How to Clean up Broken Glass

Member

By ByDezin
User-Submitted Article

Article Rating: (23 Ratings)

You hear it crash... that favorite word escapes your lips before you realize you've said it... your smile turns to a frown because your treasured china, wine glass or the serving platter handed down for generations is now gone forever!! Broken glass accidents are never fun. One thing you don't want to do though is reach for the broom! So many times we wonder why we can never get all the slivers and shards out of our lives for days or even weeks after a glass or plate or other item is broken and shatters into a gazillion pieces. Immediately try to contain the area from pets, children, and anything that may track glass shards out of the immediate area that is already a danger-zone to everyone. Don't pick up any glass with bare hands, not even the large pieces! They could have small shards you don't see that will sliver into your hands.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Paper Towel
Vacuum Cleaner with a hose attachment
Rubber latex gloves

Step 1

First, vacuum the outer perimeter area for small pieces of glass so they aren't tracked elsewhere. Don't try to vacuum it all up or the large pieces, this could cause breaking and flying pieces of glass. If the area is hard surface, make sure you use a hose attachment if your vacuum is an upright so the roller doesn't send more glass airborne.
Step 2

Put on your rubber gloves. This will help to protect your hands from getting the invisible slivers of glass into your fingers and palms while you are trying to clean it all up. You'll want 2 sets of paper towels. Dampen the first set of several sheets to protect you from being stuck by glass while you use this in place of a broom to collect the pieces, shards and slivers to a pile where you can then scoop them up in the paper towel to dispose of.
Step 3

Once you have done all you can with the first set of paper towels, dispose of the towels and reach for the vacuum. Again use the hose attachment on the vacuum and go over the entire area to get any remaining invisible shards.
Step 4

Now you'll want to dampen your 2nd set of paper towels and wipe down the area well to ensure you have gotten all you can cleaned up. Use care not to apply excessive pressure as there may still be a sliver or 2 that could jab through your rubber gloves. Dispose of the paper towels and rubber gloves when completed.

Comments

sbarry77 said

Flag This Comment

on 10/11/2009 great article. great tips! 5*

battleborn77 said

on 2/2/2009 Just broke a mirror day 7 years of bad luck and the shards in the foot are proving it... If I had only found your article sooner! Keep'em coming! Peace. RRRC'd you:)

ScarlettOHairy said

on 2/1/2009 Great tips on getting those little pieces of glass. A nasty job. 5*

ChrissLJ said

on 2/1/2009 Ugh, broken glass is the worst! A storm ripped through here a couple of years ago and blew out all of the windows on the north side. I've had the carpets vacuum and professionally cleaned multiple times and yet am STILL finding glass shards so have to keep that one room closed off.