For one irrational moment, I wondered if we’d fallen prey to paranormal activity.
Fast asleep in bed last Tuesday evening, my husband and I were awoken by an almighty noise, almost like a thunderstorm, coming from our en suite bathroom, followed by a huge crash.
When we opened the door we could barely believe our eyes. The large screen of glass on the left side of the double walk-in shower had shattered, leaving the floor covered in thousands of chunks and dust-like grains.
Around half the screen clung precariously to the chrome strip holding it to the wall, yet all of it was shattered.
Once the initial shock wore off, I was thankful no one had been in the bathroom at the time. But we couldn’t fathom what had caused the glass to spontaneously explode.
It was only a few years old, with no cracks, the underfloor heating wasn’t hot enough to cause thermal issues that might put pressure on the glass and we’d harldy had an earthquake.
Sadie Nicholas’s bathroom after the glass screen of her shower dramatically shattered in the middle of the night
Sadie Nicholas was told by her plumber that sizeable dividers such as hers often disintegrate despite no cracks being visible
But when I rang our plumber the next day, far from being surprised, he told us he’d seen this happen many times.
Similarly when I relayed the incident to friends, while some were baffled, to others it was old news. ‘Exactly the same thing happened to my friend in the middle of the night,’ exclaimed one, adding that she ‘feels nervous every time I’ve cleaned my own shower since’. Horrifyingly, a fellow school mum told me it happened while one of her children was in the shower.
Meanwhile, glazing specialist MeandMyGlass.co.uk told homeowners last year to monitor their shower screens after a spate of explosions.
So what is the cause of these accidents, how do you know if your shower is at risk – and what can you do to prevent it?
David Palmer, a technical consultant at the Glass and Glazing Federation (ggf.org.uk), explains: ‘Thankfully the vast majority of flat glass used in our homes is designed with safety in mind. Shower screens are a prime example, where the glass panes must be either toughened or laminated to provide resistance in the event of impact, and protection if the glass shatters as it’s engineered to disintegrate into small, relatively blunt fragments to limit injuries.
‘Ultimately, it always comes back to the glass being subjected to stress beyond the capacity it’s been designed to withstand. It could be caused by wear to the rubber, silicone or nylon fittings attached to the pane of glass which weakens their support and makes it susceptible to shattering, for example, if it’s bashed with a vacuum cleaner or similar.
‘The nature of toughened glass is that you won’t just get a little crack in it. If it becomes excessively stressed, it will shatter.’
When MeandMyGlass.co.uk issued their warning, they cited possible causes as everything from poor installation to vigorous cleaning that puts stress on the pane. ‘The most common reason is imperfections that arise during tempering. Although rare, over time these imperfections place a lot of stress on the glass, eventually leading it to shatter,’ they warned.
They recommend regular inspections for damage and replacing or repairing it immediately should you see any.
The weakest points of toughened glass are the corners, so rounded ones are often used to minimise weak points. You can also add safety film to prevent shattering.
Whatever the cause of our exploding shower, I’d rather spend £1,200 on flights to somewhere sunny than on a replacement piece of glass and the labour to fit it…