AUGUST 2018 | 37
Products
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
TOP TIPS ON TACKLING
GLASS BREAKAGES
Phil Brown, European regulatory marketing manager at Pilkington United Kingdom Limited, part of
the NSG Group, offers seven tips on identifying the origins of and solutions to glass breakages.
The work of a glazing in-
staller can sometimes tread into
the realms of a detective. Installers
are often the first point of contact
when a glass breakage occurs,
leading professionals to don the
deerstalker cap and trench coat
to look for clues and find the
culprit.
While the plight of the glass
detective may create less entertain-
ing television than a gritty Amer-
ican crime drama, solving glass
breakages is vital for customers,
clients, and a building’s occupants.
So, what do you need to know to
become a top glass and glazing
sleuth?
1. Get your tools ready:
The glass detective has a bag
of tricks that helps make solving
the mystery easier. Generally, in
addition to appropriate PPE for
construction sites or buildings, a
kit for inspections may include
a laser gauge, coating detector,
tape measure, steel rule, camera,
magnifying lens, compass, feeler
gauge to measure gap widths and
penknife.
2. Interrogate witnesses:
Like any good detective, it pays
to ask lots of questions about
the background to the problem.
Knowledge of activities taking
place in or near to the glass, any
recent unusual events or chang-
es, and remedial or maintenance
work on site can all paint a picture
of what may have happened.
3. Locate the origin:
This is vital, as it will provide
crucial evidence. It’s almost the
equivalent of finding a fingerprint
at the scene of the crime! The
glass should be examined from
both its surface and its edge to
gather as many clues as possible.
A magnifying glass is essential
for examining the glass, both on
the surface and looking through
the edge. The break pattern
should be inspected to hone in on
the failure origin. Following the
branching of the crack will often
lead to the right place.
4. Inspect the
fracture area:
From the surface, the source of
a fracture or breakage in tough-
ened glass can sometimes be
found by identifying the point of
branching - often seen as cat’s
eyes or butterfly wings (two
characteristically shaped pieces of
glass). Keep an eye out for these
cat’s eyes, as they are a tell-tale
sign of the origin. But don’t fall
into the trap of thinking that these
indicate an inclusion in the glass!
The fracture area should be
inspected, searching for rib marks
and hackle lines, which should
lead back to the failure origin.
When looking at the edge around
the fracture, the presence of a
highly polished mirror region can
provide an estimate of the stress
level in the glass at the time of
fracture.
5. Dealing with
toughened glass:
If the glass that has broken is
toughened, then the detective
may be unfortunate in finding
that most of the fragments
have fallen from the frame
and ended up on the floor. In
some instances, if you’re very
unlucky, a cleaner may have
swept them away, along with
all-important evidence. If the
fragments are still present, then
it’s a case of getting down on
your hands and knees to search
for the fragments containing
the origin.
6. Know your causes
of fracture:
There could be a number of
causes of glass fracture, includ-
ing impact damage (deliberate or
accidental), edge damage before
installation (during handling),
poor installation (e.g. tight glazing,
missing setting blocks), poor
design (e.g. insufficient clearances,
structural movement), inclusions
in the glass and thermal break-
age.
7. Know your types
of fracture:
Some fractures are easier to
detect than others. For example,
thermal breaks typically run from,
and are perpendicular to, the
edge of the glass. Others may be
more difficult to identify without
viewing under a microscope in
a laboratory and, if an inclusion
is suspected, may require subse-
quent chemical analysis.
The mysterious case of the glass
breakage is unlikely to become a
Netflix hit any time soon, although
I would happily watch it! Howev-
er, the clued-up glass detective can
help to establish the likely cause
of fracture which can