Cutting down a mirror?

[wildeyed]

I have a bunch of large mirrors in the bathrooms in my house. They have been here since the house was constructed in the early 1960's. The edges are chipped and discolored, but over all they are in good shape. I was thinking it would be good to cut them down to a slightly smaller size and then make frames with molding for an updated look.

How do you cut glass at home? these are really big mirrors, I would hate to have to take them out somewhere to have it done.

[NMDemDist2]

1. yikes girl! i don't know anything about cutting glass but I'd be scared

to try really. I'd be looking at trying to re-do the back to get rid of the discoloration

let us know how it goes...

but what the heck, if you break them, you were gonna replace them anyway huh?

[wildeyed]

2. Well except for the ten years bad luck

or how ever long it is. Well at least I have retroactively suffered the first five already.......

It is just the edges that are nasty. The rest of the mirror is fine. So if I cut the edges off and make a frame, should be good as new :) Price is right, too.

A friend of mine does stained glass. I am going to ask her what to use.

[NMDemDist2]

3. why not just frame it from the start? how much do you need to hide?

and FYI it's seven years bad luck

awfulize much????? :rofl:

:pals: you know i'm just messing with ya right?

[wildeyed]

4. The glass goes right up to the ceramic tile.

If I don't cut some off, there won't be room for the frame. Plus the glass is screwed into the wall right through the glass. I would like to cover the screw heads up, too.

Phew, only seven years bad luck. Glad we got that cleared up :pals:

[NMDemDist2]

5. well, go for it then!

maybe this will help! other sites suggest you put a little water into the score before you snap it

http://www.refinishfurniture.com/glass_cutting.htm

and be sure to take before and after pics :bounce:

here's another article

I'm having trouble cutting front surface mirror, and have tried every trick I know. The glass runs fine for the first inch or so, but then it runs off to the right or left. What am I doing wrong?
Front surface mirror is a hard yet brittle glass. Here's how you can cut front surface mirror...successfully! Use a cutter that is strictly dedicated to cutting mirror so that the wheel stays sharp and unchipped. I also use a Morton surface and Portable Glass Shop.

Before placing the mirror on the surface, position a large piece of craft felt on top of the grid surface to provide a little cushion for the mirror. Straight scores are more successful when the cutter is pulled toward your body. Score lightly and then break the glass gently. The blue plastic coating on the front of the mirror should still be attached to the glass. Being careful not to grind the edges of the glass together, use a sharp blade to cut through the plastic at the break line.

Since you mentioned that your score starts straight and then veers off, there could be a few other things occurring. For a good score, it is important to hold the glass cutter perpendicular (at a ninety degree angle) to the glass while applying light, even pressure. If the cutter strays from this angle, it is possible for the glass to jump off of the score. The other possibility is that your cutter may have a chip on the wheel, which may not be discernible to the naked eye. To determine if this is the case, score across the surface of regular mirror (not the front surface), but don't break it. Since the silvering on regular mirror is on the bottom (or back) side of the glass, it will better reflect and illuminate the score line. Examine your score. Does the score look like a dashed line? If the answer is yes, the cutter wheel is indeed chipped and will affect any glass cutting you do regardless of the type of glass.

http://www.delphiglass.com/index.cfm?page=knowledgeBaseView&msg=96&id=84

[wildeyed]

6. Warm glass, keep the molecules vibrating. Got it.

Thanks for the tips!

I will post when I *finally* finish. I am still working on the upstairs bathroom. I have everything except the mirror and re-grouting done, so the end is in sight.

I keep getting distracted by other projects. First heating went up by 60%, so I did some insulting. Then I started to think about kitchen renovation. That is next year's project. But I want to get a design and figure out a budget so I know how much I need to save.......

But I am back on track. I will re-grout on Thursday and hopefully do the mirror over the weekend. And then I am finished :)

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Resilvering a mirror is NOT for the home handyperson

It involves some really bad news, toxic chemicals. Once silvered, everything is safe and inert, but they need to use the chemicals in the coating process.

I once looked into getting some blue glass silvered to fix an old 40s table. The cost was outrageous.

[Stinky The Clown]

8. If it were me, I'd take them off to be cut by a glass company

We had a similar situation ........ a large mirror panel in a bathroom we were redoing. It needed to be cut about 8" in one direction and 4" in another. The cost was remarkaby reasonable. I seem to recall the total bill was under $20. That included smoothing and rounding the edges and a guarantee that if they broke 'em, they'd replace 'em.

I've cut glass. Single weight is okay (1/8" thick), but mirrors are double (1/4" thick) or triple (3/8" thick) weight. That's very difficult to cut unless you **really** know what you're doing.

Then there's the danger of doing it. If the glass shatters, you could be cut very badly.

Then there's the chance of getting it aaaaaaallllmost right, but not quite. Getting a small sliver off to get it to precise size is even worse than the initial cut unless you have a proper grinder.

Nope .... take 'em to a glass company. You'll be **very** glad you did.

[NMDemDist2]

9. so my first reaction (I'd be scared) was the proper response huh?

wow, I got one right LOL

[wildeyed]

10. These look to be 1/4". Sigh.

I was hoping to avoid transporting them somewhere. Seemed like less work to just do it myself.

Alright, I will get out the yellow pages, find a pro.

[Warpy]

11. I would, too, but I've been poor enough to do it myself

A glass cutting gadget is cheap.

Put the glass on a table, towel under it. Score the glass using the gadget and a straight edge. Use a lot of pressure to make sure you get a good score line.

Shift the glass so that the waste glass is over the edge of the table. Using a rubber mallet (mine is used for checking reflexes, it's a small one) and supporting the waste glass with your non dominant hand, tap GENTLY on the score line until it "pops." You won't have to do much tapping, but be patient.

Since you don't want to take the silvering off the back, hold the waste glass in position, then bend it down just enough to get a razor knife in the crack and slide it all the way down, cutting the silvering.

The silvering will still be a bit uneven, but you'll be able to hide most of it with the frame, maybe all of it.

All edges will be extremely sharp, so make sure you've got a fresh box of bandaids nearby. I've found that gloves make me too clumsy to do a home job, but they use them commercially. They have big jigs to do their cutting, though, and that makes a difference.

[wildeyed]

13. Ouch!

I think you the bandaid talk convinced me to get it done by a pro. I am broke, but not that broke. :)

[eleny]

12. I saw a fix-up show on tv recently...

They epoxied some molding onto the edge of a large bathroom mirror. I was able to find the web page. It was a Room By Room episode on HGTV. There's a short video but you have to watch a credit card ad first. http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/decorating/article/0,,HGTV_3545_1513140,00.html

If you have large screws bumping out, maybe the molding could be carved out on the back side to fit over the screws.

Hope this helps!

[wildeyed]

14. Wonder if I can do that without taking the mirror down.

I am soooo lazy.

Thanks for the link. I had contemplated just gluing some molding on, but it sounded too easy to work. Helped to see the video.

[NMDemDist2]

15. lol! too easy huh? sounds like a great idea to me and cheap and

easy too!

don't forget the PICS!

[eleny]

17. I think they left the mirror up when they added the moulding

That's the way I'd do it since that size mirror is heavy. Might as well keep it easy and more fun!

[LiberalUprising]

19. Yes, do it with the mirror in place

And don't forget to paint or stain the backside of your trim molding, it will show the top part of the back in the mirror.

I've done many a mirror this way, it looks great!

[wildeyed]

20. Good tip

I would not have thought of that.

[Stinky The Clown]

21. You would have noticed it as soon as you held a piece of moulding

up to the mirror. The need to paint the backside is obvious.

Here's a tip ....... I did this on that bathroom mirror I cut down ......

Put a piece of black vinyl electricians tape on the mirror at the exact spot where the molding will end. You want this tape to run from that line toward the edge of the mirror. When you put the molding in place, you do not get the reflection. In this way, you can avoid painting the backside of the molding, which will look like ... well .... the backside .... complete with flaws. The tape make the line perfectly even and perfectly, flawlessly black.

edit for bad slepping ...... :shrug:

[wildeyed]

22. See I never would have thought of any of this on my own.

You guys are the best :grouphug:

[SW FL Dem]

16. I was thinking of doing that to update my master bath mirrors.

I have seen it done on Trading Spaces. Just find moldings that will fit over the edge of the mirror (or cut them to fit). They used picture frames but my mirrors are too big for that. Glue em down with some liquid nails, stain or paint them and you're done.

[eleny]

18. I love using liquid nails

Hubby always makes fun because I'm always saying "Liquid Nails!" when he wonders out loud about what adhesive he should use for projects. But that stuff really works like they say it does. Good luck with your project!