24/7 Emergency Glass Repair
Broken window, smashed door or a break-in. Board-up and make-safe any hour, glass replacement to follow.
Learn more →Why replacement is usually the wrong first answer
A tagged shopfront looks ruined, and the instinctive response is to order a new panel. For a large laminated shopfront that is an expensive, slow reaction — the panel is made to size, it takes days, and it needs a crew and lifting gear to swap. Meanwhile the damage is often only microns deep.
Scratch tagging and acid etching both work by damaging the top surface of the glass. Remove that surface layer uniformly and polish it back, and the panel is clear again. The cost sits well below replacement, the work happens in place, and the glass never leaves the frame.
What can and cannot be fixed
Good candidates: acid-etched tags, key and blade scratching, light surface scratching from cleaning grit, construction damage such as render or concrete splatter, hard water staining and light metal marking from scaffolding.
Poor candidates: deep gouges that have cut well into the glass, damage right at the edge of a panel where removing material raises breakage risk, chips and cracks of any kind, and damage to toughened glass where the surface compression layer matters structurally. Damage between the layers of a laminated panel cannot be reached at all.
The other limit is optical. Removing material from a small area and not the surrounding glass produces a lens effect that you will see every time the light is right. Proper work blends across the panel, which is why it takes hours rather than minutes.
Where this comes up
Retail frontages on the busy strips, glass balustrades in apartment common property, bus shelters and school glazing, and construction sites where newly installed glass has been damaged before handover — that last one is a large share of the work and is usually a defect claim rather than vandalism.
For a body corporate or a landlord, the calculation is straightforward: compare the cost of polishing plus a film against repeated replacement of a laminated shopfront panel, and the answer is generally obvious after the second incident.
The preventative option
Sacrificial anti-graffiti film goes over the glass, gets tagged instead of the glass, and is peeled off and replaced. It changes the cost per incident dramatically. It is worth it on any frontage that has been hit twice, and it can go on the same visit as the polishing.
If the glass is cracked rather than scratched, polishing cannot help and it becomes a replacement job — see emergency repairs if it is not secure, or the commercial page for planned work.
More services
Explore our other services
Window Repair and Replacement
Reglazing timber and aluminium windows, plus custom awning, double-hung, sliding and louvre units.
Learn more →Shopfront Glass
Laminated shopfront panels, entry doors and after-hours board-ups so the shop still opens in the morning.
Learn more →Shower Screens
Framed, semi-frameless and frameless screens in toughened safety glass, made to the opening you actually have.
Learn more →Glass Splashbacks
Toughened 6mm splashbacks for kitchens, laundries and bathrooms, colour-matched and templated on site.
Learn more →Double Glazing
Insulated glass units for Melbourne's cold snaps and hot northerlies. Retrofit or full window replacement.
Learn more →Mirrors
Cut-to-size bathroom, wardrobe, gym and studio mirrors with polished or bevelled edges.
Learn more →Glass Balustrades
Frameless and semi-framed balustrades for stairs, balconies and decks, built to the fall height rules.
Learn more →Glass Roofs and Skylights
Overhead glazing, awnings and skylights in laminated glass, because overhead glass has its own rules.
Learn more →Pool Fencing
Frameless and semi-frameless glass pool fences built to the Victorian barrier rules.
Learn more →Glass Doors
Hinged, sliding, stacker and bi-fold glazed doors, plus reglazing the door you already have.
Learn more →Fly Screens
Pleated, sliding and fixed insect screens in extruded aluminium with PVC-coated mesh.
Learn more →Smart Glass
Switchable privacy glass that goes from clear to opaque, for partitions, consult rooms and bathrooms.
Learn more →Table Tops and Furniture Glass
Cut-to-size table tops, shelving and cabinet glass with polished, bevelled or pencil edges.
Learn more →
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
Can acid etching really be polished out of glass?
In most cases yes. Acid tags and scratch tags sit in the top surface of the glass, and controlled abrasion and polishing removes that layer and restores clarity. What decides it is depth: shallow tags come out cleanly, deep gouges need so much material removed that you get visible distortion, and at that point replacement is the honest answer.
Does polishing weaken the glass?
It removes material, so there is a limit to how much can safely come off, and that limit is lower near the edges and on toughened glass where the surface is in compression. A competent operator assesses thickness, glass type and tag depth before starting and will tell you if the panel cannot take it. Anyone who says every tag is removable is guessing.
How long does a shopfront panel take?
Most single panels are done in a few hours on site, with no need to remove the glass or close the shop for long. Work is commonly scheduled before opening. Large panels and multiple tags take longer, and the surface needs to be worked evenly across the whole area rather than just at the tag, which is what prevents a visible patch.
Is anti-graffiti film better than polishing?
They solve different halves of the problem. Polishing fixes damage that has already happened. Film prevents the next one from touching the glass: it is sacrificial, so when it is tagged you peel it off and refilm. On a frontage that gets hit repeatedly, polish once and then film, rather than paying to polish every time.
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