Skylight exploded

Kelsuprise

We recently had a very scary experience. Skylight fitted 1 year ago. Unit from a manufacturer stated it was 2 layer. Toughened glass on outer, laminated glass on inner. Skylight exploded last Tuesday, shattered into thousands of pieces and rained down on us. Just managed to move youngest out of way. Damaged caused: table chipped, laptop broken, chairs chipped, floor damaged. We spent the afternoon sweeping glass up, but it’s everywhere 😪 7 year old stood on some resulting in A&E trip. Manufacturers being very slow in responding, earliest that they could come is next Tues! Glass still dropping from ceiling. Who can I go to? Have gathered prices on stuff to replace but what about floor? What about distress? Can’t use back of house (open plan) as so scared of more glass dropping!Anyone else had anything similar? Any tips?

Aylesbury_Duck

Kelsuprise said:

We recently had a very scary experience. Skylight fitted 1 year ago. Unit from a manufacturer stated it was 2 layer. Toughened glass on outer, laminated glass on inner. Skylight exploded last Tuesday, shattered into thousands of pieces and rained down on us. Just managed to move youngest out of way. Damaged caused: table chipped, laptop broken, chairs chipped, floor damaged. We spent the afternoon sweeping glass up, but it’s everywhere 😪 7 year old stood on some resulting in A&E trip. Manufacturers being very slow in responding, earliest that they could come is next Tues! Glass still dropping from ceiling. Who can I go to? Have gathered prices on stuff to replace but what about floor? What about distress? Can’t use back of house (open plan) as so scared of more glass dropping!Anyone else had anything similar? Any tips?

Insurance.  That's what it's for.  Your insurer should advise on what action you might be able to take against the retailer or manufacturer of the unit.

The manufacturer will want details of who fitted it, and how, to make sure it's a problem with the unit rather than a consequence of poor fitting, or even that it's suitable for that application in the first place. 

There's generally no compensation for distress or worry, so don't go on about that when you speak to the insurer.  Keep it factual and rational.  

TELLIT01

Cover the underside of the skylight with plastic to prevent any more glass falling.  Ideally also cover from the outside to prevent rain ingress.  My guess would be that the glass expanded in the heat and there wasn't enough 'give' in the rubber seals.  Whether that was down to manufacturing tolerance or poor installation may be open to question.  Given the exceptional heat, installation may well have been correct.

I sympathise with the shock.  We had a similar situation a couple of years ago during a storm when a roof tile off our neighbour's roof came through the glass of our conservatory roof.

It will be an insurance claim for the damage to floor and contents.  As others have said, unless you can prove negligence, there is no claim for distress. 

Alderbank

I would be very concerned that the inner pane has scattered fragments as you describe. Any glass can break, but the whole purpose of laminated glass is to contain all the fragments if that does happen. As you say, the outer pane is toughened glass to reduce the risk of breakage from stones etc. but the inner pane should always contain any fragments.

Is the inner pane marked BS EN 14449:2005? I am wondering whether they were fitted the wrong way round?

molerat

Alderbank said:

I would be very concerned that the inner pane has scattered fragments as you describe. Any glass can break, but the whole purpose of laminated glass is to contain all the fragments if that does happen. As you say, the outer pane is toughened glass to reduce the risk of breakage from stones etc. but the inner pane should always contain any fragments.

Is the inner pane marked BS EN 14449:2005? I am wondering whether they were fitted the wrong way round?

^^^ This ^^^^

Has the outer broken as well ?

If not I suspect it could be down to incorrect fitting.

pinkshoes

Kelsuprise said:

We recently had a very scary experience. Skylight fitted 1 year ago. Unit from a manufacturer stated it was 2 layer. Toughened glass on outer, laminated glass on inner. Skylight exploded last Tuesday, shattered into thousands of pieces and rained down on us. Just managed to move youngest out of way. Damaged caused: table chipped, laptop broken, chairs chipped, floor damaged. We spent the afternoon sweeping glass up, but it’s everywhere 😪 7 year old stood on some resulting in A&E trip. Manufacturers being very slow in responding, earliest that they could come is next Tues! Glass still dropping from ceiling. Who can I go to? Have gathered prices on stuff to replace but what about floor? What about distress? Can’t use back of house (open plan) as so scared of more glass dropping!Anyone else had anything similar? Any tips?

Last Tuesday so when it was 38C in most of the UK?

Sounds to me like perhaps it wasn't fitted properly e.g. glass panel not placed in square, or it had a fault within the toughened glass so thermal expansion of glass increased the stress in it causing it to shatter. 

Glass still dropping from ceiling?!?! Then sort it out! If you can't get up a ladder and tape cardboard or a plastic sheet over it, hire someone else to do it! A waterproof sheet on the outside might also help, or is it just one layer that shattered?

You can't claim for distress, as sometimes these things happen, but your house insurance will be able to replace any damaged things, and if the glass manufacturer were at fault they can then claim off their insurance.

mattyprice4004

Make a list of your costs, but ‘distress’ isn’t something you can put a number on - bad things happen, that’s just life unfortunately. 

The fitter / supplier is who you need to chase for this. 

TELLIT01

Alderbank said:

I would be very concerned that the inner pane has scattered fragments as you describe. Any glass can break, but the whole purpose of laminated glass is to contain all the fragments if that does happen. As you say, the outer pane is toughened glass to reduce the risk of breakage from stones etc. but the inner pane should always contain any fragments.

Is the inner pane marked BS EN 14449:2005? I am wondering whether they were fitted the wrong way round?

When the roof tile came through our double glazed conservatory roof, one layer broke into tiny fragments and the other into shards.  The situation was somewhat different to that experienced by the OP as a considerable weight, falling from height, was enough to smash through both layers.