Removing glass from old windows

 

 

 

Ever wonder how to get the glass out of old windows? Here's how we do it:

Lay the window on a concrete floor: garage, porch, basement.

Wear SAFETY GLASSES and LEATHER GLOVES.

Hit the corners of the glass with a hammer.

If it's a really old window with loose glass, the glass may pop out in one piece. If the glass is tight, it can take a lot more effort.

After several hits, it will crack, or shatter. Once that happens, lighter taps will knock it on out.

We've never had glass fly up in the air; it has always fell through to the floor. But we ALWAYS wear safety glasses, just in case.

You may need a pair of needle nose pliers to remove any small pieces that stay stuck in the frame. And also, to remove the little metal tabs that may have been holding the glass.

We put the glass in a cardboard box or heavy dog food bag to discard of. It will slice right through a plastic garbage bag, and you don't want you or your garbage man getting cut.

We just send it with the garbage because we don't know of anywhere to recycle the glass. If you know of a place that takes windowpane glass, please let us know. We hate to add to the landfills.

 

Billy likes to supervise, but when we remove the glass,

we put him in the house, so he doesn't get cut.

Make sure there are no children or pets around when you're removing glass and clean up the mess right away. We have removed the glass from dozens upon dozens of windows and have never had a cut. But that's because we use extreme caution. LEATHER GLOVES ARE A NECESSITY!!! And JEANS! Don't try this with shorts on, just in case the glass does fly up.

Lastly, please don't ask us to remove glass for you on a window you buy in our store. We don't really like doing it either, and I have nowhere at the store to do it anyway. Our policy when we buy windows to resell is this: If the windows are extremely loose, or one pane is broken, we remove all the panes. But if they are relatively tight, we leave them in.

After you've removed the glass from one, you'll probably agree that we should charge more for the glass removal, but we don't. We charge by the size, not by the glass. If we were smart, we would rethink that! lol

Lots of customers want the windows without the glass, but lots of you also want the ones with the glass intact. Probably the most popular reason to keep the glass in is when the window is going to be used as a picture frame.

The ideas for using old windows seems to be endless!