Shattered Panes, Broken Windows – A Guide to Glass Replacement
The only way to keep your belongings and valuables completely safe is to wrap them in cotton wool and ring-fence your house with a projectile-defying brick wall and electric fence. But then again, what sort of existence is that?
Indeed, accidents will always happen and whether it’s a neighbourhood kid booting a ball into your greenhouse or a gale-force wind dislodging an elm tree into your bathroom window, you have to adopt a somewhat matter-of-fact attitude to your misfortune – shrug your shoulders and get on with life.
Indeed, if you are unlucky enough to experience broken windows in your home, your first concern should be your safety. Shattered or broken glass poses some health issues and if you’re planning on clearing shards of glass from the ground, make sure you have thick, padded gloves on to collect the biggest pieces and a broom and dustpan for the smaller pieces.
Your next concern should be the repair. Home glass replacement is an activity that can be lumped in with the likes of electrical rewiring and sink-fitting – it really is best left to the experts, so don’t be a have-a-go hero when it comes to replacing a broken window.
If a window in your home suffers a slight crack, don’t be tempted by the masking tape option either – once a crack is there, the whole pane of glass is weakened and it’s more susceptible to shattering.
If you could choose a time for your windows to break, then that would be the ideal scenario – and you might choose a Monday afternoon when you just happen to be off work: a quick call to the local glaziers and have it replaced in a couple of hours. Fate doesn’t work like that – your windows can break at any time of day, which is why many window glass repair services are operational 24/7.
With some things, it’s really best not to cut corners. If you needed a new fuse-box fitted in your kitchen, the chances are you wouldn’t attempt it yourself and you would go with a reputable electrician who is fully indemnified – if anything goes wrong you could otherwise be in trouble.
The same principles apply when fitting new glass in your home: check that the workmanship is fully guaranteed and that the people installing it are fully covered should anything go wrong. It makes sense and it could save you a lot of money in the long run.