Daytona Beach Glass

Daytona Beach Glass · Daytona Beach, Daytona Beach Shores & Holly Hill, FL

Something just broke. Here is the order to do things in.

Safety first, evidence second, phone calls third. It is worth the ten minutes.

Call (386) 256-6448

The first ten minutes

  • Get people and pets out of the room, then deal with shoes — the pieces that hurt are the ones nobody sees on a tile floor
  • Do not pull loose shards out of a frame while standing under them; glass still held in a frame is holding weight
  • If it is a shower door or a glass door that shattered into thousands of small pieces, that is tempered glass doing exactly what it is designed to do — it is a mess, not a defect
  • Photograph it before you clean anything. Wide shot of the room, then the opening, then a close-up of the break
  • If wind or rain is coming through, covering the opening is the priority — a wet drywall return costs more than the glass did
  • If the break is at a door, a slider, or a ground-floor window, treat the opening as a security problem until it is closed

What "board-up" actually means

Covering an opening is a temporary measure, not a repair, and it is worth knowing what is being sold. Plywood screwed to the frame is the crude version — it works, and it can damage the frame it is fastened to. Clear polycarbonate or a taped and battened film keeps light in and is gentler on the opening. Which is appropriate depends on how long the opening will stay covered and how much weather is expected in the meantime.

Ask what the temporary cover will be fastened to before it happens, particularly on an aluminium frame you intend to keep. And ask whether the cost of the board-up is separate from the glass work or credited against it — the answer varies, and it is easier to ask now than to argue about it on the invoice.

Before you call your insurer

Whether to claim at all is a judgement call, and it is yours. A single broken pane is often less than a wind-and-hail deductible, in which case a claim buys you a claim on your record and no money. Storm damage across several openings is a different conversation entirely.

Either way, do the same things first: photograph everything before cleanup, keep the broken parts if they came out of the opening, and get the cause written down while it is fresh. If a tree limb did it, photograph the limb. If it was a break-in, you will likely need a police report number before an adjuster will talk to you.

Do not let anyone tell you an insurer requires a specific company. You choose who does the work.

What to have ready when you call

  • What broke — a window, a sliding door panel, a shower panel, a mirror, a storefront
  • Roughly how big the opening is, and whether it is on the ground floor or upstairs
  • Whether it is single glass or an insulated unit with two panes and a spacer between them
  • Whether the frame is aluminium, vinyl or wood, and whether the frame itself is damaged
  • Whether the opening is currently open to the weather
  • Whether it is a house, a condo, a rental you own, or a business

One thing worth knowing about the replacement glass

If what broke was a door, a sliding patio door, or a shower or bathtub enclosure, the replacement is not just "a piece of glass the same size". Those locations are covered by a federal safety standard, and the glass that goes back in has to meet it. It is a fair question to ask at the quote stage: what will the new glass be, and what stamp will it carry?

The stamp in the corner is the thing to look for

Glass in the places people walk into is governed by a federal safety standard, 16 CFR Part 1201. It covers doors, storm and combination doors, sliding patio doors, and bathtub and shower doors and enclosures — the glazing in those has to meet an impact standard, because the failure mode being designed against is a person walking into it.

Compliant glazing carries a permanent label: sandblasted, acid-etched, hot-stamped or a destructible polyester tag. The standard defines it as a label that stays legible and visible after installation and is destroyed if anyone tries to peel it off. That is deliberate — it means you can still check, years later, in your own bathroom.

So check. Look at the bottom corner of a shower panel or a patio door pane. If there is no permanent mark there, ask why. And when someone quotes you a replacement, ask what stamp the new glass will carry before it is ordered, not after it is installed.

Tell us what happened

About this page

Current as of August 2026. This page is general information about safety glazing requirements and temporary protection of a damaged opening. It is not a code interpretation, a permit determination, or advice about a specific property. Building codes are amended, wind maps are redrawn, and the rules that apply turn on your exact address and the age of the structure.

Before you commit to any glass or opening work, confirm the requirements with the building department that has jurisdiction over your address, and confirm any contractor's licence directly with the state. Links to both are on this page.