It’s happened to most of us: you come home from work or a nice day out to find your floor littered with glass and a hole in the wall where your perfectly fine window used to be. After getting over the initial shock, you’ll want to clean up, find out how it happened and plan what to do from there.
But sorting out the immediate aftermath aside, you’ll still need to deal with the long-term implications that inevitably accompany resolving any case of a broken window. Because of elevated security concerns, you naturally won’t want to replace your broken window. On top of this, thinking about other ways to secure your home (i.e. using window latches or maybe even investing in smart cameras for home surveillance) is another great next step to take.
You’ll also want to make a claim with your home insurance provider to make sure you get as much compensation as possible. After all, replacing a window that’s been busted into during an attempted break-in isn’t cheap on its own, let alone replacing any items that were lost in the break-in.
While nobody wants to come home to a broken window, it’s something that can happen, and it’s important to know how to deal with it if it does. If you’re currently in this predicament or have had to deal with a broken window in the recent past, then keep on reading to grab all of our top practical tips on what to do if you ever find yourself coming home to a broken window.
Determine the Cause
First and foremost, it’s important to keep in mind that just because your window has been broken, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve become the victim of a break-in. In fact, there are actually many possible causes of a broken window aside from a potential break-in. Some of these other reasons for your window breaking could be environmental or accidental, while others are intentional.
Here are just some other reasons your window may have broken:
- Physical accidents – anything from kids playing sports outside to maybe something being accidentally thrown or dropped inside the home can cause your windows to shatter.
- Weather conditions – glass has a knack for expanding or contracting in hot or cold weather, so there’s every chance your window could break (or at least crack) due to fluctuations in atmospheric pressure.
- Deterioration due to age – if you live in an older house, there’s every chance that your windows cracked or broke due to the glass panes finally deteriorating to a point where they no longer were structurally viable.
- Birds colliding with glass – we’ve likely all seen birds flying into windows before, but did you know that it is actually possible for birds to approach glass at a speed that’s fast enough to cause cracks or even broken windows?
If you have reason to believe that your window was broken intentionally by thieves or vandals, call the police. Then, make sure your home is safe. Ensure that the culprits are not inside the house, and check to see if any of your valuables are missing.
It’s also a good idea to familiarise yourself with the different types of broken glass patterns and their relative causes. You’d be surprised by how much you can learn about the truth behind a broken window by simply looking at the arrangement of your broken glass. For instance, more glass outside of the home rather than in the home typically signifies that the glass was broken from inside rather than from an intruder looking to gain entry from the outside.
If the window broke spontaneously, due to something like a weight imbalance in the window, a rapid change in temperature or pre-existing damages, the first thing you’ll want to do is perform a check on the other windows in your house to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to another window.
Clean Up
A broken window means glass shards on the floor, which can be dangerous – especially if you have young children or pets in the home as well. The most important thing to remember is not to handle these glass shards by hand, and not to walk around the affected area barefoot. Instead, put on some closed shoes and protect your hands by wearing sturdy gloves before starting. And keep kids and pets firmly away, ideally by closing any doors or even placing barriers around the scene of the break.
As for cleaning up your glass, you’ll want to start by sweeping up the bigger pieces of glass with a broom and disposing of them in a tightly-sealed bag. This helps to reduce your risks of injury when disposing of glass shards in your curbside rubbish bin.
Once the shards of glass have been removed from your home, thoroughly vacuum the floor to remove any remaining debris. You’ll want to clean a larger area than you think you need to: you’d be surprised how far broken glass can spread, and how hard it is to see the smaller pieces. You might want to do several rounds of vacuuming just to be especially safe. After all, it’s possible for glass fragments to stay on your floorboards indoors even weeks after a broken window. And the last thing you want is to experience a foot injury that takes weeks to recover from, or even worse – accrue an injury and have it go unnoticed for a prolonged period of time.
Remember not to dispose of broken glass in the recycling bin either. Although glass is technically recyclable, there are correct and incorrect ways of recycling broken glass. All broken glass must go directly into your curbside rubbish bin and not in your recycling bin.
Replace the Window
In the immediate aftermath of finding your window broken, you’ll want to patch it up temporarily to keep the elements out while you work on a more long-term fix. If the damage is minor, you can use shellac or duct tape to patch up the cracks. If a significant part of your window is gone, an option would be to tape plastic bags across the hole.
Then, you need to work on permanently replacing the window. You can have this done professionally by contacting your local home repair service providers. There are plenty of window replacement services out there who are well-versed in replacing broken windows of all shapes and dimensions.
Or, you can opt to do it on your own. If you do decide to go DIY when replacing a broken window, however, you’ll still need to have your glass professionally cut at a hardware store. If you’re feeling at all lost in the process of replacing a broken window all on your own though, then it’s probably best to seek professional assistance. This is just to make sure that your replacement process is handled as safely and efficiently as possible.
Make an Insurance Claim
As we’ve mentioned, after discovering a broken window, or any sort of damage to your house, one of the first things you’ll want to do is file a claim with your home insurance provider. This allows you to receive some compensation for the cost of repairs.
Whether or not your insurance company pays you and how much you receive both depend on the circumstances under which your window was broken, as well as the intricacies of your home insurance policy. If the glass was damaged due poor maintenance or an accident or your part, then there’s a chance that your insurance provider will argue your window wasn’t damaged due to an insured event. And that’s a fair enough assertion.
If there’s more than enough evidence to suggest that you were the victim of a break-in or another insured event (i.e. damage resulting from a natural disaster), then you will likely receive compensation to help cover the costs of replacing or repairing your window and any other fixtures that were damaged.
If you’re lucky enough not to have had your house damaged, you’ll still want to make sure that you have insurance on your home. Do some research and find a plan that suits the sort of place you live in, your level of risk and your lifestyle.
Nobody wants to come home to a broken window, but it’s important to know what to do under these unique circumstances all the same. First, you need to deal with the immediate aftermath, which includes cleaning up and making sure your house is safe if the breakage was caused by criminal activity. Then, you’ll want to replace the window. Filing an insurance claim and receiving compensation for your broken window definitely helps with this, so make sure you have a home insurance policy that suits your needs and covers you in the event of a break-in or attempted break-in.
Of course, we hope you’re never in this situation, but this article is a guide on some steps you can take if you are. A broken window doesn’t have to be a cause for panic, as long as you know what to do.