Alpine KB Shower Screens

No Returns Policy on Opened Boxes

• Clear Box Dimensions: All Alpine KB shower screen packaging and sales literature explicitly state the exact minimum and maximum fitting dimensions (e.g., wall-to-wall adjustment ranges) for each model.
• Strict No Returns: Once the packaging box has been opened, the shower screen cannot be returned or exchanged under any circumstances. Customers and installers must measure the shower space accurately before unsealing the box to verify that the chosen model fits within the specified minimum/maximum ranges.

Toughened Safety Glass & Breakage Policy (Strictly Excluded)

• Zero Warranty on Broken Glass: Spontaneous or post-purchase glass breakages, chips, cracks, stress fractures, or shattered panels are strictly not covered under warranty under any circumstances. Once glass leaves our premises intact or is unboxed on-site, Alpine KB accepts no liability for glass failure.
• Why Safety Glass Is Mandatory for Shower Screens: Under the National Construction Code (NCC) and Australian Standards (AS/NZS 2208 and AS 1288), standard window glass (annealed float glass) is strictly illegal in bathrooms. Bathrooms are classified as high-risk wet impact zones where slipping or falling is common. If standard glass breaks, it shatters into massive, knife-like shards that can cause fatal injuries. Grade A Toughened Safety Glass is required by law because it is 4 to 5 times stronger than standard glass and engineered to break safely.
• Understanding Grade A Toughened Safety Glass (AS/NZS 2208): All Alpine KB shower screen panels are manufactured from Grade A Toughened Safety Glass in accordance with AS/NZS 2208:1996.
  • How Toughened Glass Works: During manufacturing, glass is heated to over 600 degrees and rapidly chilled with high-pressure air. This process creates intense compressive stress on the outer surface and high tensile tension inside the core. While this makes the flat face of the panel exceptionally strong, the edges and corners remain inherently sensitive to impact and localised pressure.
  • Safe Fragmentation (Implosion): When toughened glass breaks—even days or weeks after an initial edge strike—it is designed to instantly disintegrate into thousands of tiny, blunt granules rather than sharp, dangerous shards. This rapid, crumbling implosion is a compulsory life-safety feature, not a product failure.
• Detailed Causes of Post-Purchase Glass Breakage: Toughened glass cannot break without an external trigger. Breakages are almost universally caused by one of the following factors during transport, unboxing, installation, or building movement:
  • Corner & Edge Contact During Handling (Delayed Shattering): The single most common cause of glass failure occurs during transit, unboxing, or dry-fitting. Resting a glass panel edge directly on hard floor surfaces (tiles, concrete, pavers, or metal screws) or clipping a corner against a wall tap creates microscopic edge fractures. Because the glass core is under extreme tension, these micro-fractures can slowly propagate over hours, days, or even weeks before the panel suddenly shatters without warning, often when no one is in the room.
  • Direct Metal-to-Glass Contact: Hinge clamps, wall brackets, and handle fittings must never touch bare glass. Failing to use supplied rubber/PVC gaskets, or over-tightening metal screws directly against the glass surface, creates extreme point-pressure binding. Thermal expansion will eventually cause the glass to explode at that pressure point.
  • Out-of-Plumb Walls & Hinge Pinching: Forcing a flat, rigid glass panel into an out-of-plumb wall profile twists the pane. Tightening hardware onto a twisted pane creates permanent torsional stress across the glass face.
  • Building Settlement & Tile Contact: Houses naturally move and settle over time. If a shower screen is installed without adequate clearance or silicone buffer gaps between the glass and adjacent floor/wall tiles, structural movement will force bare tiles against the glass edge, causing catastrophic failure.
  • Thermal Shock & Impact: Exposing cold shower glass to sudden, boiling hot water, or subjecting panels to violent door slamming, forcing hinges past their stop points, or hanging heavy caddies on frameless glass doors.
• Mandatory Pre-Installation Inspection: Installers and homeowners must thoroughly inspect every glass panel around all four edges and corners before installation begins. Installing a panel, mounting hinges, or applying silicone constitutes full acceptance of the glass’s physical integrity.

Aluminium Corrosion & Finish Exclusions (Not Covered)

• Causes of Frame Corrosion: Aluminium extrusions and coated finishes (Chrome, Matte Black, Brushed Gold, etc.) do not corrode naturally under normal water exposure. Corrosion, pitting, bubbling, or peeling occurs when:
  • Chemical cleaner fumes, harsh bleach, or acid-based tile cleaners attack the protective oxide/anodized coating.
  • Soap scum and hard water minerals sit in frame tracks and crevices without routine washing, creating stagnant chemical deposits.
  • Trapped moisture sits continuously in unventilated bathrooms.
• Corrosion Exclusion: Surface pitting, oxidation, and discolouration resulting from lack of routine cleaning, chemical attack, or bore water buildup are excluded from this warranty.

Frameless Shower Screen Water Containment Disclaimer

Buyers must note that frameless shower screens are designed for aesthetic minimalism and are not 100% watertight structures. Because frameless panels lack a continuous perimeter frame, minor water escape, deflection, or misting through hinge gaps, door perimeters, or under bottom sweep seals is an inherent design trait of frameless glass, not a product or manufacturing defect.