Startling
A cannon shot, a thunderous crash, a racing cat, an avalanche of noise, rushing, slipping, sliding, roused me from my reverie on a cool, quiet morning.
Investigation revealed a shattered panel in the conservatory roof. Many fragments were suspended in the roof blind, many, many thousands more were scattered across the floor, glinting in the pale sunlight. Chairs and sofa were decorated with shards, and house plants large and small held glittering slivers between their leaves like precious gems.
The most dramatic glass-related event happened during our wine-making days. I say ‘our’ days but they were actually Barry’s. The part the rest of us played was limited to collecting ingredients. We spent a happy couple of hours picking dandelions one year. Anyway, we stored the products in demijohns and it was one such vessel that imploded one day. Fortunately, it was empty. Paraphrasing Plato, ‘empty vessels make the most noise’ and this one certainly proved the truth of that.
We are now busily collecting quotations from glaziers as well as discovering that broken glass gets absolutely everywhere. Glass is like liquid – it spreads far beyond its landing place, to be discovered at later intervals in unexpected places.
It seems that every time we think we have finished clearing up we turn around and spot more – it’s worse than pine needles at Christmas!
What a shame the lovely conservatory had its roof ruined. I hope nobody was in there at the time and that it was soon repaired.
ReplyDeleteIf I had a conservatory, I would sit there all summer.
We do enjoy our conservatory. It's almost like having the garden indoors. However, until it's repaired - soon, I hope - we shall not be using it.
DeleteI'd be so nervous to sit there again! You are right about glass being found in far-off places after breakage. It's amazing how far it can travel. I hope no further windows suffer the same fate.
ReplyDeleteThe uncertainty is a little unnerving but I'm sure we shall soon get over that.
DeleteGoodness, what a shock!
ReplyDeleteOne of those events where you stand and look and wonder just where to begin clearing up!
Good luck with finding all those bits and hope you are able to get a new roof soon just in case.
Replacing the pane is going to be a lot more expensive than we anticipated. Still, that's what insurance is for!
DeleteOh, no. That could have been an absolute disaster. Thank goodness no one was hurt but I guess it is no bare feet in there for the foreseeable future. xx
ReplyDeleteWe shan't be using the conservatory again until the glass is replaced. There are still fragments in the frame, so there will be more glass to fall when it's removed. Then we can really tidy up in there. x x
DeleteOh Dear! I would be very wary of sitting in there after that. Here in Australia a few years ago there were incidents of glass topped tables suddenly "blowing up" like that, several children were hurt but not seriously. Investigations revealed they had all been made in China so perhaps their glass making process isn't what it should be. I hope your conservatory can be easily fixed at not too much cost.
ReplyDeleteIt's a rare event. The glass is from a reputable company - Pilkington - and the replacement will be covered by insurance. No doubt we shall be able to relax in there again one day.
DeleteSometimes dreams are better not to become true ! Fortunately the four legged and two legged were not hurt, but what a shock ! Probably you will have to replace the whole roof with bullet proofed glass ! I supposed nobody goes in there anymore ! Glass is so dangerous for little paws.
ReplyDeleteWe shan't replace the whole roof, just the broken pane. We shan't use it again until it's repaired and the animals aren't going in there.
ReplyDeleteNot only does it spread, but there is so much of it, much like dropping a pint of milk, i would have to lock one of my cats out as she is so noisey and would try to check it all out.
ReplyDeleteWe are followed everywhere by our dogs and cats so clearing up is quite a game as they so want to be involved!
ReplyDeleteI wonder what on earth caused that to happen? Recent temperature conditions? A fault in the production? Whatever it was, it sounds pretty frightening to think that others may go the same way.
ReplyDeleteWe replaced the original glass roof with self-cleaning Pilkington glass about 14 years ago. There's no knowing what caused the collapse and it may never happen again.
ReplyDeletePilkington glass was a standard here for many years. We don't see it now. Why did your event happen? Recent English weather has been warm and even. i think it must be defective glass or badly fitted glass that had a pressure point to break it.
ReplyDeleteNickel sulphide inclusions. thermal stress and poor fitting are all possibilities. (I can see another blog post coming!!)
DeleteI can understand how grateful you are that no living being was under that downpour of shattered glass. I had not heard of glass doing this and am amazed. And the luck of top layer being fine as you then got rain. Good luck with the replacement.
ReplyDeleteIt's said to be rare - aren't we lucky?:-)
DeleteThere must be some interesting and unexplained energy lurking around your place for so much exploding glass to plague your life. My mother had regular experience of exploding glass plates in her cupboard, but I get the impression that you and my Mum are rarities; most of us never experience exploding glass unless we drop the pyrex jug on the marble floor in the Greek apartment. (A whole different collision of energies.)
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, we've done the Pyrex jug thing, too.
DeleteOh! Dear! Not good.....Why does it happen....?
ReplyDeleteSpontaneous breakage of tempered glass is most
commonly caused by chipped or nicked edges
during installation, stress caused by binding in the
frame, internal defects such as nickel sulfide inclusions,
thermal stresses in the glass, and inadequate thickness
to resist high wind loads....
However, high heat (>300°F) and excessive thermal
variations can cause glass to shatter or break...
And of course glass is a poor thermal conductor.....
☆¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆ ★ ☆¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆
Not good and I shall include all your information in the blog post I'm about to write, simply to try and understand it.
DeleteOh boy, the clearing up - what a pain for you ( sorry no pun intended)
ReplyDeleteWe've had a couple of incidents of glass spontaneously imploding - in fact I mentioned it on Angela 's blog comments the other day :-D
Alison in Wales x
Ha ha - I liked the unintentional pun.
DeleteOh my goodness! I once dropped a cheese dome and was still finding tiny shards of glass one year later. I can't even imagine the amount of clearing up in your particular case! Still, I'm glad you all escaped unscathed! xxx
ReplyDeleteIt will all get done in the fullness of time. I would be less pragmatic about it if we had small children around!
ReplyDelete