Impact damage or thermal stress can cause glass to shatter. A broken windowpane can make your home or business vulnerable to intruders. Use the steps below to safely clean up glass shards. Then schedule an appointment to have a glazier replace the broken pane.

The Inspection And Cleanup Strategies

Assess the broken pane. The manner in which glass shards came out of the window will indicate which side of the window was struck or succumbed to thermal stress. Create a barricade around the damaged window frame. The barricade will prevent anyone from approaching the pane while you clean up the glass shards.

Your objective should be to clean up the glass pieces that have fallen. Glass pieces that remain in the frame may or may not be able to be removed by hand. If any glass pieces are wedged deeply within the window frame, it is best to leave them intact until a glazier has arrived to repair the damaged pane.

The Removal Of Shards

Use a pair of gloves to protect your hands. Pick up large pieces of glass that have fallen onto the floor or the ground. Be mindful that some of the glass may not be located directly next to the window. If blunt force caused the glass to shatter, it is likely that some of the glass became airborne and fell a considerable distance from the window frame.

Wrap glass shards inside paper towels. Place the wrapped pieces inside a trash bag. Use a shop vacuum cleaner to clean flooring materials or ground surfaces that have small fragments of glass on them. Wrap up all of the contents you collect while vacuuming, prior to placing the glass fragments in the trash. Use cardboard or plywood to temporarily cover the damaged window.

The Cleaning And Repair Steps

A glazier will measure the window frame. They will prepare a replacement piece of glass that will fit inside of the frame. The thickness of the original piece of glass will be considered when the glazier prepares a replacement pane.

The glazier will need to clean out the frame first. Any adhesives, including putty, will be removed from the frame. A glazier will make sure that there are no small fragments of glass left inside the frame. The glazier will line the frame with any adhesive products that were originally used to secure the pane. They will install the new glass pane within the frame. 

Contact a local service provider to learn more about shattered glass window repair.