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Original poster

Omg shower door just shattered into a million pieces

69 replies

whosthathowsthat · 06/09/2021 17:49

As above really..!

Just finally sat down after running around all day and heard an almighty crack and bang. Ran upstairs to see what it was and the shower door has literally shattered into thousands of tiny pieces but it's all mainly in place.
No idea what caused it?! The kids are out, it's just me in the house.
Thank goodness no one was using it - it's the main bathroom that the kids use 😫
Bloody hell how am I going to explain that to my (difficult) landlord
Anyone had this happen before ??

OP posts:
Ginqueen1 · 06/09/2021 18:44

It happened to us a couple of weeks ago. The bathroom company who supplied our bathroom replaced it free if charge even though it was out of warranty. They said they were just happy that nobody was hurt. It can happen if there is a tiny fault/flaw in the glass at the time of manufacture.

1Rockinghorsefly · 06/09/2021 18:46

Happened to us in the middle of the night. No accident or or anything earlier in the day. In fact it’s barely used. It had a small fixed panel and a hinged one. The hinged one exploded everywhere. It was in really hot weather and the bathroom retains heat. I’m absolutely convinced it was the heat. It’s made be reluctant to replace it for the same thing to happen. Bath, sink, toilet all scratched.

supersuds · 06/09/2021 18:49

Happened to me. I was on the toilet about a foot and a half away and facing it. I was so shocked I didn't react at all. Was installed by previous owner but we contacted manufacturer and they replaced for free. I remember the cubes in my hair.

purplecorkheart · 06/09/2021 18:51

Not that uncommon. I have seen it happened twice. Once in a office building and once in a unit in a shopping centre.

longtompot · 06/09/2021 18:55

@romdowa

I've had this happen to a glass patio table. I was told it was caused by the heat but it frightened the life out of me.
Our glass garden table shattered one winter. We think it was the extreme temperatures on a day that finally did it. Such a shame as it was a nice table. I also shattered a pane of my new greenhouse when a stone flew up whilst I was mowing. I was gutted! It was tempered glass so lots of little chunks and no shards thankfully. Glad we paid the extra.
TeamSpike · 06/09/2021 18:57

This happened to a shower door when I was at work. Old building that used to be a house. I'd just got in with a colleague and heard it. Scared the bejesus out of me! Didn't stay in place either. Shattered all over the floor and shower tray

KineticSand · 06/09/2021 18:57

My dad caused this once by tightening the handle on the glass shower door too tightly.

Also my mate shattered my oven door whilst house sitting, he reckons he just put a chicken in to roast and the glass door shattered!

Also this happened to a glass pan lid years ago when my (different) mate was making a curry.

This thread is making me think it's not uncommon!

Mintjulia · 06/09/2021 19:03

It does happen occasionally. My oven door exploded one night after I'd gone to bed. When I checked with the manufacturer, they reckoned about 200 instances a year in the UK.

Original poster
whosthathowsthat · 06/09/2021 19:04

Wow okay so it happens more often than I realised!

I sent a photo to the landlord explaining and will see what they come back with

OP posts:
LondonWhyEyeMan · 06/09/2021 19:08

This happened in my old job. There was a glass balcony leading to mezzanine, it was a huge public building (library, doctors, police etc all under one roof). It happened overnight and security came in to find the WHOLE floor covered. We watched the cctv and it was quite creepy to see, the cctv has no audio so we just saw the glass explode out of nowhere and shower down

CrimeJunkie01 · 06/09/2021 19:08

This happened to my back door. I was sitting in the living room one night and wondered what the bang was. Went into the kitchen and the back door was still shattering slowly. My son had accidentally hit it the week before, there didn't appear to be any damage and then that happened when the outside temperature changed.

Summerfun54321 · 06/09/2021 19:11

It’s called “nickel sulphide inclusion” and it’s a manufacturing fault with heat treated glass. It’s no one’s fault and the shower screen supplier should supply another.

morepatiencerequired · 06/09/2021 19:12

Happened to me on a home exchange. Thankfully it had happened to a neighbour of theirs as well so it wasn't entirely blamed on me (I hope)...

480Widdio · 06/09/2021 19:16

My patio door did this,got up one morning and one side was shattered! Claimed on house insurance,they didn’t want to pay up either,I argued and they paid eventually.

Notaroadrunner · 06/09/2021 19:17

This happened to our shower twice. The first time I was in the house on my own and was downstairs. Got such a fright and thought there must be someone upstairs. I was shouting up the stairs to come out Grin I eventually got the guts to go up and was shocked at the state of the place. We bought new shower doors to replace the bit that shattered and luckily kept the remaining door as some time later the same thing happened again during the night. Frightened the life out of us as it was in the en suite, but at least I knew what it was then.

MrsWooster · 06/09/2021 19:25

Happened to both my sister’s AND my shower cubicles within a year-both in very hot weather. Annoyingly I hadn’t even moved into the house.

apalledandshocked · 06/09/2021 19:27

Mine did that when I was in it. Glass EVERWHERE. Weirdly I didn't get badly cut when it broke, but did then get cuts on my feet trying to manoeuvre out of the show cubicle/bathroom when every surface was covered in glass (and stupidly I then wrapped a towel that turned out to have glass embedded in it around me but that was very much my stupidity). But it was only little annoying cuts.

PyjamasAndWellies · 06/09/2021 19:33

We get this occasionally where I work, it was explained to me that its most likely a tiny flaw in the glass plus heat. Apparently it can happen to anything made from glass, customer's never seem to believe us though! We always replace whatever is broken.

Duckswaddle · 06/09/2021 19:54

This happened to an old colleague of mine whilst she was actually in the shower; she was covered in tiny little cuts. It does happen sometimes.

Serena1977 · 06/09/2021 20:16

This happened to us in the middle of the night. Curved shower screen. The glass made lots of little grooves and dents in the bath. Absolutely couldn't believe it at the time.

BonnyandPoppy · 06/09/2021 20:22

I was in Schipol airport when one of the glass doors of the passport cubicle things shattered with a really loud bang! Everyone in the queue ducked. I thought someone had fired a gun!

Djifunrsn · 06/09/2021 20:50

My mums oven door shattered like this. Not been used that day, not hot etc. It happens.

userxx · 06/09/2021 21:02

I've had a glass table go boom, absolutely scared the shit out of me. Apparently it happens when the glass has been damaged, it can happen over time then just pops. It's put me right off glass tables.

Namechangenumber23 · 06/09/2021 21:25

I had this with my oven door. Went to take the roast out and it seemed like the glass just disintegrated in slow motion til I was stood in a pool of glass with just the door handle in my hand. Luckily I still had my big boots on because I'd been gardening otherwise I dread to think what state my feel would be in

FedUpAtHomeTroels · 06/09/2021 21:52

It happened to my mothers shower screen too. No one anywhere near it. I've heard of quite a few the same. We removed it all and and put a shower curtain up.