A Shopfront With No Inside: Cutting Glass Out With a Diamond Saw at Supercheap Auto Colac
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A large front window shattered at Supercheap Auto in Colac and we attended the same day to assess and remove it.
Then we found the wall.
No internal access
Shopfront glass is normally released from inside: you cut out the internal silicone, free the panel, and bring it in. At this store the internal face of the glass was completely blocked by a wall that had been built in front of it. There was no way to reach the silicone, and no way to release the panel the usual way.
That rules out the standard method entirely. It does not rule out the job.
Cutting it out from outside
We cut the damaged panel out externally using a diamond-tipped saw.
The care here is in what you do not cut. The panel sits within aluminium framing and surrounding cladding, and an external cut puts the blade next to both. Damaging either turns a glass replacement into a shopfront repair, with the store's frontage out of action considerably longer.
The panel came out with the cladding and framing intact. We cleaned and prepped the frame, then installed a new laminated safety glass panel compliant with AS1288 Glass in Buildings.
The new glass is awaiting the sign writer to apply a fresh external vinyl, which will bring it back in line with the surrounding windows.
Before
During
After
The job in short
- Site: Supercheap Auto, Colac
- Damage: Large front window shattered
- Complication: Internal face blocked by a wall, no internal access to the silicone
- Method: External removal with a diamond-tipped saw, no damage to cladding or aluminium framing
- Replacement: Laminated safety glass to AS1288
