I keep seeing guys in the shop skip the final edge polish on tempered glass.

They think the factory edge is good enough, but I've had three callbacks this year from a client in the Northgate Plaza because their tempered shower doors started chipping. A proper 400-grit hand polish takes an extra ten minutes and stops those micro-fractures from turning into visible damage. Am I the only one still doing this step on every tempered piece?

3 comments

3 Comments

gavinwells1mo ago

Man, I feel you. I had the same problem with some commercial jobs last fall. Skipped the final polish on a lobby partition to save time, and two panels developed chips right at the edge within months. Now I just bite the bullet and do that extra hand sanding on every single piece. It’s boring, but those callbacks are way more painful than ten extra minutes of work.

taylor121mo ago

Ever seen a chip turn into a full crack?

charlesm501mo ago

Yeah, my buddy had that happen on a deck he built. A small chip in the rail from a lawnmower got ignored, and winter frost made it split the whole length. He ended up having to replace the entire section.