Cracked mirrored door in bathroom cabinet

[Richard Conway]

Hi folks,

Bit of a disaster this morning, lost my grip on the mirrored door of the bathroom cabinet and it slammed shut and cracked all the way across. Me not very happy :(

Basically, the door is a solid sheet of mirror (18" x 11") with smooth edges (ie no frame of any sort, just the glass) - it is held on by two hinges that you slide the glass into and tighten a screw against the back of the mirror. The handle is bolted on through a hole in the mirror.

I gather I have three options:

1) Replace myself - which I gather would be pretty impossible as the door has no protective frame and to cut a sheet of mirror to that size would leave sharp edges - is there a way? The hole for the handle shouldn't be a problem to drill with a glass bit.

2) Buy a replacement door - I figure to do this I would have to find a glass/mirror manufacturer and take the broken door to them so they could cut and drill me a replacement. Would this be expensive? The cabinet cost about £60 so obviously wouldn't want to pay more than maybe £30.

3) Buy a replcamenet cabinet - the problem with this being that the place we bought it from no longer exists and I've never seen another like it - would mean getting a different style which would be a pain as I quite like this one!

Any help/tips/suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Richard.

[Rumble]

Richard Conway said the following on 21/11/2005 09:18:

Take the broken door to your friendly local glazier and get a price for a replacement. They should be able to cut, drill and bevel the edges for you (and if not, will direct you to a local firm who can)- hopefully for less than £30 :-).

p.s. Make sure you impress upon them that the mirror glass needs to be the same thickness, so the replacement door will fit into the hinge arrangement properly.

[Andy Dingley]

Any _good_ local glazier. I'd suggest Roman Glass if you're near Bristol / Bath.

Beveling the edges costs money, but not that much.

[Chris Bacon]

Go and see your glazier.

[Richard Conway]

It isn't beveled, its just a flat pane of mirrored glass - hopefully shoudln't be too dear then. I live round the corner from one so I'll wonder round one day and see what they reckon.

Cheers.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

find a mirror over size, take it to glazier and ask him to cut it to size and round off the edges, far cheap probably cost a tenner rather than £20/25

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

[Andy Dingley]

No sensible glazier will cut old glass.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

What does a sensible glazier look like?

Its a mirror not glass and most small glaziers don't stock mirrors as this is normally to order, it being an expensive commodity.

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

[Chris Bacon]

Why not? The ones I've dealt with will do so without any problem at all.

[Andy Dingley]

Old glass is harder to cut reliably. Any glass has a risk when cutting it and you do lose the odd piece from time to time. You're also dealing with a customer who is clearly a cheapskate.

Cutting glass is cheap. So would you risk a tuppenny job of cutting someone else's glass when you know that any problem with it is going to give you a stroppy git who wants a replacement for free?

[Chris Bacon]

It makes very little difference whether the glass is new or old.

Normally the risk is stated, and accepted/declined.

[Owain]

Seven years' bad luck ...

4) Remove the mirror glass from the other door and have an unmirrored cabinet. Buy a separate mirror.

(The glazier is probably a more sensible suggestion.)

Owain

[Rob Morley]

But the mirror /is/ the door.

[Owain]

Oh arr. Well, if the OP doesn't want the TCP and dental floss on display to casual callers on open shelves, replace doors with some nice practical plywood.

Owain

[Richard Conway]

After having a conversation once where several people admitted to snooping in bathroom cabinets when they were visiting other people's houses (go on, I bit someone here has done it!), I thought it might be a laugh to put an alarm on it, so that when people come round you can catch them at it. Just to cause embarrassment really :)