I have an insured that stated his sliding glass door burst last night. He stated that debris did not hit the door. I was wandering if this could be a settling issue. The dwelling is a mobile home built on blocks. the home is 8 yrs old. I've been doing insurance claims for 3.5 years, but have never heard of a sliding glass door burst that was caused from settling.. Has any adjuster ever witnessed this? or is this possible?

This is my guess. The tempered glass could have shattered from stress caused by the settlement of the house. If you had a test of the 4 corners of the opening with a square you would probably find its not square. If a new door was installed the same thing may happen again if the frame is not level.  Not unusual for  a 8 year old house to be not level. Very common.

I agree with with your saying, however I believe that if the house is settling then there should be other signs through out the home of settling. EX: cracks in walls, ceilngs etc. The only issue is the shattered glass door. This claim is not all that hard to figure out wheather its denied or covered, if its a settling issue its not covered, but if its not a settling issue then the home needs to be releveled and this insurance company needs much proof its not settling in order to cover this issue... It gets interesting..

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This being a mobile home may have a little to do with it, if you don't have any other visible signs of cracked walls or cracks in the mortar joints of the block foundation.   The slightest fracture (and previously unseen or unadmitted) crack in the glass near a corner could have just now reached its threshold of survival.  The weakness could have been created when the home was moved in & set on the blocks.  Kind of like that insignificant little star in your windshield that's been there for a couple years, then you hit a pot hole on a cold day and lightning spreads across the whole glass.

Had a walkout basement slider on a home built about 15 years ago, with a 12x12 concrete pad outside.  After a very wet fall, and then a very long frigid winter, the patio heaved upward enough that the metal threshhold was forced up and the door would not move and a gap was created in the door opening.  It wasn't enough to make the glass break, but certainly could have if we'd allowed it to continue.  Took a sledge inhand and broke up the concrete about a foot out from the door.  This relieved the pressure and the door unit immediately settled back into normal position without any more problems.  Just had to pour some patio back in the spring but only after putting in proper expansion joints.  

If you don't have any cracks in the walls or the blocks/mortar, everything square, rollers/sliders OK, and no evidence of wind shift...???

For what it's worth, I always have a level in my van. A cheap 2 foot and 4 foot one, and am amazed how often I use them... I just used mine Friday at a Construction Defect claim and was glad to have it with me.  Does the deck slope away from the house, etc, etc.  In your case you could see if something was out of level (settling) before paying over $1,000 for a GeoTech (soils) engineer to give the claim a death warrant.

The main use my 4' level gets is showing water damaged flooring that becomes obvious once you put a level on it to show the high point, or ridges in a wood floor, lifted sub-floor under vinyl, etc.

After the earthquake in 1994 I saw all the engineers simply put a 2' level at the top of the door, a 4' on the jamb, check if the walls were wracked, and send us a big bill for the report that didn't arrive for months.

That's why we keep raising the deductible.

Hey guys,

 Thanks for the help on this matter. Due from my inspection the home was settling.

1- The insured recently had the home releveled and placed additional blocks on one side of the home because one side was sinking in the ground from water pouring off a hill next to the dwelling caused from constant flooding. The company who leveled the home did not think to place any additional blocks on the other side, so within the last year guess what happened?

The home began to settle and place enough pressure  or stress on the side with no additional blocks which made the sliding glass door shatter. I did find cracks in the ceiling and walls on this side, but these cracks are like hair thin..

                        Thanks again..

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