# vivarium glass



## lankyarse

i live in alvaston and wondered does anyone know where i will be able to get a cheap piece of glass for my vivarium? my dog has just jumped up and broke it in half! i have stuck it together with cellatape lol. i have a 3ft vivarium dont no exzact measurements but could tell you if anyone knows. thanks


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## slimkim67

is there not a local glazier or a b&q etc or something that sells doors.. if you look in yello pages or something im sure you will find one and glazier will cut a piece pretty cheaply. just measure the old one and take the measurements in they'l do it within mins..:2thumb:


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## alan1

if you measure up accurately (including glass thickness)
any "cut to size" glazier will sort you out...


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## Lotus Nut

You may find most glaziers are closed till new year........


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## Lucifer1986

i got 6x 13inch x 20inxh from Pilkington for 17 pound , i only wait 5 min for it so have look in web maybe there is one in your town 
UK Addresses


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## lankyarse

thanks i will try one soon as not been able to get in touch with any thanks


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## steveandval

time to wait depends if you want safety glass or not, safety glass is cut to size then gets toughened, cannot be cut or worked once it is toughened.


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## leejclark

also act like you know what ur talking about and get a quote first,wen i done my first viv i got done like a kipper on price!!


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## yingyangcham

*Glass Types*

Know your glass.

Rolled glass or float glass (more common or not it will be float glass) is the cheapest. 
Common thickness for all glass is 4mm, 6mm, 8mm and 10 mm. All glass is pretty strong but when broken rolled and float glass will break into shards which can be extremely dangerous. This type of glass should be avoided if you have kids. The thicker sizes are safer but weigh a lot more. This type of glass can be easily cut or drilled (if you know how)

Toughened glass is more expensive and cannot be cut or drilled. Toughened is generally used for viv doors etc. Contrary to popular believe toughened glass is not a good choice for building vivs or tanks. This is due to the fact that if you hit the glass in the wrong way, doesn’t have to be a hard knock either it will smash and fall to the floor in thousands of little rock like pieces. Though the broken pieces are not dangerous as such, having a large hole where the glass used to be can’t be good. This type used to be fitted for shop windows.

Laminated glass, this is a glass sandwich i.e. glass, laminate then glass again. This cost is slightly higher than toughened but this is the best choice to build customs vivs/tanks. Reason being if you hit the glass it can still crack but the laminate holds the sheet together so you end up with cracked glass but not in pieces and it will still retain water etc. Cutting this glass requires more skill than rolled or float as you have to cut twice, once on the top, turn it over and cut again because of the laminate in the middle. You can end up with all sorts of problems if you try to cut or drill this type yourself and its best left to a professional. Shop windows are now commonly fitted with laminate glass. Laminate glass is ever so slightly thicker than standard, point something of a millimetre thicker. For some reason 6mm is cheaper than 4mm so 6mm is a good choice for the vast majority of viv projects. 

When you purchase glass from a glazing company its common practice for the shop to run it through, i.e. take all the sharp edges off so it can be handled without charge. Better to do it than have you slice your hand when he hands it over. 

You can request that they polish some or all edges, this will leave the glass smooth to the touch on all sides. This also means that the glass can be an exact size to the millimetre as the machine can polish off a millimetre at a time. Though if the guy cutting the glass is any good then he will be working to a 2mm tolerance i.e. he won’t be more than 2mm out when it comes to cutting the size required. Polishing pushes up the price nearly doubling it but if you want fine silicon joints and no plastic frame then it makes good sense. That’s if you can run fine silicon joints in the first place (use masking tape to achieve this).

My choice of glass is 6mm laminate for any custom builds all shapes and sizes etc. Though for a small sliding door I would go for the cheaper 4mm float 

Hope this helps anyone considering building a custom viv etc.


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