[TomCrowther]

Had to happen on the first clean too! Really strange. Cleaned frames and rinsed, cleaned glass and rinsed. All looked perfect customer very happy. Went on to a big guttering job and got a call on the mobile telling me about the damage so I went back after the gutter job.
The outside pain has cracked in two places, about the width of the brush {gardiners extreme black}. The cracks flow down the pane making a nice vase shape. There is a upvc strip inside the pane running horizontally and the damage starts two inches above this "bar" and then runs down past the bar all the way down the pane.
Thing is, it wasn't damaged before I cleaned because I would have noticed, but it definitely wasn't damaged when i had finished either??
I agreed to sort out the repair but what a pain. 

[david wood]

are you useing hot water?

[TomCrowther]

Nope, it was bloody freezing on Saturday though but all the other windows were fine. I think it must have had a bit of damage before and for whatever reason went ping/crack after I went?

[Halfadaylee]

Thank God I thought you had been working today.
Is it a new build? or new house for you? sometimes the window fitters do not use the plastic spacers correctly and the glass is under tension.
So really warm in the house, freezing outside and a small bump with your brush and away its gone.
There should be no reason why cold water on glass on a cold day should crack it.
Art

[david wood]

never had that happen before wile cleaning but my bedroom window went through last year in the middle of the night and glass went every where that was the inside pain aswell i think they can have weak spots in them

[TomCrowther]

My challenge is to get the new window to match the others. Same bar in the window {its a bevelled shape}. I will ring a local glass company tomorrow for some advice.
After I got the call I wasn't concentrating properly on the pole when cleaning the gutters and knocked the end cap off on a v high victorian "cheshire semi". So had to take my life in my cold hands to fix that too! What a day.

[VSP Home Care]

Not a very good day mate.  You say it was a first clean, are these windows new?  I'm just wondering if there was damage to the unit that has only now run fully across the pain 

Who's fitting the replacement unit, I'd have a good look inside the frame to be sure the rubber blocks are in place.  Glass normally only cracks and runs from the edge in.

If you're fixing it yourself you could try repairing the unit, if there's a Georgian bar or something in there then it's going to cost a few quid.  You could try replacing the outside pain, get some new blades and spend some time trying to remove the broken pain, then pop down the local glass shop and ask them to replace the pain and seal up the unit.

[TomCrowther]

Thanks VSP. I spoke to my local glass company and they advised to board up the windows, bring the broken unit in and let them have a look. The bar may have bleached in the sun, so it's better to use the existing bar otherwise it won't match up so well.
Re the break, he thought it was possibly due to the change in temperature as it was very cold on Saturday. He said they get a lot of similar calls from people who's windows just go pop over the cold snaps. They close on Thursday and can'r guarantee a new one by then and they don'e reopen till Jan 4th  Hey ho, will give the customer the good news. 

[VSP Home Care]

Grab some marine ply then mate and cut it to the same size as the unit, glaze it until the new unit is done.  Should only take them 10mins to repair if you've managed to remove all the hot melt.  Although I guess you might have to remove it from both sheets and replace the spacer bar etc.

Still interested to know how old these windows are and if they were sitting on blocks.

[kevinc]

hi tom,what a bummer :'(looks like your gonna stand the cost of that one,
1,when was the windows replaced?my guess its a newish house,after 2002 the sealed unit would have a low e coating on the inner pane(just to make sure is there any "plugs" anywhere visible on the silver -or other colour bar between the glass?)if so it has argon gas within it-horizontal bar would normally add around £15.00 to the price of a unit-not worth the hassle of splitting them if its hot melt-more than likely the desicant has soak the moister up now  and is not worth saving/not worth re-skinning-go for a new one/georgian bar wise there is only two sizes 18mm & 25mm-if its a newish home the bar is going to be aliminium so won't fade in the sun etc-only the early plastic bars did this(mid 80's)then everyone went to ali/powder coated bars-uv stable as against the plastic ones,

2 chances are the home had the heating on full blast-you came along-cold water on the unit,the edges of the frame are warm compared to the visible area of the glass-warm & cold i guess has caused the glass to vent(there will be an imperfection where the glass has started to vent)

3 best thing to to tom,is get a glazing co to do it for you-less hassle,you can be out earning in that time,

[kevinc]

marine ply has a special glue in it to resist salt water to stop the ply from de-laminating-thats what its for,normal ply or stirling board will suffice for securing a window not subjected to saltwater for long periods,