Monday, July 11, 2011

Why Home Glass Repair Is Not A DIY Project

By Martin Phillips


It was coming up to 8 a.m. when it happened. Your teenage son, hoping to obtain the use of the van to attend a live concert at the Rio Tinto Stadium that evening, was atop a rickety step ladder hurriedly cleaning out the gutters. Rather than get down off the ladder and move it a couple of feet he reached out farther than he ought to. And that was that.

He tore down six foot of gutter, crushed a perfectly good hydrangea, sent the ladder into the kitchen window, and nearly broke his fool neck. Luckily, he was okay - which is more than you can say for your hydrangea. Your brother-in-law is going to come down next weekend to fix the gutter. That just leaves the broken kitchen window.

Frankly, it was a miracle that the ladder did not send broken glass all over the kitchen floor. You told your son to put on a pair of work gloves and carefully place some duct tape along the broken pane. Now you have a nasty eighteen inch dagger of glass being held in place between two larger pieces of glass by a web of duct tape. When, mostly in jest, you suggested that possibly the glass repair bill really should come out of his pocket money he actually offered to replace it himself. A bad idea for a number of reasons.

## Broken glass is fairly dangerous

It is far too easy too underestimate exactly how sharp and hazardous broken glass can really be. A newly broken window pane cant, at times, contain some edges that are razor sharp. Glass is generally heavier than many people assume and plucking large pieces from a frame, especially if it is at a clumsy angle can actually be quite dangerous.

## Tricky to clean up and dispose of safely

Once you've finally managed to take out all that glass then you need to dispose of it which is not always easy. A heavy cardboard box is always ideal but we do not always have such a box handy, do we? You could spend time wrapping glass in newspaper or perhaps taping over the sharp edges but even still it cannot safely be put in a garbage bag.

## Glass can be both heavy and awkward

A full pane of glass, depending on how large and how thick it is can be surprisingly heavy. The edges, even on brand new pane, can still be dangerous at times and it isn't always easy to work a pane into an existing frame. The fact that a trained installer makes home glass repair look relatively easy says a lot more about his experience as an installer than the simplicity of proper glass handling techniques.

## Poor glass installation is costly over time

The other crucial reason to have a professional repair your home windows is that a inadequately installed pane of window glass can mean a real flaw in the insulation of your home. A broken window should always be properly and professionally assessed and repaired. The money you're hoping to save on a do-it-yourself window repair can very easily leak out the exact same window each and every year in terms of energy costs.

Salt Lake City windows can be quickly and affordably replaced and repaired, seven days a week, by countless trained professionals. Even glass firms that specialize in home renovations and things like European shower doors will frequently offer emergency home glass repair. Don't risk making a bad situation even worse. Get in touch with a professional to come repair that broken kitchen window.




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