What to Do About a Broken Window in Your Home
You may feel overwhelmed when a window breaks in your home, particularly if it was from unexpected severe weather or a break-in. Take these steps to keep your family and home safe and secure until you can replace the window completely.
Take Care of Safety Concerns
The first priority when a window breaks in your house is to make sure everyone is safe. If you see a broken window when you come home and suspect a break-in, do not enter the house. Call the police and wait for them to arrive, investigate the scene, and let you know the house is safe to enter.
If you are in the middle of severe inclement weather, evacuate yourself and your family members to safety before you deal with a broken window or other damage to your home or property.
Clean Up the Glass
Once you can be inside your home, be sure to clean up and protect your home from further damage until you can get a permanent replacement window.
Keep everyone out of any areas where broken glass is so they don’t track small, sharp pieces to other places in the house. Gather brown paper bags or a roll of butcher paper to collect large pieces of glass. Pieces of glass tear through plastic bags very easily. Wear gloves to help protect your hands from cuts.
After you’ve picked up all the large pieces that are easy to see, use a broom and dustpan on hard floors and surfaces to clean up the smaller pieces. Dispose of them in a paper bag along with the large pieces.
Use a vacuum with a hose and crevice tool attachment to run over carpeted areas and hard floors that you have already swept with a broom. A vacuum will catch most small shards you missed with your hands and broom.
When a window breaks, it often leaves behind glass particles invisible to the naked eye but can be harmful if stepped on. Go over hard floors with a wet paper towel to pick up any stray pieces left behind by the broom and vacuum. Place duct tape in strips with the sticky side down over carpeted areas and rugs that might hold on to tiny glass shards.
Cover and Secure Your Window
Once you have thoroughly cleaned up the glass, you need to cover your window as well as possible. Use a tarp, plastic shower curtain, or plastic garbage bags to tape around your window. Keep the plastic as tight against the window frame as possible. Gently place duct tape or packing tape on the inside and outside of any cracks.
When you cover your window, you protect your home from the elements and help keep the heat or air conditioning inside so your home doesn’t get too cold or hot. Hang insulated curtains, heavy comforters, or towels in front of the window to help keep more heat from escaping.
You can nail boards into the frame around your window to secure your window if damage exists to the window structure as well as the glass. Covering the window with boards also helps deter theft until you replace the window.
Contact Your Insurance Company
If your window was broken due to a home invasion or an act of nature, such as a severe thunderstorm, blizzard, or tornado, you should contact your homeowners insurance company as soon as possible to begin your claim. Some insurance companies require homeowners to report damage within a certain time frame, so call within the first 24 hours.
You may have to pay a deductible before your homeowners’ insurance will pay for the rest of your replacement window cost.
Arch Design Window & Door Co. offers replacement windows and doors to customers in the greater Cincinnati, Ohio and northern Kentucky areas. If you have a broken window, contact us today to discuss your replacement options.