We live in the age of DIY, where there’s so much info online about how to do things: from upcycling vintage furniture, to vertical gardens and all sorts of exciting things. But there’s some DIY projects where the old adage “don’t try this at home” rings absolutely true, and one of these is glass repairs (i.e. window repairs, sliding door repairs and replacing other large glass products in your home). Sure, when you see a chaotic mess of glass at home, those emergency bells go off and you feel vulnerable – and there’s a good chance that’s the right reaction, because you may indeed need emergency glass repair. But just because a task needs doing urgently, doesn’t mean that you need to be the one to do it!
There’s some very dangerous advice on the Internet about this task, which here in Australia is a task that is subject to mandatory standards, and is a trade involving qualification and accreditation. It’s by no means an easy task – that’s why the profession of glazier exists. Getting it wrong can lead to injury to yourself or people you care about, which is why we recommend you never try DIY glass repairs, and you only trust your glass repair, window repair and sliding door repair needs to a qualified and accredited professional.
Here’s just a few examples of the dangerous advice you may have heard about DIY glass repairs; it’s a great guide to what not to do. Remember what you tell your kids (or nieces and nephews): just because you’ve seen it online, or your your friend said it, doesn’t mean it’s true – sometimes, no advice is better than terrible advice!
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Fixing Glass Cracks With Nail Polish
We’re amazed that this old myth still does the rounds, but let’s make this official: nail polish is NOT a way to repair cracks in glass. It works okay to stop holes in pantyhose from getting bigger, so if you’ve got a ballerina at home with expensive pink tights, by all means use it for that. If you’ve got cracks in your window, for the love of all things holy and crack-y, put that clear nail polish away and call a professional. The same goes for superglue, chewing gum, duct tape – no, no, no.
Removing Broken Glass with a Towel
This is the sort of advice where the end result could quite possibly be a trip to the ER: placing a towel over the remains of a broken window and using a hammer to break these pieces off. We’ve previously written about what you can do to clean up glass shards that have scattered onto the floor, you can read about this here; but please, leave the actual broken window or sliding door ALONE. Safety first!
Using A Windshield Repair Kit
You’ll sometimes see advice in forums about using windshield repair kits to fix broken windows. This can be a terrible idea; after all, it’s not always even a great idea to use these for windshields – depending on the extent of the damage and your DIY nous. Really the last thing you want is to have shards of glass coming at you while you’re driving at high speeds. In the case of a broken window, you’re dealing with shards of glass that can injure you, and applying resin afterwards involves a razor blade – there’s plenty of scope for getting hurt here. These kits can lead to worsened cracks or broken glass, not to mention potentially serious injury. Hard pass.
Suffice to say, DIY glass repair is generally not a good idea – it’s seriously important to leave this to the glass repair pros. Fortunately, with our 15 years of experience in glass repair and emergency glass repair in Perth, it’s safe to say that you’ve found the experts here at Westview Glass! Find out more about why we’re the right folks for your glass repair job here, and get in touch!
