I will be closing on a new home purchase next week. The lease on my current rental isn’t up until the end of July, so I’m taking some time to have some work done on the place before I have my stuff moved. Besides having overhead fixtures added in several rooms so that I can have ceiling fans put in, I’m thinking of having some painting done.
One thing that’s been driving me nuts is what to do about the dining room. One wall is completely mirrored. I’m not talking about mirrored tiles, but floor-to-ceiling panels of what appears to be thick glass mirrors. I don’t like the look they give the room, so I’m thinking of having them removed. Part of the problem is that there’s no sign of any mounting hardware along the edges, so I have no idea how they’re attached to the wall. I’m concerned that removing them may damage the wall so that more than merely painting would be needed.
A friend told me that someone told her there’s a way of papering over the mirror, but didn’t know any details. Does anyone out there know anything about this. It was also suggested that I have the mirror etched, although that sounds a bit complicated, especially considering the size involved. The wall is eleven feet wide and (I think) eight feet high.
Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing, or have any other suggestions?
We just re-did our dining room, and had a similar situation (but only the area above a counter was mirrored). The plate-glass mirror was glued with mastic to the wall. We were able to remove the mirror in one piece (and later cut and re-use half of it), but it did tear the drywall. Drywall is pretty easy to patch, but just be aware that you aren’t going to be able to remove the mirror without damaging the drywall underneath.
The problem with papering over it (or my first thought of just gluing drywall to it) is that if someone ever tries to drive a nail into it without realizing what’s behind it, you’re going to have a mess.
The glass is almost certainly glued to the wall with Liquid Nails or similar adhesive.
Abandon all hope of removing the mirrors without damaging the underlying wall. Concentrate instead on removing the mirrors without damaging you.
About the easiest and quickest method is to cover the mirrors liberally with duct tape or masking tape to help contain shards and start smacking them with a hammer. Leave gaps in the tape (eg: lay out the tape in blocks) so you can remove the glass in segments, rather than trying to shatter and peel off an eight foot long hunk. If you have one, use a glass cutter to score the glass into something like 18 - 24" squares. If nothing else, this will help prevent the glass from shattering off in huge pieces that you’ll only have to break down to fit into the trash can. If you’re lucky, you may stumble across areas of glass that aren’t glued and you just might be able to tap the scored lines and snap off the glass in whole chunks.
Wear gloves, long sleeves, long pants, closed-toe boots or shoes and eye protection. No matter how careful you try to be, glass is going to fly. Lay down a canvas tarp on the floor to reduce the amount of glass that will either scratch a wood floor or nestle into a carpet. Also, remove or tarp over everything from the area that you can. It’s no fun to sit down on the couch and find a sliver of glass.
Might I suggest covering the mirrors up temporarily to see how it makes the room look before you commit?
Since mirrors double the apparent room size and may brighten a room, it would suck if you did the job and realized that the now half-sized room appears disappointingly small.
beowulff, gptpasswords, that’s one of the things I was afraid of, that there’s no way to remove the mirrors without damaging the wall. I wasn’t going to try to remove them myself, but see if the contractor I’m hiring for the painting and other work could do it.
Joey P, I hadn’t thought about covering them wih drywall, but you make a good point about a future owner not realizing that there’s glass behind it.
I just had a thought, thanks to what minor7flat5 said; I wonder if I could just cover the wall with fabric? Easy to remove later if I change my mind, and I could find something to match or contrast the color scheme in the adjoining living room.
This Old House article. I agree with what they say. Hire a glass company to take care of removal. You can end up dead removing these mirrors wrong. I’d hate to have you bleed out in a puddle on the floor.
I have approached similar jobs by offering the item (mirror, bathtub, etc) as “free if you remove and haul”. (Just a thought if the mirror has any value).
I just spoke to someone I’m considering hiring to do my painting and mentioned the mirrored wall, and was told that they should be able to remove it and repair any damage to the drywall. They’ll be coming over next Friday to give me an estimate.
Also, here is a photo I took on one of my house tours. The sliding doors in the living room open onto a deck, so the space is very well lit. I suppose the mirror was supposed to reflect the light back to make the rooms even brighter.
This sounds like a great idea to me, especially as I’ve used this trick myself to cover up some execrable wood-grain plastic paneling in our bathroom. I got a great deal on silk curtains long enough to cover floor to ceiling. It looks very rich and I love it.
