Freak Window Pop or Ghost?

[bcp]

That story reminded me of the Chicken Gun.

Chicken gun - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bruce

 

[MacLawn]

That was one of those double paned window ghosts - they're known for getting trapped inside sometimes. He just wanted out.

 

[MossRoad]

You have any earthquakes lately? Gotta ask as there have been numerous in that county over the last month.

Anyhow, I grew up in a house with 17 floor to ceiling double pane windows. When one cracks, its rarely repairable because it loses the vacuum/gas inside the window and the entire thing usually has to be replaced.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

You have any earthquakes lately? Gotta ask as there have been numerous in that county over the last month.

No earthquakes that I've felt, but this map does show some activity:
403 Forbidden

The house is built on a slab foundation, most of which rests on bedrock (makes for "interesting" landscaping work). No worries about soil https://www.google.com/search?q=liquefaction&spell=1&sa=X&ei=i-eWVJa3NIr2yQT7toKYAw&ved=0CBwQvwUoAAliquefaction, and no obvious signs of cracking in the slab. I also checked the window frame when the repair person had the old window out, and didn't see any warpage or out of square issues. The good news is that they had a replacement pane in stock, so the repair was completed Monday. The bad news is that they were $500+ proud of their work, and with rain coming down and more on the way, they had me over a barrel. It turns out that the only things holding the pane in place were four strips of plastic molding and some double faced tape. I paid close attention during the repair, and if there's a next time I'll do the work myself and save a few bucks. I also contacted the manufacturer, and while the window was still within the 10 year warranty period, glass breakage isn't covered. Not really surprised there, but good to know that the frame and such are covered if any problems develope.

At the end of the day, though, I still don't know why the inner pane of that window broke. I just hope it was a one time fluke, and not the start of a string of failures.

 

[meos1]

No earthquakes that I've felt, but this map does show some activity:
403 Forbidden

most of which rests on bedrock

If the slab is on bedrock on one end you could have a moment of stress occuring due to a lack of support by the soil end when the geography moves. If its a sudden movement the soil end of the slab would act like a card going by a wheel spoke. I would guess that now stress loads have returned to near previous values. Just a guess.

Oh, I did not sleep in a holiday Inn last night, nor am I a structural engineer.