shower door panel shattered

Pigster_2

Sounds very nasty. If not triggered off by any impact as stated by OP, I wonder if it could have been wrongly installed and the glass left highly stressed, so prone to sudden failure.

skyjumper

just an update.

the builders have plainly denied any wrong fitting and have given details of the original company which did the job (which is around 150 miles from here). told me to contact them directly and get it sorted. they won't have anything to do with it.
I personally think it was not fitted properly and has failed the purpose. Now how do I go about it?

any help really appreciated

poppysarah

Ring CAB and ask them - or the NHBC - if thats who the guarantee is with...

spirit

Sounds like the builder is trying to be Teflon coated - 'not me mate' syndrome.

but it's the same as when you buy faulty goods from a store, you don't go to the manufacturer but the supplier.

It's the builders responsibility.

tyllwyd

I wonder if the door had been scratched at some point, so that when your OH had a shower and hot water went onto the glass it heated up, then as it cooled down again the stress made it shatter. It wouldn't be surprising if the builder had taken delivery of several doors at the same time - I wonder if they were carefully stored before they were installed. If they were left stacked up in a corner somewhere, that might not have done them any good at all.

But if you have only been in the flat for a few months, you can't have used the shower often so I agree, surely it shouldn't have failed so soon unless it was a manufacturing fault or poor handling or installation by the builder.

If you can't get any further with the builder, will your home insurance cover it?

skyjumper

should I be calling up the Building Insurance people or the Content Insurance people. sorry being naive. never had to deal with such a thing before

thanks a lot for everyone who has helped with answers

RetroBob

Nothing to add here other than to say this is awful, I hope your OH is ok.

poppysarah

Start with your house builders guarantee scheme. See what they say. If you don't like it ring CAB and see what they say...

sandraroffey

it must be under some sort of guarantee. maybe the door was twisted on installation and decided to straighten itself out??

things like the shower, bath, toilet, basins etc. (stuff you dont take with you when you move) are covered by the buildings insurance. that includes windows too.

globalds

Unfortunately I can't see you getting too far with this complaint.
Here is a link to Technical note 13 from the CWCT web site.
http://www.cwct.co.uk/publications/tns/short13.pdf

The problem with toughened glass is the breakage paten will not help with any investigation as to the cause.
It may well have been a bad piece of glass.Or it may have been fitted incorrectly. I think generally a badly fitted piece of glass goes sooner rather than later.
I would just replace it with 8mm toughened.
Sorry OP nothing personal but I think you could be wasting your energy ...I don't see what else the Builder could have done.