Showerthought: I think we're too quick to blame the glass when a seal fails

Had a 72-inch insulated unit in a Denver condo fail after just 18 months, and the homeowner swore it was a bad lite. I pulled it and the whole spacer system was corroded from what looked like a bad edge prep job before it even got to us. Am I wrong for thinking the fabricator should share more of the blame on these things?

3 comments

3 Comments

hill.hugo2mo ago

Man, how many times have we been the last stop on the blame train? I once spent a whole day arguing with a supplier over a failed unit, only to find a tiny piece of the spacer looked like it went through a salt bath. Felt like a real detective, but also a total chump for not spotting it sooner lol. That kind of corrosion doesn't just happen on the truck ride over.

mason.julia3mo ago

Yeah, when you said the whole spacer was corroded from bad edge prep, that's the whole story right there. I mean, that's a factory floor problem, not an install problem. The fabricator absolutely should own that. It's wild to put that all on the glass itself when the work before sealing it up was done poorly. Maybe it's just me, but they always try to pass the buck down the line.

rubyreed3mo ago

Wait, the spacer itself was corroded? That's not just a bad seal, that's a total material failure from the start. They basically built the problem right into the unit before it ever left the shop. How does that even get past quality control?