Vinyl cracking window?

[Robert Lambie]

two cracks on one window or one on two?
could someone in the shop not have dropped/banged something against it?

[Nicola McIntosh]

how olds the building andy?

if its an old one….ive heard of problems with cracking cause of older glass 😕

nik

[Andy Gorman]

Two different windows in the same room. Another room with another two windows is fine. There are radiators under the windows but they are a good 3 feet away from the vinyl. Do you think the glass may be too tight and the heat from the radiator is being absorbed a bit by the vinyl? The room where it hasn’t happened has no radiators.

The thing is, he is a good bloke and has no problem with me because of it, but he wants it redoing in blue now anyway. Surely it will just happen again.

Nik, they are fairly new windows, PVC double glazing.

[Kevin Flowers]

Andy
the only time i’ve heard of this is using a dark vinyl (flood coated) on a window and in an area where the window is going to expand & contract on a regular basis. The main reason being dark window in direct sunlight absorbing a lot more heat due to the applied dark vinyl. Double glazing can be worse because the inner & outer glass moves at different rates. A few words should not be able to cause cracks. Other reasons can be tight fitting glass in the frame, if it was one window then maybe a chip in the glass edge. On the two windows is there any relation to the cracks & the vinyl on both windows

Kev

[Neil Churchman]

Andy,

Just a long shot here……….

If the vinyl used is calendered could it be possible that it’s trying to shrink in the heat, while the glass is trying to expand, which it would do most in it’s longest direction. If this were the case, you may have two opposing forces and perhaps if it were to crack, it would be running parallel with the vinyl strip? 🙄

[John Harding]

Andy

Here’s a link you may have seen on another of my posts, it may help solve if your vinyl was a factor

http://www.iwfa.com/iwfa/member_service … l#Breakage

John

[Andy Gorman]

I thought I would bump this thread before I make a final decision as to whether I re-do this job or not.

The vinyl I used was calendered. I reckon I had put a bit of stress into the vinyl, as I applied it over a Georgian bar and then worked it back a bit…..let’s just say there probably was some stress/stretch in it.

Now I would like some opinions. If I go to a cast vinyl, and ensure I apply it without any stress/stretch, do you think I would lessen the chances of this happening again? I don’t think heat was the cause, but shrinking back of the vinyl may have happened. What is really worrying me is that the customer wants further graphics doing onto some single glazed curved windows. We are talking a grand a pane to replace the glass if it breaks!

Blimey, 20 years sticking vinyl to glass without a hitch and now I’ve lost all confidence.

[John Harding]

maybe also going over the Georgian bar was a problem, different materials different expansion rates and possible stress caused to the vinyl is my guess, if you need to do this the same way again I would at least run a knife down the join.

As for the window costs I would want it as clients accepts all risks in writing

Good luck M8 – John

[Andy Gorman]

Sorry, I did cut and remove from the bar. When I went over the bar, the vinyl was squeegeed back towards it and then trimmed. Obviously this put a bit of stretch into the vinyl, which will have tried to shrink back a bit.

I shall offer to do all I can to minimise the chances of it happening again, like using cast vinyl, and let the customer decide. He’s a good bloke and has accepted that these things happen sometimes, thank goodness.

[Neil Churchman]

Andy,

I’ve frosted some pretty large windows before and just used the basic calendered vinyl and it’s been OK as far as I know (no law suites in the mail yet), although after your experience I would seriously consider using cast vinyl, the additional cost of the vinyl would help me sleep better at night 🙂

[luke bremner]

Iv stuck alot of vinyl on glass and have only cracked it because a put a grill back over a door and a screw went into the glass in the reses and i used abit of heat on one window and it cracked. I think there would be more to do with the fitting of the glass then the vinyl, i would think no mater what vinyl you use the glass is bigger and would have more strength to move. Vinyl is only couple thou wide so very flexable. I fitted vinyl to a baymaree in my second year of my aprenticeship they are very hot and after couple of days it fell off. I once was watching a domestick out side my my house in essex, a lady was hitting a double glased window with a steel bar and it took her forever to smash it, it was just bouncing off.

[Gareth.Lewis]

I arrived home one day to find a glass panel in my upvc windows cracked. I immediately thought someone had been trying to get in. I rang a local upvc window supplier who told me that if the glass hadn’t been fitted within the pvc frames properly then the glass could crack if it had no room to expand etc.
This may have been the reason for your customer’s glass cracking and not the vinyl at all.
It’s always difficult when something happens to something that has been altered in some way, it always looks like it is the alteration that is the cause, but this is not always the case.

[Martin Pearson]

Andy, I am inclined to agree with Garath, you have been applying vinyl to windows for a long time without any problems (so have a lot of other members) so why do you suddenly have a problem with these two windows?
Has the customer looked at any other possible reasons for this to happen? It may not be down to the vinyl at all and possibly a result of a badly fitted or manufactured double glazing unit, movement of the building etc.
I can understand your concerns but I think a bit more investigation might be wise before you put it down to the vinyl.

[Karl.Tipping]

Hi all
We had a problem of a similar nature, very large windows at a theatre using some matt vinyl, we have done the windows for many years never having a problem and then in a two month space 4 windows had to be replaced as they cracked.
We never got to the bottom of the problem but Lucky never got the blame either.
Very strange indeed