Conservatory Roof Window Spontaneously Shattered!

I was out in the garden at the weekend minding my own business when I heard a loud bang…

Looking around to see what caused it I finally realised the inner pane of one of the conservatory roof panels had just shattered!

Hell of a mess. Probably looks worse than it is as the glass is safety glass. I naively assumed it would be covered under the warranty. The conservatory was installed in the house by the previous owners but we knew the installers name. Called them up. They were less than interested and stated it’s not covered by any warranty and it would be either pay to get it repaired or house insurance claim.

It’s watertight but I guess it needs sorting.

A little surprised I did a little research and yes, it would appear FENSA standard 10 year warranties don’t apply to conservatories.

What are my options?

Time to suck it up and get it repaired? Have another good moan at the company? Bombers / wee in shoes? Social media probably a waste of time the installers facebook page hasn’t been updated since 2016 and has 7 followers!!!

Repair – insurance if the cost is silly.

Presumably double glazed panes? Are they textured (privacy) windows on one side? If so, what side are the textured panels on?

Might be a load of rubbish, but our neighbour had a similar thing on their conservatory & it turned out the panes had been put in with textured glass facing out, when it should have been installed facing inwards. The conservatory people replaced their windows for them.

Might be worth investigating?

Same thing happened to my parents except that it was the external glass on a skylight into the dining room. Safety glass shattered and the weight of all the glass damaged the inner glass layer which also filled up with water as it happened when my parents were on holiday…….the combined weight brought everything down onto an antique dining room table and polished wooden floor, where it sat for 10 days with more rain pouring in through a massive hole in the roof!

That cost a few thousand to put right but did show me that safety glass can just burst at anytime

If you can be arsed, take a good look at the surround.  My parents had this about 4 years after it going in.  Turned out there were a couple of screws sitting proud of the frame and the company fixed it on warranty