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How to Prevent Glass Enclosures from Breaking

2 May 2017

Timmothy Mitchelle

Many people have glass enclosures, such as tempered glass shower enclosures, in their homes. Such glass can suddenly shatter into tiny pieces if anything happens to affect its stability. Those tiny pieces can injure whoever was using that glass enclosure at the time it broke. This article discusses some measures that homeowners can take to prevent glass enclosures from breaking.

Be Gentle

You should never slam the door of your glass enclosure when you are closing it. The force that is generated when you slam the door can easily cause the entire glass enclosure to shatter instantly. It is also advisable to use gentle strokes when you are cleaning the enclosure. This will prevent excess force from being applied on a single part of the glass. Unevenly distributed forces can cause the glass to break.

Tighten All Hardware

Glass enclosure hardware, such as door handles, is usually installed inside a rubber grommet. That grommet prevents the metal in the door hardware from making direct contact with the glass. Glass and metal react differently to heat and cold. Direct contact between those materials can therefore cause the glass to shatter. For instance, metal may expand at a higher rate than glass does. The expanding metal can therefore exert a lot of pressure on the glass until the glass shatters. Tightening the hardware ensures that the metal is contained within the grommet so that the glass is protected from breaking.

Buy from Reputable Sources

You should carefully select your supplier of the materials that are used to make your glass enclosure. Careful manufacturers ensure that the glass has no impurities, such as nickel sulphide, that can expand at a different rate as the ambient temperature changes. That different rate of expansion can cause the glass to break (as has already been mentioned).

Similarly, careful artisans make sure that the holes that are drilled in the glass are perfectly aligned from both sides of the glass. Any misalignment can cause stresses to be distributed unevenly as the installed hardware is used. It then becomes a matter of time before the glass breaks. It is therefore important for you to select a manufacturer or supplier who adheres to the strict standards that govern the glass industry so that such defects are avoided.

It is advisable for you to work closely with glass enclosure suppliers once your enclosure has been installed. Those experts will give you tips that will help you to maintain the enclosure without any major challenges, such as stubborn stains.

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