What to Do When a Window Breaks

Broken window glass is annoying because it means you have to take time out of your busy day to get it fixed. It’s a hazard because broken glass can lead to injuries, and it’s a threat because it leaves your home vulnerable to intrusion and the elements.

What to do When Window Glass Breaks

When a window breaks, do this:

• Tell everyone to stay away from the area, and keep pets in another part of the house to prevent injuries.
• Use heavy work gloves and carefully pick up larger pieces of glass and place them in paper bags or wrap them in old newspaper to reduce the hazard.
• Sweep up smaller pieces of glass wearing work shoes or boots. Small pieces of broken glass can lodge in the soles of shoes, and you don’t want to track them around to other parts of your home.
• Vacuumed the area carefully to pick up small fragments of glass. Follow this with a damp cloth for catching the tiniest pieces, using work gloves to protect your hands. Throw the fabric away when you finish.
• If some of the broken glass is still in place in the window, leave it alone unless it is in danger of falling out on its own. The edges of a broken pane of glass are often challenging to remove from the window frame without using tools.
• If you cannot get the broken window fixed immediately, fasten a piece of plywood or some boards over the window frame to prevent intrusion. Also, secure a tarp or large plastic bags over the entire window to keep out wind and rain.
• Unless you are a seasoned do-it-yourselfer or a building trades professional, don’t try to fix the problem on your own. Immediately contact a licensed glazing contractor for assistance.

Professional glazing contractors like Vern’s Glass in Victorville can clean-up broken glass and fix a broken window quickly for a reasonable cost.

Glazing contractors like Vern’s are also experts on thoroughly cleaning up broken glass and properly disposing of it, so no one gets hurt.