What glass replacement involves
JM Glass & Glazing are glaziers based at 24 Waddon Close in Croydon CR0 4JT. We replace broken, cracked and smashed glass for homes and businesses across South London and Surrey.
Glass replacement means taking broken, cracked or smashed glass out of a frame you already own and putting the right new glass back in. The frame stays. It covers windows, doors, side panels, roof lights, shop fronts, cabinets, table tops and greenhouses. Most people ring us the morning after something went through a pane. We measure the opening ourselves, order glass to suit where it is going, and fit it. We work from Waddon in Croydon, across South London and into Surrey.
Toughened, laminated or float glass: which one goes back in
Nearly every replacement pane in a house is one of three things, and they are not interchangeable. Float glass, also called annealed, is ordinary glass cut to size from a sheet. Toughened glass is float that has been heat treated after cutting, which makes it several times stronger and changes how it breaks. Laminated glass is two sheets bonded either side of a plastic interlayer, so the pieces stay stuck to the interlayer instead of dropping out. Which one goes in your opening is decided by where the opening is, not by what you would rather pay.
- Float, or annealed, glass. Cut to size from stock, usually 3mm, 4mm or 6mm. It breaks into long sharp pieces. Fine in a cabinet, a picture frame, a greenhouse, a shed or a window high up in a wall, and not permitted anywhere the Building Regulations call a critical location.
- Toughened glass. Four to five times the strength of float at the same thickness, and it breaks into small blunt granules rather than shards. It is cut, drilled and edge-worked before it goes through the furnace, so it cannot be altered afterwards. Standard for door panels, low-level glazing, shower screens and table tops, and it carries a permanent stamp in one corner.
- Laminated glass. Two panes with a clear interlayer between them, usually 6.4mm or 6.8mm in a house. It cracks but stays in the frame, which makes it the sensible choice overhead, on a ground-floor elevation you are worried about, and in anything that has to stay shut when it breaks. It knocks a little road noise down too.
Where safety glass is required, not optional
The Building Regulations call these critical locations, and the rule is short. Glass in a door, or in the part of a door between floor level and 1500mm, must be safety glass. So must glass in a side panel within 300mm of that door, up to 1500mm. So must any glazing in a wall or partition below 800mm from the floor. Safety glass means toughened or laminated tested to BS EN 12600, permanently marked so anyone can check what is in there. We fit toughened or laminated in those positions as standard and leave the stamp visible. Plain float in a back door or a low window under the stairs is very common in older South London houses, and it is worth changing before it gets broken the hard way.
Glass replacement across Croydon, South London and Surrey
We are at 24 Waddon Close, Croydon CR0 4JT, which puts most of CR0, CR2 and CR8 within a short run. We replace glass across South London and north Surrey: Croydon, Purley and South Croydon most weeks, then Coulsdon, Sanderstead, Sutton, Caterham and out towards Oxted. If the glass has already gone and the property is open, that starts as an emergency glazier call: board up, measure, then glass. If nothing is broken but the window has gone cloudy between the panes, the sealed unit has failed rather than the glass, and that is double glazed unit replacement. Shop and office glazing is on the shop front glass page.
No one can price a pane of glass without three things: what type it has to be, how big it is, and how we reach it. Send a photo and a rough size and we can usually give you a sensible range on the phone. The firm price comes after we have measured. Here is what actually moves the number.
What moves the price
- Glass type. Float is the cheapest. Toughened costs more because it is a factory process with a minimum charge, so a small toughened pane is never as cheap as its size suggests. Laminated sits between the two.
- Thickness. 4mm to 6mm is a modest step. 10mm and 12mm is a different price and a different job, because the weight decides whether it is a one-person lift or two people with suction pads.
- Shape. A rectangle is the cheap version of everything. Arched heads, radius corners, angled cuts and roof light panels need a template and shaped processing. The roof light job Edge Building Products named Installation of the Month in July 2025 was 44 shaped double-glazed units, every one templated.
- Specification. Low-emissivity coating, obscure patterns, tints, Georgian bars inside a sealed unit, acoustic laminate. Each one is a real cost, not an upsell.
- Access. A ground-floor casement is quick. A third-floor bedroom over a conservatory roof, a steel Crittall frame with beads painted in for decades, or a bay that has dropped are not.
- How many at once. Four units in one visit costs far less per unit than four separate visits.
Measuring, and why we would rather do it
We measure before anything is ordered, for two reasons. Toughened and shaped glass cannot be trimmed once it has been made, so a pane 3mm too big is scrap rather than an adjustment. And old openings are rarely square: we take the width and height in three places each, work to the smallest, and check the diagonals. Glass also has to sit slightly smaller than the opening so it can rest on setting blocks and move, so the size we order is never quite the size we measured. If you would rather give us your own sizes we will cut to them, but the risk is yours.
How long it takes
Clear float glass in a standard thickness is the quick one, usually cut and fitted within a day or two. Toughened glass, laminated glass and sealed units are made to order and go through a processor, so those run to a few working days rather than same day. Shaped, patterned and acoustic specials take longer, and anything needing a template adds a visit. Emergency work runs on its own clock: we make the property safe first with a board or a temporary pane, and the permanent glass follows. You get a date once we have measured, and if the processor slips we tell you.
Cracks that appear with nobody touching them
Not every broken pane has been hit. A long curved crack that starts square to the edge and wanders across the glass is usually thermal stress: one part of the pane heating while another stays cold, often where a dark blind, a radiator or furniture sits tight against it. A toughened pane that collapses into a heap of granules on its own has generally failed from an inclusion in the glass, and nobody caused it. Laminated glass that has been struck stays in the frame with a spider crack. What we find in the rebate tells us what was in there and what should go back.
Glass Replacement across South London and Surrey
We provide glass replacement throughout the areas below and everywhere in between. See our full areas covered page.
Frequently Asked Questions
There is no flat rate, and anyone quoting one down the phone without seeing it is guessing. The price comes from the glass type, the thickness, the size and shape, and how hard the opening is to reach. Send a photo and a rough size to 07956 138 582 and we will give you a realistic range, then a firm price once we have measured.
Clear float glass in a standard thickness is usually cut and fitted within a day or two. Toughened glass, laminated glass and sealed units are made to order and normally run to a few working days. Shaped and patterned specials take longer. If the property is open we board it up first, so you are not waiting on glass to be secure.
Yes. Glazing in a door, and in the part of a door between floor level and 1500mm, is a critical location under the Building Regulations and has to be toughened or laminated safety glass. The same applies to side panels within 300mm of the door, and to any glazing below 800mm in a wall. We will not put plain float in those positions.
Usually. Most patterns still in production, such as Stippolyte, Cotswold and Everglade, we can order and match exactly. Older and discontinued patterns are harder, and sometimes the honest answer is the closest current match rather than an identical one. Send a photo of the pattern and we will tell you which it is before anything is ordered.
No, and neither can anyone else. Toughened glass is cut, drilled and edge-worked before it goes through the furnace. Once it has been toughened, any attempt to cut it shatters the whole pane. That is why we measure before ordering rather than after, and why a toughened pane made to the wrong sizes is scrap rather than something we can adjust.
Replacing the glass in a frame you already have is repair work and is not notifiable, though the safety glass rules still apply to whatever goes back in. Replacing the whole window, frame included, is controlled work and has to go through Building Control or an installer registered to self-certify. We are not registered to self-certify, so we say so up front.
We cover the floor, take out the beads or the old putty, lift the broken glass out and clear the rebate. New setting blocks go in, then the glass, then the beads back, sealed where it needs to be. We take the broken glass away with us. A single pane in a sound frame is usually about an hour on site.
We work from Waddon in Croydon, so CR0, CR2 and CR8 are the doorstep: Croydon, South Croydon, Purley, Coulsdon, Sanderstead and Selsdon. From there we cover Sutton, Banstead, Caterham, Beckenham, Bromley and West Wickham, and out to Oxted, Godstone and Woldingham. Ring us if your town is not on the list and we will tell you straight.