Episode Details

You're standing by your pool on a perfect summer day when you notice it: a thin crack running through your glass fence panel. Your stomach drops. Is it dangerous? Will the whole thing shatter? Should you call someone right now, or can it wait until Monday? Here's the truth most pool owners don't realize until it's too late: that small crack you're looking at isn't just a cosmetic issue you can ignore. Tempered glass, the material used in every pool fence in Australia, loses its structural integrity the moment any part of its surface gets damaged. What looks like a hairline crack today could become a complete panel failure tomorrow, leaving sharp glass everywhere and your pool area completely unsecured. So what do you actually do when you discover a crack? First, stop touching the panel. Don't try to inspect it up close, don't let kids near it, and definitely don't attempt any DIY fixes with tape or glue. Tempered glass is under enormous internal tension, and even minor additional stress can cause the entire panel to explode into thousands of tiny pieces. Yes, those pieces are designed to be less sharp than regular glass, but they still create a massive safety hazard and leave your pool barrier wide open. Your immediate priority is keeping people away from the damaged section. If the crack is near your gate or main walking path, block off that area completely until repairs happen. Move any furniture or equipment that could accidentally bump into the compromised panel. Then grab your phone and contact a professional glazier who specializes in pool fencing—not just any glass repair company, but someone who understands Australian pool safety standards and works with tempered glass regularly. While you're waiting for the professionals to arrive, take photos of the damage from multiple angles. Document everything because you'll need this for insurance claims and to help the glazier assess what happened. Try to figure out what caused the crack in the first place. Did someone throw a toy? Did a lawn mower kick up a rock? Is there furniture positioned too close to the fence? Understanding the cause prevents the same problem from happening again after you install the new panel. Here's something many pool owners get wrong: they see a small chip or crack and think they can just monitor it for a while. That's incredibly dangerous thinking. Cracks in tempered glass don't heal, they don't stay stable, and they certainly don't get better with time. Temperature changes from the hot Australian sun make glass expand and contract throughout the day, which puts constant stress on that weak point. Pool chemicals splashing onto the damaged area speed up the deterioration even faster. What might hold together for a few days could suddenly fail while kids are playing nearby. Professional glaziers approach cracked panels with serious caution because they understand the risks involved. They'll carefully remove the entire damaged panel without disturbing the adjacent sections, which takes specific tools and expertise most people don't have lying around. Trying to remove a cracked tempered glass panel yourself ranks among the worst DIY ideas possible; one wrong move and you're dealing with a complete shattering event that could cause injuries and damage surrounding panels. The replacement process involves more than just sliding in new glass. Quality glaziers check the fittings, spigots, and clamps holding your panels to make sure everything meets current safety specifications. They inspect the posts for stability and examine whether the concrete footings have shifted or cracked over time. Sometimes the crack happened because the hardware was already failing, which means just replacing the glass won't solve your underlying problem. Once the new tempered glass panel goes in, you need to think about prevention. Most cracks happen because something impacts the glass: lawn equipment getting too close, kids throwing balls, furniture being moved carelessly, o