How to Repair Scratched Glass
It's a sunny day and as you look through your window, you notice there is a crack in the glass. Though the crack may not be damaging to the structure and the function of the window, you may be bothered by it. Light scratches can be removed from glass with items you may already have in your home. Deeper grooves or scratched glass that compromised the function of a windshield or a house window may need to be replaced rather than repaired. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Non-gel toothpaste Soft cloth White vinegar Ground mustard seed Glass repair kit
Instructions
-
-
1
Do the "fingernail test" before you attempt to repair your scratched glass. Drag your fingernail across the surface with the scratch. If your nail catches on the groove, the scratch is most likely too deep to repair at home. You may need to bring your car to the auto shop, buy a new window for your home or just live with a scratch in other glass surfaces that cannot be replaced.
-
2
Apply a white, non-gel toothpaste to a light scratch on a glass surface. Make sure the entire scratch is covered liberally with the toothpaste.
-
-
3
Allow the toothpaste to harden. This should only take a few minutes.
-
4
Wipe off the toothpaste with a soft cloth. Buff the scratched area in one direction to avoid added new marks to the glass. In most cases, you will see that the scratch is gone once all of the toothpaste has been removed.
-
5
Mix together a paste from white vinegar and ground mustard seed to tackle slightly deeper glass scratches. Ground mustard seed is available in the spice aisle of your local supermarket. Start with a tablespoon of the dry mustard and add a few drops of vinegar at a time to avoid making the mixture too wet.
-
6
Slather the mustard-and-vinegar paste onto the scratch, allow it to dry and buff off with a cloth.
-
7
Buy a glass repair kit for scratches in your car's windshield. Kits of this kind, available at auto parts stores such as AutoZone (see Resources), usually contain some kind of solvent as well as a buffing medium that is safe to use on glass.
-
1
Resources
More Like This
Comments
-
Ok I know some people are going to laugh or think I'm crazy but I swear this really works! First of all my husband is a contractor and very hard on his glasses and they will get so scratched you literally cant see through them and I have done numerous searches and tried everything I could find that even hinted that it would even lessen the scratches to some degree and nothing has ever worked to the point he was able to see well enough out of them well enough for them to be able to functional which of course being stubborn meant he dealt with it until it was no longer possible to see anything through the scratches so he finally gave in and would buy a new pair of glasses but I had a thought tonight of which produced much laughter jokes and skepticism but like I told him what do you have to lose we are going tomorrow to get another pair so he finally let me give it a shot what you will need is any glass cleaner to first remove any dirt or debris left on the lenses and then dry them I recomend using a microfiber or glasses cloth now comes the fun part you will need a cotton ball or I used a q tip and some silicone personal lubricant (not just the normal water based stuff I specifically used the KY brand intrigue premium intimacy lubricant) put several drops on each of the lenses liberally coating both sides and allow to set for about 30 sec you can either leave it set or continue to gently use the q tip in circular motions until the whole lens on both sides is coated. Once you are satisfied it has been sufficiently coated gently take the microfiber or glass cleaning cloth in small circular motions across the lens until all of the lubricant has been removed from the lens you may then want to use a second cloth to give it a once over a voila you will be amazed at just how well you are now able to see through your "new" crystal clear lenses! Oh and as a side note this also can be used on cd/dvd scratches just pay extra attention to remove as much of the product as possible so as not to damage your player!
-
unscratch
Aug 01, 2009
I have been repairing scratched glass for almost five years. I have also repaired windshields that other people have "repaired" using some of these homemade methods. For any significant scratch, toothpaste and compound don't completely remove the glass scratches. They can minimize them but never completely. What we have found effective for glass scratch removal is the old fashioned way of "grind and polish". The problem that most people run in to with this method for glass scratch removal is that they will distort the glass for any significant scratches. The effect is called "lensing". It actually looks like there is a lense in the middle of your window! The only way to remove glass scratches is to aggressively grind and feather out the damage based on the depth of the scratch. For example, a 1 inch very deep glass scratch may have to be feathered out almost 2 feet to minimiz...
