Hi,
Over the years I have acquired fancy furniture that has this form fitting glass surface. This 1/4" glass presents a tremendously hard and useful surface.
But brittle.
I've made a few inquiries and local mirror shops seem to be the established businesses fabricating exact replacements.
But, always one to save a nickel, is there something out there that is "DIY", "do-it-yourself"?
Maybe a very high quality thick plastic that you can cut with special tools... ?
Oh, it is available. But even the fancy stuff scratches easier than glass, and glass is cheaper by far. Being a klutz, glass table tops/covers always made me paranoid. Unless you use those plastic circles or pennies under them, they slide around or fuse to the finish. And cleaning them is a major PITA, and tends to get the windex trapped under the edges unless you are super-careful and spray from the far side of the table. We have lots of conference rooms at work with glass over the tops of the tables. Almost always, at least one table in the room has the glass missing or a big chip or crack, from oopsies by cleaning crew, or somebody hitting it just wrong with their coffee cup or something.
-- aem sends....
Could you apply a film to the glass to minimize the breakage possibility? Similar to what is done in windshields? A clear, hurricane-proof type of film might work well.
Plexiglass. Tricky to cut, but doable. Grind and buff edges.
It might, as a preventative measure. However, my inclination to "do-it-yourself" is typically after the fact.
You know, fixing the roof if it's leaking, but I can't when it's raining --- stuff like that.
I think I did do that once, with pretty bad results. Lexan, maybe over Plexi. But still, I think the poster that said glass is still cheaper, and I know it's better. so
Back to the drawing board.
What do you mean by "brittle"? It takes a pretty good whack to break
1/4 plate glass! What is your concern? And are you sure that the glass isn't tempered?
There is a special scratch resistant version of Lexan that would probably be the only viable replacement for the glass, though at probably 4X the cost. You wouldn't put it over Plexi either, you'd just get the 1/4" (or 6mm) version. You'd have to get it at a real plastics supplier, not a big box store.
When it "lifts and separates", it's time to be replaced.
What do you mean by "brittle"? It takes a pretty good whack to break
1/4 plate glass! What is your concern? And are you sure that the glass isn't tempered?
And then I think I'd have a problem cutting and edging, so, back to glass.
We have the same sheet of glass on our dining room table for 30 years. Except for a few scratches it is still in great shape and has protected the wood table underneath it. We use the plastic circles sold at Ace hardware. Maybe twice a year we clean the underside of the glass. We use glassplus wipes and they do a great job on it.
Huh? So it isn't 1/4" plate glass it's 1/4" laminated?
Huh? So it isn't 1/4" plate glass it's 1/4" laminated?
+++ no, meant that as a joke. It's now two pieces versus one.HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.