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Consuela Banana Hammock

A rude awakening - glass tabletop shattered for no reason?

Consuela Banana Hammock, 4 April, 2009 at 08:48 Posted on Off Topic Posts 0 13

At 6.41am this morning there was an almighty sound of a crash and we were both woken with a start (and I looked at the clock! ?). I immediately assumed our daft cat had knocked something onto the floor somewhere in the house but nothing could have prepared us for what we found. The glass tabletop on our dining room table had shattered into a thousand pieces all over our stripped wooden dining room floor. Glass EVERYWHERE and this weird shattering noise that continued whilst we were clearing it up.

H had put a couple of tomato plants in plastic pots on the table about a week ago and there were a couple of unopened letters on it too but nothing else. One of the metal dining room chairs had been tipped up.

We have no idea what could have caused this to happen. We've rung our Contents Insurance to put in a claim and we've found a company online that make replacement table tops which is fabulous because we don't want a whole new set - we love ours and we just want a bit of glass on the top so we can use it again.

Very odd though. And not a great way to start the weekend!

13 replies

Latest activity by feathers, 4 April, 2009 at 14:21
  • flailing wildly
    flailing wildly ·
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    How very weird? Do you think it was anything to do with changes in temperature - for instance, a cold night and then the glass warming up when the heating came on? (I have no basis in fact for this as I am not scientific in any way, and anyway you'd think these things would be made to withstand changes in temperature, like, er, windows panes ?)

    I guess there must have been some inherent weakness in the table top, but what a pain. Hmmm, I have a glass topped table too, I'll be keeping an eye on it from now on.

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  • hazel
    VIP July 2007
    hazel ·
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    Gosh, how scary ? Could the cat have tipped the chair up into the table?

    You might get a cracking sound if it was toughened glass or somehow kept in place by being slightly under strain. It wasn't in the sun or exposed to heat/cold was it? Very odd.

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  • Consuela Banana Hammock
    Consuela Banana Hammock ·
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    The cat was upstairs and the door between the dining room and the living room was shut.

    I've just checked online and there are a lot of other cases of glass tabletops spontaneously shattering!! ? Unbelievable.

    We'll get a replacement top but we were planning on selling the entire dining set at a future date anyway and I'll be relieved when we do now - sooner rather than later. I won't be choosing glass again - I'll go with good old-fashioned wood.

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  • C
    CremeEgg ·
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    Gosh, how frightening and weird! This once happened to me in my car a few years ago. I was sitting in the front about to drive off and the rear windscreen kind of 'exploded' and shattered. Scared the life out of me and not really sure why/how it happened.

    Hope you get it sorted. Not a nice way to start your weekend!

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  • Consuela Banana Hammock
    Consuela Banana Hammock ·
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    CE - wow that must have been very frightening! I mean we were upstairs and the dining room is directly underneath us but being in the car when the back windscreen went? No thanks!

    We hope the insurance company are OK with our claim and we can move forward. We've got photos, a video (!) and we'll keep some of the larger pieces of glass as evidence. Very annoying though. <midde class moan> No dinner parties for us for a while!! ? <middle class moan>

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  • FizzyLizzy
    Beginner December 2004
    FizzyLizzy ·
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    Not a good way to be woken on a Saturday morning!

    The rear window on our car exploded once and they said it was probably due to a air bubble that had expanded in the sun and the pressure made the whole thing explode. Very scary!

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  • hazel
    VIP July 2007
    hazel ·
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    I'm wondering if the glass was under strain somehow?

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  • Consuela Banana Hammock
    Consuela Banana Hammock ·
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    Absolutely no idea Hazel. It's completely weird. There was nothing on it that "shouldn't" have been - nothing else touching it - no extreme changes of temperature - it's not like it was a patio table outside in the hot sun. We've had it for five years and other than being a bit scratched through use, it was just fine.

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  • M
    Moglie ·
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    This happened to our old double glazed front door. The unit just popped and cracked in the early hours of the morning. There was glass everywhere and it just kind of kept crackling for ages after. The man who fixed it said "it just happens" and there may have been a stress point somewhere. The door was ages old though.

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  • M
    Beginner November 2007
    MarineGirl ·
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    *shuffles in wearing old raincoat, Columbo style*

    May I ask where the tipped up chair was in relation to the table? And if there was an exposed corner of glass anywhere near? MrMG works with glass, and when we were fitting our (glass) worktops he lectured advised me to be very careful not to bump the corner. Apparently even toughened glass that you could hit a hammer on flat on, can shatter if caught on the corner.

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  • Consuela Banana Hammock
    Consuela Banana Hammock ·
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    The tipped up chair was on its back where it had fallen away from the table. It had my favourite jacket draped on the back of it and my dog-walking scarf. The other three chairs were around the table (not touching) with a spare chair in the corner of the room. So as far as we can tell, nothing touching it at all other than the items on it. And as the door was shut, our cat and dog hadn't gone in. WIndows shut so no sudden gust of wind. And we weren't aware of any lorry going past.

    Does that help at all? Loving the disguise MarineGirl!! ?

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  • Rosencrantz
    Rosencrantz ·
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    Was there a pillowcase anywhere in the area? I think you have a ghost.... WwwwoooOOOOooooohhHHHHhhooooo!

    Sorry, couldn't resist ?

    It must have been scary though, I hate anything unexplained like that.

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  • Luthien
    Beginner June 2007
    Luthien ·
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    <Andy69> Was there a pillowcase on the floor by any chance? </Andy69>

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  • feathers
    Beginner January 2007
    feathers ·
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    Snigger to the pillowcases.

    CBH that would freak me out no end. On a positive though, better it happen when no-one (human or animal) was around rather than midst dinner party? Hope it is all sorted soon

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