Disposing of large old patio door

[MrWeld]

I've got a large old double-glazed patio door stored in a barn. It's aluminium framed, at least 20 years old, nearly 2 metres square and I guess weighs more than 60kg.

I'm considering putting it on freecycle, but it's in a very inaccesible location, so smashing it might be easier. If I hit it in a corner with a hammer, is it likely to break into large dangerous shards, or lots of relatively safe granules? Is there an easy way to tell by inspecting it? Would laying it flat between a couple of layers of heavy plastic sheet before hitting it help reduce the mess?

[fred]

In article , MrWeld writes

It's been a requirement for ground level glass to be toughened for a very long time so I would expect it to be a granular smash. Toughened should have a BS kite mark on it somewhere and if it does I'd say you were safe but you will probably want/need to use a centre punch and hammer in the corner to be able to break it. Be aware however that that the granules still have sharp edges.

If it turns out not to be toughened then I wouldn't be too worried, I have smashed out 6mm plain glass from 1.5 x 1m sashes without incident, just lie them flat over a double tarp, give it a whack then break up the bigger bits and shovel into a builders' bulk bucket. Thence in the back of a car to the tip.

Needless to say, hide gloves and eye protection required.

[Peter Parry]

The simplest and safest way is to use an automatic centre punch such as :-

Place the glass on a sheet on the ground and press the centre punch somewhere near an edge. If it is toughened it will break into many sharp small pieces, if not it will shatter into long sharp shards. Either way there are no bits flying around and the sheet contains the debris.

[PeterC]

A fully glazed single door that I was moving to a shed for future use as part of cloche or something was clumsy enough to catch a bottom corner on a protruding end of a brick. The impact didn't seem very hard but I was left holding a frame and the glass was ib a heap on the ground. Serves it right for not looking where it was going.

[Dave Liquorice]

Funny stuff toughened glass, when it goes it goes but what makes it go can be very variable. Filming a road accident scene for Casualty

*many* moons ago they required a toughened wind screen to be broken. They sourced an old car with a toughed screen, stunt boys crashed it, (screen still in tact), vehicle wranglers come along to break it, pointy chisel near corner, ball payne hammer gentle tap, no effect, bigger thump, no effect, swung at it, no effect, swaps to lump hammer, good thump, no effect, swung at it, no effect, real hefty whack it goes. Much to the vehicle wranglers relief, they where starting to get embarrased with the entire crew watching 'em. B-)

[Dave Liquorice]

It ought to be toughened so small granules, they still have sharp edges and corners though. You need something sharp, the automatic center punch is a good starting point, favoured by car tea leaves I believe. See other post you might have to hit it surprisingly hard, or not...

Toughened will have a BS kitemark etched onto it somewhere, probably near a corner.

Yes, that size of glass double glazed will produce quite a heap of sugar. Make the lower layer double and tough and you should just be able to smash the glass, remove the frame then bundle it all up for the bin/HWRC.

[Tim Watts]

On Wednesday 04 September 2013 20:56 wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Haha - I have just done the same!

Ali doors can be dismantled if you can find all the screws.

However, I broke it up in the skip before giving the metal to someone who fancied it. Yes, it was thick glass, not toughended and made some big assed shards.

[Tim Watts]

On Thursday 05 September 2013 07:42 PeterC wrote in uk.d-i-y:

You had toughended glass. My old door predated such regulations. The OP could have anything.

[Tim Watts]

On Wednesday 04 September 2013 21:49 fred wrote in uk.d-i-y:

I would not assume that for an old door.

Absolutely! Bits do go flying!

[Huge]

Did anyone see Mark Miodownik's thing on BBC4 the other night about ceramic materials? He was trying to break a sheet of toughened glass on that. He had to try *very* hard.

[Huge]

There are some very clever luminaires in the Canary Wharf shopping mall which appear to have been made by sandwiching a sheet of toughened glass between two sheets of something else (either normal glass or plastic) and then breaking the toughened glass, so the fragments are retained in place.

[Huge]

Hear, hear. The secondary double glazing in my house was plain glass. I replaced it all about 6 or 7 years ago.

[Brian Gaff]

I'd be tempted to just get it carted off so its son elses problem myself. Double glazed doors can be surprisingly strong.

Brian

[PeterC]

On buses: "Emergency exit - use hammer provided to break glass"

Over hammer: "Break glass to get hammer"

On glass over hammer: "Toughened glass"!

Where's the hammer to... - oh, never mind.