Just wondering if the balustrade glass in our frontyard was broken into pieces, and the newly-built property is just nearly 2 years old, should I approach the home insurance company or ask the developer/builder to fix it if it comes with warranty?

Is it toughened glass? How did it break?

It's 12mm toughened glass, I don't konw how it broke, but I just found out that there are pieces of glass in front of my house suddenly after an afternoon

Pieces of broken glass

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Ok yep def toughened glass..........I would say it would probably be claimable thru insurance rather than thru the developer/builder. Just because its toughened glass doesnt mean it won't break.

Is it accessable to people walking past? Is it installed in spigots or in a frame? I think there are many factors which could've caused the glass to break that are out of the builders control, esp 2 yrs down the track...

Hi

You could try claiming against the builders insurance, but that would only cover faulty materials or faulty installation.

I would think it would be simpler just to claim on your home insurance, although you will need to pay the excess.

Paul

I think you would struggle to claim against the builders insurance after 2 years as any installation faults would be evident well before now. They will probably refer you to your own insurance company -- if you have one.

I too am curious how it was broken

It's accessable but no one will walk past there due to limited balcony space. It's installed in a frame.

Spoken to the insurance company and they said we can't claim on that if the glass was broken by itself, it's a building defect and we should approach the builder.

But the builder is not willing to replace it as they said the glass is 12mm thick toughened glass and is unlikely to break under normal conditions. As the other glass panels on the balcony and other units are from the same batch and have not shown any sign of damage.

No idea of how it was broken...probably the weather in VIC was too hot recently

Thats strange that its not claimable under your building insurance, I cant see how it differs to a broken window in the house which is claimable by insurance. Def not a building defect - I can understand why the builder is not willing to pay. If its not a huge panel it may cost less to replace than the excess on your insurance....

The broken glass was around 1 sqm though

[quote="alan1237
Spoken to the insurance company and they said we can't claim on that if the glass was broken by itself, it's a building defect and we should approach the builder.

No idea of how it was broken...probably the weather in VIC was too hot recently[/quote]

Who offered the reasoning it was broken by the weather?

That sounds like a typical insurance cop-out and I wouldn't accept it. How do they know it was not accidentally (or deliberately) broken by persons unknown?

Is there an insurance ombudsman? If you are forced to pay for it yourself I would name and shame the insurance company (which I think isn't allowed here, but there are other sites) and change companies

there is no way that has broken due to weather (heat anyway)

my trade is fully frameless glass fencing (12mm toughened to be exact)

really only 3 way that glass has busted....

1. it has been hit by/with something hard
2. it was incorrectly installed (metal on glass, or pressure on glass)
3. it was incorrectly tempered during the manufacturing process....

other than that not possible for it to just "break" if is made to australian standard 2208/1288

Thank you guys for your advice, really appreciated! I thinik dealing with insurance company is the only way right?

I think there's nothing that I can do with the builder/developer side

A couple of years ago a panel of our glass pool fence just shattered on a really hot day. The rubber beading around the glass in the frame was coming away in one spot and I suspect on the hot day the glass and the metal expanded and came into contact resulting in it shattering. I came home to a pile of glass at the base of where the fence should have been.

Anyway a quick call to the building insurer and payment of the $200 excess resulted in it being fixed within a couple of days.

A very current and hot topic... spontaneous fracture of toughened glass...

Likely cause is nickel sulphide (NiS) inclusions... today all glass above 5m and not protected by a balcony must be heat soaked (current in NCC since 2010 & soon to be AS1288) to reduce the potential of spontaneous fracture due to NiS. Spontaneous fracture can occur due to temperature changes causing stress in glass. I doubt if your glass was heat soaked as the standard is just being implemented right now, and few people know about this, including your builder I am sure. Some buildings in Sydney suffered badly and I know of one in Melbourne.

I think your insurance company is right, and your builder is wrong.

Check this out.

http://www.picams.com.au/documents/Toug ... 20heel.pdf

Google sulfide inclusions (US spelling)...

Ed

Ed....total glass nerd...RESPECT!

Nerd? Haha.. No it's just stuff I have to know to do what I do...