How To Clean Up Shattered Glass Outside

Broken window glass on the floor with brush and dustpan.

Everybody has at one time or another skated a glass right off the edge of a kitchen counter and watched in horror as glass shards flew every which way the second the glass smacked the kitchen floor. Professionally cleaning kitchens while working for cleaning services in Pittsburgh Pa has afforded me the opportunity on more than one occasion to witness the dreaded process of trying to get slivers of glass up off the floor and into the trash can as thoroughly and easily as possible.

I'm certain you don't lose sleep over the matter unless you've got a small child crawling around on the floor. Wouldn't it be dazzling to have a technique that's easy and quick to clean up pieces of broken glass while not getting your fingers cut to ribbons in the process and making a bloody mess?

A while back one of our clients said good Pittsburgh house cleaning services are hard to find, but you take it one step further offering free advice to help others that aren't directly related to your business. I don't know all about that, but I will confess the technique I am about to share with you works best on hard surface flooring and will work somewhat on carpet depending on how high the pile is.

Follow along to learn these three simple steps and one llittle-known secret to secure all the broken glass, slivers included, in an easy, safe and jiffy manner.

Bring Out The Big Guns First

1. First, haul out your best vacuum cleaner to begin the process. Your vacuum will be a huge time saver when you first start, but you must know how to use it properly or you'll make the situation worse.

Start vacuuming the broken pieces of glass from the outside of the mess toward the center where the item first fell and broke. Be sure you don't run over the glass with your vacuum to eliminate the chance that the broken glass gets ground up becoming a fine dust that easily flies the friendly skies in your home.

Instead, only use your vacuum's hose attachment. If any broken pieces are too large for the vacuum hose push them aside using the nozzle at the end of the hose. We will tackle the larger pieces in the next step.

A bit of caution is it order here as you may need to replace your vacuum bag if it has one. The glass can cut a paper bag making it useless for picking up dirt.

Mama Always Said Gently Does It

2. The next step is to gently sweep what you can observe into a pile. Before you begin sweeping the pieces of glass, you'll need to wear protective gloves. I had to learn this lesson the hard way after many years because I managed somehow to badly cut my fingers on a broken piece of glass.

I've found that the safest kind of protective glove material is latex. You can usually find an inexpensive pair relaxing on a shelf at your local drugstore or supermarket.

Use an ordinary broom to sweep the pieces of glass into a pile then sweep the pile onto a dustpan before dumping the pieces into the trash can. Sweep from the outside toward the center where the glass item first crashed and broke. This helps to contain the area instead of spreading it around making it easier to clean.

Common sense dictates you sweep gently as you gather the broken pieces into a pile for an easy sweep and scoop onto the dust pan. Fast sweeping will only create a greater mess.

A Final Secret To Perfect Results The First Time

3. The secret third and final step is to use a damp paper towel to wipe up the glass slivers and dust that's left over. The damp paper towel will allow you to get all of those smaller, nearly invisible slivers of glass that are so hard to see and pick up. The best part of using a paper towel when performing this step is when you're finished wiping the area you can simply throw the towel away.

By dampening the towel, the glass cuts into and clings to the wet paper making it easier to pick up and at the same time ensuring the smallest pieces get picked up. Simply tear off three or four sheets from your roll and loosely crumble it in your hand before you gently run some cold water on the crumbled paper towels.

You want the whole towel to be damp but not soggy wet. Try not to squeeze the paper to ring out excess water because squeezing it too much reduces the paper's exposed surfaces, in turn, reducing its ability to pick up the glass that's left. The trick is to use just enough water to get it damp but not over wet it but if you get it too wet squeeze it as gently as possible to get it rung out.

As you perform this step, if you notice the towel is getting full and not working as well toss it and grab a new piece. Work in a circular motion starting from the outside working toward the center as before. If you doubt this third step works, take a look at your paper towel and you'll see embedded pieces of glass on it.

A Piece Of My Glass Breaking Past

That's all there is to it. Hopefully, you'll not need this cleaning tip very often. I usually catch the glass before it hits the floor, well almost always.

I once dropped a glass full of grape juice on an organ and try as I might, I couldn't catch the glass, but somehow it didn't break. Oh yeah, I remember now, it was a plastic cup.

Now I suppose I need to share how to clean up a grape juice spill. When I figure that one out I'll let you know. But that would be for another article.

Get a Free Home Cleaning Quote