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How Do You Clean Up Broken Glass?

A broken glass dish on a brick pavement

Glass Doctor offers a guide to simplify glass cleanup:

  • Wear protective gear to ensure safety.
  • Use a broom and dustpan to collect large shards.
  • Apply a damp paper towel to pick up smaller pieces.
  • Vacuum the area thoroughly.
  • Dispose of glass safely in a sealed container.

We’ve all been there. Whether it’s a fumbled dish while loading the dishwasher, a baseball through the kitchen window or an act of vandalism…we’ve all had to deal with broken glass at some point. Back in 1992, Annie Lennox had a popular song called “Walking on Glass” out on the radio. While it’s mighty fun to belt out the chorus, walking on walking on broken glass, actually walking on broken glass is not so much fun.

While cleaning up that broken glass will equally lack in fun, if you follow these five steps, cleanup will at least be easy and painless.

  1. Put on shoes.
  2. Turn on the lights.
  3. Don rubber gloves, if you have some.
  4. Very carefully, pick up large pieces of glass.
  5. Sweep the area with very slow and short movements.

But what about the itty-bitty, very small slivers that are so hard to see but so easily embed into a foot? Here’s your Glass Doctor list of lifehacks that will help you with glass cleanup in a shattered-glass emergency.

  • Use a wet paper towel (folded for thickness) to wipe over the area where the glass item broke.
  • Gently press down a slice of regular, sandwich bread on the area.
  • Cut a raw potato in half and press the halves onto the glass shards.
  • Connect with your inner redneck self and grab a wide piece of duct tape and simply stick and lift, stick and lift.

And don’t forget that your local Glass Doctor is available for after-hours emergency services for broken glass that provides a safety or security risk.

Call the Glass Doctor…we fix your panes.

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About Glass Doctor

Brick storefront with outdoor seating and floor to ceiling glass windows and door.
Established in 1962 with 270+ trusted locations, Glass Doctor provides complete glass repair, replacement, and installation services to residential, automotive, and commercial customers across North America. Glass Doctor is a subsidiary of the Neighborly® family of service franchises.
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