uncommon in specialist automotive applications.
Mark,
The Sentry Glas laminates seem to perform well in the exposed edge aspect, maybe worth looking at?
We have found them to perform quite well in the testing environment and I have not witnessed any silicone migration issues that tend to plaque the PVB products.
Hey Bill. The SGP product may be an alternative with less drawbacks, except for the cost differential between it and monolithic tempered. Again, the reasonable and prudent level of protection, will guide the decision maker. (Limiting the discussion to interior bath enclosures with high humidity and hotel, or multi-family housing.)
Mark -the use of glass shower doors in hotels has been around for years. The installation is all about price, many contractors have adopted out sourcing from regions that have less demands on regulations. This is causing an influx of Nickel sulfide inclusions in glass leading to spontaneous breakage.
Heat soaking is the test of choice to find such issues.
In the US and Canada companies are also adopting a manufacturing process where they fabricate glass after it is tempered. We are seeing a lot of this and it is an issue. This is an issue that is also causing spontaneous breakage.
Hardware, there is a lot of hardware on the market. That is not well designed, and when the hinge is not installed properly the glass will release from its mounting.
SGP is a solution however the look and expense will cause people to move from this solution. Safety films in a shower application will not last . Silicone is not recomend to be used with PVB .
Thank you so much for this article. A panel in my children’s bath/shower did this yesterday and I am so thankful that I didn’t get around to giving them a bath yesterday morning!! We had not even touched the door for at least 2 days as we hadn’t been home. Nobody was even on the same floor as that bathroom when it happened. I believe that a bus may have driven by just prior, we get quite a bit of vibration from traffic behind the house.
My concerns are now that the others in our home may shatter as well; they are all from the same mfr and presumably all installed by the same person. Can you recommend an aftermarket film to help minimize this? I will likely tear out the whole enclosure in the kids bathroom, I would much prefer a shower curtain for them knowing this now. I never noticed and cracks, no looseness on its track, nothing before it happened.
Thank you for bringing attention to this issue.
As a result of its safety and strength, tempered glass is used in a variety of demanding applications, including passenger vehicle windows, shower doors, architectural glass doors and tables, refrigerator trays, as a component of bulletproof glass , for diving masks , and various types of plates and cookware. In the United States, federal safety laws require that window glass be tempered if each of the following criteria are met: sill height within 18 in (0.457 m) of the floor, top edge greater than 36 in (0.914 m) from the floor, area greater than 9 ft² (0.836 m²), and horizontal distance to nearest walking surface of less than 36 in (0.914 m).
This is a tempered glass problem, so it involves various door manufacturers and the ages of glass. If this happens to you, call the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the door manufacturer.
Due to the recession, I finally have time to tackle things around my own house, so after three years, I’m finally finishing the upstairs bathroom. To save money, I’ve opted to install my own shower door. I bought a frameless, 3/8″ shower door that’s pivot mounted. I have to drill three holes in the bottom of the door in order to accept the baseplate. I’ve always thought you couldn’t drill through tempered glass without it breaking into a million pieces or shattering like car glass. What’s the best technique for this task?
Very informative. Having a frame will less the breakage of glass.
Hi Mark,
Thank you for this blog. My wife and I live in PA and built our house 4 years ago. We had hanging tempered glass shower doors installed. 4 weeks ago, one of my son’s shower doors burst. The cleaner stated he sprayed windex to clean the outside of handprints and the minute he sprayed the door it exploded. His hands and legs were cut up from the breakage. We called the installer and person who sold us the doors. He swore that the cleaner must have banged the doors or slammed the doors. The cost to replace $350. Today, the same cleaner was spraying the glass doors of my other sons bathroom and this bathroom door shattered as well. This time, however, were bigger and heavier doors. He called us and we came home, his hands were bleeding profusely and he was clearly shaken. He told us that he sprayed the outside and the door burst again.
I called the installer again. Of course, what did I get as an explanation? The house must have settled? What??? Then it was the cleaner must have slammed the doors? We have the remaining glass doors in those bathrooms as well as in all of our other bathrooms. I do not know what to do. Should we replace the broken doors? Do remove all of the glass completely? Are there other alternatives?
I have 4 young sons ( 10,9, 6, and 3) The thought of any of them being in the shower or around the shower doors when they explode is very scary to us.
Any help of advice you could offer would be great.
Tony
I have a custom 3 piece glass shower enclosure in the corner of my bathroom, 3/8″ glass. Two of the pieces have chips at the bottom corner where they meet over the bathtub surround. I’m having the smaller of the two pieces replaced as it has some chips at the top and bottom corners. The larger panel that forms the wall of the shower (5′ x 6′) has a chip 1/2″ long on the vertical side of the corner, 1/8″ deep over the beveled edge of the glass. Do you think the panel needs to be replaced also?
What would cause the edge of the glass to be chipped like that? No one has ever used the shower and that portion of the shower is stationary. Is it likely to be caused by installation or maybe someone kicked it while standing on the tub surround to install things on the wall nearby?
I’m concerned about the danger this corner chip might pose to the integrity of the glass structure.
Thanks,
David
Hi Mark, I really learned a lot from your article. I am going to install a glass door or glass screen on my bathtub as part of a remodel. I want to apply a film like you suggested. I have a few questions.
1. What brand of film is best, and where can a homeowner buy it ?
2. Would it help to film both sides or is it best to do the dry side only ?
3. If I doubled the film would that be better ?
4. How do I know when to replace the film.
5. What can I do to increase the life of the film and it’s adhesion.
Thanks for your info in advance.
Hi Archie,
3M has a safety film that should work. Just apply it to the dry side, but make sure to remove all hardware, cover the glass, then re-apply the hardware.
Replace the film when it looks bad. Don’t use abrasives when cleaning.
Best,
M
Hi David,
Without seeing the chip, the 1/2″ one sounds bad and worthy of replacement. The tensile zone of the glass is just 21% in from the surface so if chips are deep, they are just waiting for the right moment to fail. Hopefully nobody will be nearby when that happens. Replace chipped glass or coat it with a safety film.
M
I have never heard of Windex harming glass and I don’t think this situation fits that description.
The glass probably had some concealed flaws. If you don’t want to involve lawyers, have a safety film applied to the dry side of the glass.
M
I just had a shower door explode in my hands yesterday and it was frightening to say the least. I had just told my son to finish up his shower when I noticed that the inner door wasn’t gliding so smoothly. After he finished, toweled off and left the room, I decided to remove the outer door so I could figure out what trouble the inner door was experiencing. As I removed the outdoor I very gently placed it on top of the foam-like bathmat and every so slightly leaned it towards the outer molding of the bathroom window. The instant that the panel made contact with the molding it shattered in both of my hands sending a cloud of dusty at me in the process. It scared the living daylights out of me and everyone else in my house. Fortunately I was uninjured and my eyes closed in just enough time to avoid the dust. This was not the first time I had removed these doors to make adjustments but it was the first time I did it while the glass was still warm when it made contact with a cooler surface (the window molding). I question whether the temperature differential caused this breakage. Had I known about the risk of explosion (under any circumstances) I would have definitely not considered removing the door until the temperature of the door matched the temperature of the room.
Until my kids get older I will not be putting glass doors back on. I will stick with a shower curtain. The only questions I have now are how to remove the track from the tub without damaging it (I’m assuming it was glued on by the previous homeowners’ contractor) and how to safely dispose of the remaining glass door (which I removed after a 90 minute cleanup job. Should I cover the door completely in duct tape (front and back) and then just strike it with a hammer on my garage floor? I’m envisioning rolling it up and tossing it in a heavy duty can liner.
Hi Chris,
Thanks for sharing that harrowing story.
To dispose of the remaining door. lay it down onto a strong, disposable dropcloth. Wrap it in the dropcloth, then whack the glass edge with the claw of a hammer. Then put the entire package in the dumpster.
Hi Mark,
Because of these safety issues with glass, do you know of or see any future trend to using other materials for shower enclosures? Specifically polystyrene? I know that material is often used in the European shower/tub enclosure market, but I can’t find any information on whether PS is/has ever been used in the US for shower doors. Just wondering if you had any experience/knowledge of PS/other materials being used in the US marketplace, any info would be much appreciated!
Hanna
That seems like a good idea to try to make sure that your doors have anti-jump devices to make sure that they don’t fall down. That would be bad. My sliding glass door has gotten some spider cracks going throughout it now. I’d like to get them fixed before it actually shatters. I’ll have to find someone who does glass repair before that happens and look into the anti-jump devices.
Hi Mark,
This was a very useful article. I’ve been looking for a protective film for our floating glass shower enclosure, because my kids tend to whack the glass enclosure with the metal ends of our squeegee. Can you recommend a particular adhesive film we could use? The ones I’ve found say they are inappropriate for showers because of the constant exposure to water.
Thank you!
Sara
Hi Mark, I’m in New Zealand. I’ve had a new glass sliding door installed in the shower – using it for the first time yesterday, finished my shower and started sliding the door open, it exploded and showered me with glass. I have many minor cuts but one bad one on my left hand (which would have been holding the handle) which has required stitching.
The installer and the glass manufacturer are discussing what may have happened, but it does look as though each is going to blame the other, or at least go “it’s a mystery”. I’ve checked all of the fittings and they seem to have rubber intact, and there doesn’t seem to be any way the door could have hit something solid.
Do you think there is any possibility that the glass wasn’t toughened at time of manufacture? This is a large publicly listed company, but mistakes must happen from time to time.
My problem with “it’s a mystery” is that I feel unsafe just having the same product installed again.
Any thoughts?
Cheers, Kerry
If the glass exploded, it was probably tempered. The break was probably due to some type of flaw or chip in the glass.
Hello Mark. Is it possible for a shower glass door to break due to construction vibration?