I recently moved cross-country, and one of my mirrors is shattered. I need a little help adulting - what is the first step towards fixing this?
Everything is secured inside the packaging. But I can hear the tinkling of broken glass, so the mirror is clearly shattered inside the frame.
My late husband hand-made the cherry wood frame. I don’t give two shits about the glass, but tossing the whole package is beyond out of the question.
So: what do I do? How can I safely dispose of the shattered mirror, and salvage the frame?
Of course you can! Could you take it to a picture framing company? They might be able to repair the frame (if it’s damaged) and insert a new mirror?
Simplest solution is to take the whole package to a framing company and let them handle it.
Otherwise, I’d say find a box large enough to stand the package up in. Line it with a bin bag and a couple of layers of newspaper. Stand the package in it and open it carefully, so that the shards of glass are contained. If the back of the frame can be opened to release the rest of the glass, do so. Otherwise break out any shards of glass that might cause a problem with a pair of pliers.
Do you have any moving blankets left over from the move you’re not too attached to? Spread it out to collect the glass while you retrieve the frame and then carefully bundle the blanket up and deposit in the trash.
A glass supplier will help you. You can take the whole package to them, they won’t worry about the broken glass, and they can replace the mirror. If you don’t know where a supplier is then try asking at a local hardware store.
How large is the mirror? What I would do is put on some gardening or leather gloves to protect my hands, open the box and pull out the broken glass. As long as the glass wasn’t glued in, it should be easy and fairly obvious how to remove any pieces that are still attached to the frame.
Now, assess the frame - hopefully it didn’t get damaged, but if it’s had broken glass knocking around in the box, it may be scratched or dented. Repair as needed, then go to the glass shop. Most glass shops I’ve encountered will not be able to do much more repair-wise to a wood frame other than replace missing clips or clamps to hold the glass in.