Laminated Glass Skylights

A few days ago, I went to see my cousin in her home in San Diego. Although she had lived in her house for a few years, that was the first time I was able to visit. The house was quite impressive, including features such as laminated glass skylights in the living room. When I commented on her skylights, she told me a pretty scary story from a few months before.

There was a big storm pounding San Diego. The wind was howling and the TV signal had gone out, so my cousin and her husband decided to go to bed early. Despite the thunder and lightning, they had managed to fall asleep, when suddenly they were woken by a loud crash on the roof. Running to the living room, they discovered that a neighbor’s lawn chair had landed on one of the skylights, cracking it. They expected the glass to fall, but they were surprised to see that it didn’t. As they were still in the middle of the storm, no one could safely go up on the roof to remove the lawn chair. There was nothing they could do at the moment, so my cousin and her husband reluctantly went back to bed.

The next morning, my cousin called an emergency glass service. They came right away to inspect the damage, remove the damaged glass, and board up the now-empty window frame. After adjourning to the shop to custom-cut the new glass, they returned to fix the skylight. My cousin mentioned her surprise that no glass had fallen, and the glass technician explained that most skylights are made of laminated glass, which is designed not to break into pieces when hit. Because of its special bonds, laminated glass only cracks but remains intact. My cousin was grateful for this feature. Although big storms are rare in San Diego, my cousin and her family now know that they will stay safe should history repeat itself.

Moving Accident

The other day I was talking to a friend of mine who owns several apartments. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff he has to put up with as a landlord. Just a few weeks ago he had to pay for a glass board-up due to a ridiculous accident caused by his previous tenant.

The tenant, who had already given him a lot of problems, was in the process of moving out with the assistance of two friends. As payment for their help, the tenant had bought them a lunch of pizza and beer, which was not such a bad idea, except that they drank before starting the move and one of the friends had drunk too much. The three of them started trying to move the sofa out through the glass sliding doors, but ran into some problems. What began as a small argument over how to manipulate the sofa, escalated quickly into a big fight. Soon, the drunk friend picked up a chair and lunged toward the other guy. He lost his balance and the chair hit the glass sliding door, shattering it. 

Unhurt, the men continued with the move and left the house. It wasn’t until when the tenant went to drop off the keys that he informed the landlord what had happened. The tenant agreed to pay for damages and the landlord called an emergency glass service to board up the door temporarily. Unfortunately, the incident delayed the following renter from moving in, and my friend the landlord had to prorate the rent for that month.

As of yet, my friend hasn’t received payment from the tenant for the glass board-up and replacement. He was smart enough to document the damage in case he has to take legal action against the tenant, but hopefully it won’t come to that. It seems the moral of the story is: don’t drink and move!