Vinyl broke the glass?

[muledalton]

I put 3 layers of oracal 651 white, red and black for a hair dressing place on the front of the store on the inside of the windows. Attached is a picture. Their glass was broken, no one knows how, and the glass person told them the dark colored vinyl caused the glass to break by absorbing too much heat. It's been about a year since I put it on. I'm calling BS on the glassman saying the vinyl caused the break! What do you'll think! Also, the glass faces east so it does not face the late afternoon heat.

 

[graphicimage]

No Way!

 

["Deposit Please"]

Whaaaat ? Your kidding , right ??
Where exactly is the crack?

 

[Kemble]

I would call it BS too. I've heard that the incorrect type of window tint film can cause the glass to explode but not definitely not vinyl. What does window look like? Full shatter? a crack? When did it happen? During the day when ppl were present or over night?

It also depends on the type of glass, if it's insulated glass then no way.

 

[d fleming]

b-s

 

[JR's]

I'm sorry I broke the glass. I could not stand looking at brush scrip. ;-}

just kidding. I say BS

JR.

 

[knifemaker3]

I'd be finding out if the glassman had replaced the glass before you lettered it.

I'm thinking he may have had a little tight fit on his glass install and when the building shifted from normal settling it broke and he's just trying to lay the blame on you.

That or someone broke it cause it sure wasn't from the vinyl.

 

[signcrafters london]

I'm sorry I broke the glass. I could not stand looking at brush scrip. ;-}

just kidding. I say BS

JR.

You beat me to it. I was gonna say the window broke itself to get rid of Brush Script. All Caps would've looked better.

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

now seeing the amount of coverage on teh window i doubt you caused the breakage. but yes vinyl can cause glass to break i have seen multiple proven instances where windows were sheeted out in black and the heat caused the glass to break.

 

[tanneji]

the glassman is stooooopid. is he aware that vinyl is micrometers thin and stretches with any kind of pressure?

 

[dwt]

I also call bull sh!zzle.
That is an old piece of glass that is (1) dry set with no rubber seal, (2) next to a constantly swingin' commercial door that (3) has no structural support where it closes (look at the years of building patchwork to stiffen up the area).

I've worked with glass for 15 years and can tell you that plate glass can be stressed for years and not break. But when it does anything like loud mufflers, heavy vibrations from construction equipment or a drastic rapid change of temp can easily do it.

 

[knifemaker3]

now seeing the amount of coverage on teh window i doubt you caused the breakage. but yes vinyl can cause glass to break i have seen multiple proven instances where windows were sheeted out in black and the heat caused the glass to break.

Dan, please don't take this wrong but HOW? I'd really like to know. Is it from the vinyl expanding and contracting?

Plus, I've always been told to put tape on glass to keep it from breaking. Wouldn't the vinyl act the same?

 

[dwt]

Dark vinyl over a large area will draw too much heat and snap the glass.

 

[knifemaker3]

Dark vinyl over a large area will draw too much heat and snap the glass.

Didn't know that. I'll have to remember that.

So, how does all the window perf keep from busting the glass? Because of the holes?

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

honestly i dont know the science behind it. however, one case that i had to investigate when i sold vinyl was for a new construction of the headquarters for monstermoving.com they had a wall of glass at the front of their building) and all of the windows in the top row were sheeted out in black cast vinyl. all but 2 of the windows broke within a week from being installed in teh summer (28 windows in all) so they were replaced and the vinyl manufacturer informed them that they needed to sheet them out in white. they have been sheeted out in white for over 10yrs now.

i also know that this can happen when you paint a window completely with a dark color under the right conditions.

i have seen it with paint and vinyl iwht my own eyes. just to be clear the only time i have seen this happen is when the window is COMPLETELY sheeted/covered. not just cut lettering like the photo

 

[Kemble]

Dan, please don't take this wrong but HOW? I'd really like to know. Is it from the vinyl expanding and contracting?

Plus, I've always been told to put tape on glass to keep it from breaking. Wouldn't the vinyl act the same?

Sheeting the window with black vinyl is a cheap way to prevent any way of seeing through it. It's cheaper than opaque window film and more opaque than a curtain. The black vinyl will absorb the heat from the sun thus causing the window glass to heat up and expand, thus causing the window to explode if the window frame does not allow for the glass to expand. Like they mentioned above, the amount of coverage that is on that window will no way do such a thing. If I had to guess I'd say about 75%+ could do such a thing, provided like also mentioned above, there are no rubber seals to absorb the expanding glass, but that's just a guess.

The vinyl (or tape) wouldn't do anything to keep it from breaking at all, all it would do is hold the pieces of glass together in case of a full blown shatter.

The proper way (but not most cost efficient) to opaque out a window is to use commercial opaque window film that will "reflect" the heat and not "absorb" it. Vinyl will absorb the heat, not sure if reflective vinyl would or not, but I'm not going to test it =)

 

[Jillbeans]

Never saw it happen with that little of coverage but I have seen it happen.
Is that the before pic?
(Maybe it's for the best that it has to be redone)
Love....Jill

 

[Techman]

Years ago when tinting windows.
We were trained to not dark tint thermo pane type windows.

It used to be that dark tinting a window could cause a breakage.
It is most common when tinting on thermo pane glass. Especially that style where the glass was bonded to the frames. In fact this type window had many breaking problems without the tint applied as well.

That means the glass was given no room to move at all. The tint would heat up the glass and make it expand. There was no room for the extra expansion so the glass would break.
Carry that to modern commercial thermo pane type windows and it seems plausible that black vinyl could cause a breakage.

As for vinyl breaking a regular glass window. I have never observed that happening especially on regular glass as used in store fronts..

 

[bigprinter]

I am a little concerned as we just wrapped all 18 of our front windows in black vinyl (vehicle wrap) and our windows face the West. I am in Arizona, should I be concerned? These are huge windows. 96"Hx50"W. Should we take it down?

 

[btropical.com]

To Code in florida would be to install tempered glass in that window being that it is next to a door . It might have been plate to begin with but now should be tempered . if it went thru 4 seasons of the year already I would guess it was a bird or a vandal . Do not take blame but offer a nice discount for repeat work . Throw glassman under bus what a dumb sh45 bag