# Glass Patio Tables



## PosterBoy (Jan 22, 2002)

http://stjohns.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=nf_glasstable_20050706

<blockquote>More people are raising safety concerns about patio tables with tempered-glass tops.
Two months ago, a man from Mount Pearl reported that his patio table had exploded, injuring his one-year-old daughter.
There have been two similar cases in central Newfoundland in the past couple of weeks.
Paula Hayes of Grand Falls-Windsor says thankfully no one was around when her glass patio table exploded into bits, sending glass all over her deck and lawn.
"Which was really good because earlier that day we had all been sitting around it," she said. "My little fellow was putting a puzzle together with his face and eyes [near] the glass."
A similar incident happened to Kris Ivany two weeks ago in Gander.
He was in his basement when he heard a sound like a bomb going off. It was the top of his family's patio table exploding.
Both Hayes and Ivany say more testing is needed for these types of tables before they are sold in stores.
The Canadian Safety Standards Association says it does not certify products such as patio tables.
A spokesperson for the province's Consumer Affairs office says Health Canada is investigating complaints from consumers.
No one from Health Canada could be reached for comment.</blockquote>

Just thought you guys would like to read this. FWIW, I've never had a problem with a glass topped patio table (unless you count one of them getting picked up by a gust of wind and smashed on the patio).


----------



## Carex (Mar 1, 2004)

Strange coincidence? I am in the market for a new patio dining set. I was trying to convince my better half to go with the wooden set as opposed to the very popular glass topped models. Perhaps I should show her this article.


----------



## Mrs. Furley (Sep 1, 2004)

How bizarre. I never much cared for glass top tables anyway.


----------



## Pylonman (Aug 16, 2004)

Something more going on than tempered glass. 
I'd say poor manufacturing from the patio table glass company. 
Tempered glass is use for more than one application, windows, movie production, etc. I've got about 6 sheets of 6' x 6' sitting outside my house for my next deck project. I was told it's OK, just as long you don't hit the edges. Other than that it's quite good.


----------



## PosterBoy (Jan 22, 2002)

I'm assuming that some air bubbles were trapped in the glass or something, and as it expanded it forced the glass to shatter.

Unless someone can explain what else might actually cause something like this.


----------



## Mrs. Furley (Sep 1, 2004)

PosterBoy said:


> Unless someone can explain what else might actually cause something like this.


Aliens.


----------



## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Mrs. F., in the case of the first person, it was stupidity,not aliens. I personally feel that the parent should be charged with endangering the life of a child. The pics in the paper were gruesome. Who in their right mind is going to put a child on top of a table, glass or not???????? However, since many more of the tables have been exploding here in NL, it is becoming a dangerous situation. Many of our local stores that sell these tables are taking them back and refunding the money just to avoid any possible law suit.


----------



## miguelsanchez (Feb 1, 2005)

first question: did they really explode, or just shatter into thousands of itty-bitty pieces like a car window. isn't tempered glass supposed to that for safety reasons? it can be pretty noisy too when glass breaks, leading people to think that it was an "explosion".

second question: could it be due to sudden temperature fluctuations? perhaps the table was sitting in the hot sun all day, and some cold water was poured/spilled on to it?

third question: what was the glass supporting when it broke? was someone leaning on it or putting pressure in the wrong place i.e. near the middle where it may not be very well supported? one lady mentioned that her son had his face near the glass when it broke. could he have triggered it by leaning too hard on it? glass is not ductile like steel so the slightest bending force will cause it to break, especially if a point load, such as the thin edge of a steel support or perhaps a small stone is applied. 

glass is much stronger than most people think. it just doesn't like to be bent, or have a point load applied to it. that's when it shatters.


----------



## Mrs. Furley (Sep 1, 2004)

Dr.G. said:


> Mrs. F., in the case of the first person, it was stupidity,not aliens. I personally feel that the parent should be charged with endangering the life of a child. The pics in the paper were gruesome. Who in their right mind is going to put a child on top of a table, glass or not???????? However, since many more of the tables have been exploding here in NL, it is becoming a dangerous situation. Many of our local stores that sell these tables are taking them back and refunding the money just to avoid any possible law suit.


Dr G, I didn't see any pictures but that is horrible and, yes, stupid. There should be strict penalties for such poor parenting. You have to wonder what is going through someone's mind when they decide to do something like that...

To be honest, I actually only scanned the article and did not see that a one-year-old was injured...I wouldn't have been so flippant with my comments.


----------



## Carex (Mar 1, 2004)

Methinks we have a glass expert amongst us ^^^^

So should I go with the wood? The only drawback is it is likey harder to clean.


----------



## Snapple Quaffer (Sep 2, 2003)

Another thing to consider about glass topped patio tables is the sort of seating used when dining al fresco.

I once knew a family who had a glass topped table and quite heavy ironwork chairs. Pushing a chair in could chip the edge of the glass.

Beware: people who use glass topped tables shouldn't stow thrones.


----------



## PosterBoy (Jan 22, 2002)

Carex said:


> So should I go with the wood? The only drawback is it is likey harder to clean.


Wood is nice, but the cleaning isn't the problem. The weathering is.



Snapple Quaffer said:


> I once knew a family who had a glass topped table and quite heavy ironwork chairs. Pushing a chair in could chip the edge of the glass.


FWIW, every glass topped table I have ever owned has been a glass top inside a metal frame for pretty much that exact reason.


----------



## Tulse (May 26, 2005)

Snapple Quaffer said:


> Beware: people who use glass topped tables shouldn't stow thrones.


Brilliant! Awful, but brilliant.


----------



## Carex (Mar 1, 2004)

It would be no different than the deck I have to restain every year. Just add to my joy and happiness really.


----------



## CN (Sep 3, 2004)

Wouldn't the glass get somewhat scummy from sitting out in rain etc.? Perhaps you are using frosted glass, which wouldn't show it quite as bad, but it still would get kind of dirty.


----------



## anal-log (Feb 22, 2003)

I've also heard of glass shower doors exploding to. There was a recall from one of the door manufactures sometime ago.


----------



## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Mrs.F., it was on the front page of the Telegram, our local paper, and on the local news. The poor child was cut badly. Locally, it is still a hot topic, because it seems to be happening here in NL, both inside and outside of the homes of various people.


----------



## surfwaxer (Jul 9, 2005)

Had this happen a few weeks ago with a table from Canadian Tire. They said they were no longer dealing with the supplier of the table and gave us credit for the amount of the table which was several years old. We wondered why it had happened.


----------



## SoyMac (Apr 16, 2005)

Carex said:


> ...So should I go with the wood? The only drawback is it is likey harder to clean.


I definitely prefer the feel of setting my glass/plate/utensils down on wood rather than glass. 
Wood; "Thud". 
Glass; "BANG".


----------



## Vexel (Jan 30, 2005)

Not to point out the obvious... or sound like an ass.. but did you notice the big rock in the center of the broken glass? Just wondering if that might be probable cause?


----------



## sharkman (Nov 26, 2002)

surfwaxer.

That is definitely what a piece of broken tempered glass looks like. When I was in high school I spent a summer working at the Pilkington Glass plant in Calgary. Great stuff that tempered glass. You could literally take a hammer to the face of a sheet of it and the worst you might do is impart a little scratch. Tap the edge of the sheet ever so slightly however and what you ended up with is what we see in your photo, pea-sized breaks to the whole sheet. The upside being that there will be no shards or huge cutting edges after breaking. The downside being that the entire sheet disintegrates and there's glass everywhere.

Some windshield glass is tempered but also laminated which is what prevents the pieces from going everywhere. (The laminate is also what allows those windshield repair guys to fix stone marks in your windshield. An epoxy type glue is forced under pressure into the stone mark between the laminate where it sets and prevents the break from getting any bigger.)

My guess is that in your case, the glass expanded enough to have one of the edges of the table "pull the trigger" so to speak and shatter the thing. Just a guess.


----------



## jicon (Jan 12, 2005)

PosterBoy said:


> I'm assuming that some air bubbles were trapped in the glass or something, and as it expanded it forced the glass to shatter.
> 
> Unless someone can explain what else might actually cause something like this.


If humans can suddenly combust, whats stopping a table?

Actually, I'm theorizing either a hairline fracture in the glass, combined with heat, or an airbubble caused the break. 

Those tables can get mighty hot during the summer.


----------



## Mrs. Furley (Sep 1, 2004)

I wonder if it's only tables that are enclosed in some sort of frame that this happens to...? Does anyone know if it happens to 'free-floating' glass as well?


----------



## Mrs. Furley (Sep 1, 2004)

Vexel said:


> Not to point out the obvious... or sound like an ass.. but did you notice the big rock in the center of the broken glass? Just wondering if that might be probable cause?


That doesn't look like a rock to me. Looks more like a plastic part of the table.


----------



## surfwaxer (Jul 9, 2005)

Mrs. Furley said:


> That doesn't look like a rock to me. Looks more like a plastic part of the table.


Yeah, that is the plastic piece in the middle that allows you to put an umbrella in. We never did.

Interesting about tapping on the edge rather than in the middle. It was a sunny and windy day when it happened. It could be as sharkman suggests.


----------

