Re-Use Tempered Glass Shelving, But Don’t Try to Cut it!

In response to a tempered glass shelving inquiry, Inman News contributors Bill Burnett and Kevin Burnett offer helpful tips and some product info at https://www.inman.com/2011/04/27/repurposing-tempered-glass-shelves/. Given the beauty and practicality of glass shelves, it’s not surprising that the article is entitled, “Repurposing tempered glass shelves.” The inquiring homeowner had made some changes to the bathroom and wanted to use the old glass shelves for an outdoor application, rather than simply discarding them.

Thinking creatively, this home decorator planned to hang the shelves on the deck using a stainless steel cable system. They would then be the perfect surface for setting up a display of potted plants and other outdoor knick knacks. Tempered glass shelving is, indeed, suitable for a deck installation, so Bill and Kevin give some tips for making this happen.

•    Make sure the shelves are securely attached to the wall.
•    Ascertain that the shelves are level, checking both side to side and front to back conditions.
•    When arranging items on the shelves, spread out various pieces rather than placing one heavy item in the middle of a shelf.
•    Understand that it does not work to cut tempered glass and use the pieces of glass as they are.

In answering the home improver’s glass shelving question, the article also gives lots of practical data on the tempered glass from which some glass shelves are fashioned. Heat application is used to create tempered glass, which is four to five times more durable than normal glass. Tempered glass is most vulnerable around the edges, and if it does get broken, the piece will fall apart, leaving you with a pile of glass chunks. In cautioning readers against hopeless efforts to cut sheets of tempered glass, the article recounts how Kevin once tried to do this.

After scoring the glass and trying unsuccessfully to break it, he gave it one last try by stomping on the edge. As you can imagine, he was left with nothing but little chunks of glass! So bottom line, keep enjoying and re-purposing your tempered glass shelves…..but use them in their current sizes!

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