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The cheapest home improvement project ever? My wife and I had been married for a little over a year when I had the worst idea of my life. I decided to remove the old storm windows (eyesores) from our home. I then noticed that almost every window had at least one cracked pane. After viewing a TV show about glass cutting, the idea hit me. I would replace all of the 21 cracked panes using the glass from the 16 storm windows that we would no longer use. It was a hot morning in July when I went to Lowe’s for a glasscutter. The salesperson assured me that it was quite simple: just measure (twice), mark the cut, score the glass, tap and voila! This was going to be the cheapest home improvement project ever, because the replacement glass was free, and I only spent $5 for the cutter. With hammer in hand, I started to break out the cracked panes. I measured, marked and scored the glass, tapped as instructed, and the storm window shattered. The same thing happened with the second, third and the fourth windows. After breaking 10 storm windows without cutting the FIRST replacement pane, I began to panic. I called every glazier listed in the phone book but none were open. Then the sky blackened and we had one of the worst thunderstorms of the summer. I was running around the house with cling-wrap and tape, trying to cover the 21 open windowpanes. Rain and hail blew into the house in a couple of rooms and several puddles of water had to be mopped up. The following Monday, a professional glazier came to the house and measured, cut, tapped and replaced 21 missing panes —to the tune of $150. Benny Nichols |
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