I can’t even imagine the horror experienced by the two UNC-CH students as they felt the window give way after they ran into it, reportedly while horsing around, in the hallway of their dorm. Now a beloved (N&R) Smith H.S. grad is dead and another student from Asheville is in critical, but improving, condition.
Perhaps it is because I am more attuned to it than most people due to my vocation, but as soon as I learned that the window the two boys fell through was not an original 1938 window, but a replacement unit installed during a 1995 renovation, the window’s failure didn’t surprise me as much as it might your everyday window consumer.
The Daily Tarheel reports, “…the window is 2 1/2 feet above the dormitory floor and was covered with double-paned security glass“, as if those two facts were supposed to explain how unlikely such a tragic failure of a modern replacement window unit could be. One look at the broken window and a little common sense will tell you otherwise…
(News14 - Video here)
The style of windows the architect chose to place at the end of the long hallways in Stacy Hall are known as “dead lights”, meaning they are non-opening, 81″x63” (UNC website) expanses of glass with no meeting rails (the members of wood that make up the top of the bottom sash and the bottom of the upper), and no ‘mullions’ (the cross members separating the glass in multi-paned sashes). However, for the replacement windows in Stacy Hall’s dorm rooms, the architect chose more substantial, functioning double hung windows with meeting rails as shown on the right in this photo.
Although I’m sure installing ‘dead lights’ was OK under the NC Building Code, they should never have been specified in such a precarious and vulnerable location.
The architect’s decision, and UNC’s subsequent agreement to install such cheap windows at the ends of the hallways, probably doomed 20 year-old Keith Smith.
The Daily Tar Heel reported that the failed deadlight contained “double paned security glass“, but that wasn’t going to save Smith. All that term means is that the window was constructed of two 1/8″ sheets of tempered glass separated by 1/2″ of insulating airspace for a total thickness of only on quarter of an inch of glass. The only protection ‘tempering’ accomplished was to keep the glass from shattering into dangerous shards when broken. (Heat tempered glass simply breaks into little pieces, like your car’s windshield). Temper treated glass isn’t much less prone to breakage than non-tempered glass.
This tragedy is currently under investigation and I suspect no finding other than accidental death will be issued because the window installation was up to code, but that wouldn’t release either the architect or the University from culpability in my book. Replacing the original hallway windows with flimsy ‘picture windows’ was a bad architectural and/or financial decision which produced this tragic, but predictable, result.
Update: Daily Tar Heel assistant photo editor “Ricky” was on the scene before the window was boarded up. He has photo on his blog that better illustrates the type of window the two boys fell through.
16 Comments
How tragic, especially if it were preventable. I fear/hope this post will get you called as an expert witness, Hogg. There’s always a lawsuit. How terribly, terribly sad.
Hogg, just FYI. Your feed doesn’t work in bloglines. I’ve checked it a couple times.
It does work in bloglines, although it reports an error, bloglines deals with it. YOu can use an atom feed for it.
I think this will do: http://www.hoggsblog.com/?feed=atom
David,
Your microsopic fonts are giving me a
headache.
As a UNC Alum such student deaths are especially hard to hear. My undergraduate graduation occurred the day of the big fraternity fire in 1996 that prompted the push for sprinklers and other fire suppression/prevention measures in dorms and similar buildings throughout the State. Sounds like something similar may occur with these windows you discuss in your post. Going with the cheapest solutions (to spend less tax dollars or bond money) doesn’t always seem to be the best strategy, now does it….
Not to make light of what happened as it was indeed tragic, but two things I saw today made me think of you.
1. Is that your Scout parked at the garage downtown?
2. I saw a house just around the corner from the Mayor’s house today, large two story brick, attached garage, and I think a basement with NEW replacement inserts in every window of the house. Not only did the sashes obstruct much of the original window openings, but EVERY window in the house had the sashes installed backwards with the weatherstrip (the felt kind) turned to face the outside.
I, too, am saddened to hear of the death of the student at UNC, but I must
point out that the failure of that window is not a problem inherent of
replacement windows, but in their application. There are many different
products and methods with which one might improve the fenestration of
a building, each of them acceptable for a given condition. but to
imply that this accident could have been prevented had they not used
a replacement window is silly at best. They may have used the WRONG
replacement window, but the correct replacement window would not have
failed.
David, as someone who appreciates old architecture, I relate to what you
do for a living, and I appreciate the business you bring to me.
I even send you customers I could otherwise encourage to
buy new windows. But refurbishing old windows is NOT always the best
thing to do. In a time when we must concern ourselves with energy
consumption and global warming, the benefits of energy conserving
technologies provided by modern windows is difficult to pass up. I believe
the idea is to properly evaluate the conditions of a given building and
the desires of the building owners and create a solution based on those
factors.
Your friend and colleague
Chris
Chris,
My headlined belied my intent, I’m afraid.
My point is that it was a bad decision to place a ‘deadlight’ in such a vulnerable position. Almost any replacement window with meeing rails (check rails) would have averted this tragedy in my estimation.
d
Being in the building industry for over 30 years, and in the window and door industry for over 25 years,
I have the following comments:
1. The plural of sash is sash…not sashes. If you don’t know that, you haven’t been around very long.
2. Tempered glass is at least 4 times more impact resistant that regular annealed glass.
Your statement is simply uninformed and wrong.
3. Mullions do not separate panes of glass, muntins do. A mullion is what connect two window units together.
If you don’t know that…
4. A one-piece direct-set unit is much, much stronger than any double hung with a check rail. My company
performs “impact tests”, shooting a 2×4 out of an air canon against windows to test their strength.
It is much more difficult to pass the impact test with check rail type windows.
5. Tempered glass is not used in the windshield of any car. Laminated glass is used.
6. The force it would take for those young men to break BOTH panes of tempered glass has to be
quite high.
7. Even though tragic, it seems to me that the responsibility rests with the young men.
In my estimation you are misinforming the public. Please do more research so you don’t publish
information that is blatantly incorrect.
The thing that really scares me the most about this tragedy is the great possibility of an “accidental death” finding. If the window installation is up to code, what would convince the authorities to do the right thing here? I agree that the University and/or the architect should clear this whole matter up.
While I cannot dispute the tchnical points made by Rob, it often takes a tragic event as happened in this case to prompt a reassessment of design features in buildings. I have to agree with Fredrick that the University and/or the architect should clear this whole matter up.
This is so sad. That is why as a professional in this industry, it is important to make sure that the proper window, framing etc is used and installed with care. With my company Creative Exteriors in Denver Colorado we specialize in vinyl and other main window installtion configurations. Unfortunatley there are many in this field that think they can just pick it up and do it with no experience. Your article is very interesting to me. Thank you
Creative Exteriors Denver -
This is a very tragic story, but its hardly unusual for teenagers horsing around to run into windows.
I would like to know if the building dictates about how thick and how strong the glass has to be to resist impact from the inside.
The building code definetely talks about required strength for wind load
I am assuming that the code specifies tempered glass for this location but I cant get the pictures to load to verify this.
If it was tempered glass then how thick ? One thing about old windows is that the glass used in a lot of installations was often thicker than that used nowadays.
I know that from frequently having to replace glass on thirty year old patio doors.
It sounds like the glass was not thick enough to withstand someone walking into it.
Also the building code should specify handrails if the window is so close to the floor, especially in a hallway.
Adrian D
http://www.all-about-screen-doors.com
oh gosh!!
That is terrible!
Should be careful, no horsing around near the windows.
The older window usually do not have the flexibility as the newer.
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