How to repair glass in front door?

[JW95]

I have a wooden front door with oval glass in middle. There is a crack across the bottom of the glass, the crack is around 4mm thick. Got somebody out to repair this and he said it’d be cheaper to buy a new front door… this isn’t something I can afford right now. Is there anything I can use in the meantime, to close up the 4mm gap in the glass?

Who did you get out? Have you looked to see if you have a small local glass man? I was pleasantly surprised how cheap ours was.

As pp says local glazier or as a temporary measure you could get some glass safety film.

The person you spoke to just didn't want the work. Replacing the glass is something you could probably do yourself although the oval shape might make it slightly tricky.

I would try another window repair place. Is it just single glass or a double glazed unit?

@GeneticsbunnyIt’s just single glass. Yes, he said it would be so expensive because of the shape of the glass. The glass below the crack has dropped, leaving about a 4mm gap… any idea what I could use temporarily to fill the gap to stop draught?

I would use clear silicone sealant.

We had the same thing happen to our wooden front door years ago when my son hit the glass with a dart (don't ask). I bought a Perspex sheet from Screwfix and removed the glass and wooden beading. I made a template by drawing around the old glass and cut the Perspex with a jigsaw. There was enough spare Perspex, so I cut a second piece and placed both in the door, then nailed the beading back into place. Our old glass was patterned, so I decided to add some frosted window film for privacy. Total cost was under £4o and worked brilliantly!

It won't be much more expensive to have glass cut in that shape. You just take the wooden beading off of the window, extract the two broken pieces and draw round the onto a peice of card to make a template, then take the template to a local glass place and they can cut the glass to the shape you need. Then you refit the new bit of glass and replace the beading. It's a half day job at most.

I would use sellotape to seal it temporarily.