Cracked or Broken Window Glass
Hail, a rock from a mower, a thrown ball, a slammed sash, or a stress crack that appeared with no impact at all. Broken glass is usually a repair rather than a replacement, and it is one of the faster jobs we do.
Hail, a rock from a mower, a thrown ball, a slammed sash, or a stress crack that appeared with no impact at all. Broken glass is usually a repair rather than a replacement, and it is one of the faster jobs we do.
If the opening is exposed, cover it. Cardboard and heavy tape on the interior side is fine as a temporary measure. If the glass is cracked but still in place, leave it alone rather than trying to remove it. Tempered glass in particular can let go all at once.
Do not run the sash up and down on a cracked pane. That is how a manageable crack becomes an opening.
Impact crack. Radiating from a point. Usually hail, a rock, or something thrown.
Stress crack. Typically starts at the edge and runs in a curve, with no impact point. Caused by rapid temperature differential across the pane, which the Front Range produces reliably: a January morning where the interior is seventy degrees and the exterior is five, with direct sun on part of the glass.
Pressure crack. Occasionally seen on insulated units that were built at low elevation and shipped up here. The trapped air expands at altitude and stresses the pane. This is one of the reasons how a manufacturer handles altitude is worth asking about before you buy.
Full break. Glass out of the frame.
Usually.
Single pane: the glass is cut to size and re-glazed into the existing sash. Straightforward.
Insulated glass unit: the whole sealed unit is replaced while the frame and sash stay. Because it is a sealed assembly, you cannot replace one pane of a double pane window. It is the unit or nothing.
Tempered glass: required in some locations by code, including near doors, in bathrooms, and at low sill heights. It has to be replaced with tempered, which means it is ordered rather than cut on site and takes longer.
Windshield-style crack filling does not exist for architectural glass. Anyone offering it is selling something else.
Hail damage to windows is sometimes covered by homeowners insurance, and if hail took out glass it very likely also hit your roof and gutters. Worth having the whole exterior looked at rather than just the one pane.
We are not an insurance restoration company and we are not going to tell you how to handle a claim. We will document what we find and give you a written scope, which is usually what an adjuster wants anyway.
No number on this page, and glass is the clearest example of why.
Price depends on the size of the pane, whether it is single pane or a sealed insulated unit, and whether code requires tempered in that location. Those three variables move the number more than anything we could write here, and we cannot know any of them until someone measures.
The good news is that repair moves fast. A visit is a measurement, a diagnosis, and a number. Glass is cut or ordered depending on what you have, and we will give you the actual timeline at the quote rather than a guess now.
Then you decide. No deposit to get a number, no pressure at the door, and you pick the start date. If the opening is currently exposed to weather, say so when you call.
Related: foggy glass · stuck windows · all window repair
No deposit to get a number, no four hour presentation, and you pick the start date.