used glass for sale?

[dfrick23]

HI I live close to where the state is expanding a highway. They have tore down a lot of houses and buildings. On my way home friday I saw some glass leaning up against a building. I went to check it out and was astonished at what I saw. It was eight pieces of 1/2" thick 34" x 72" long. I have been wanting to build a plywood tank and the local glass company wants abolt $300.00 for one piece that big. I figured it up and at 24" wide it will be 300 gallons. One BIG drawback is that the building is abandond (no doors or windows) And I dont know how to get in contact with the person who owns it. Any ideas?

 

[chipmaker]

You have to watch used glass. Its not uncommon for it to acquire different characteristics after its been aged for some time. I used to collect lots of glass I would find, and a lot of it would not cut right. I had a glazier tell me that fooking with used old glass is a shot in the dark. Glass as used in stores for shelving etc is not all that bad but lots of it gets scratched up pretty bad.
When they widen a roadway here and it affects houses etc in the area, the homes are usually purchased by the state and become state property, then the state may or may not elect to salvage any materials.Most times they are just bulldozed down, but somoe folks that work with the contractors will salvage some odds and ends, so I owuld check with however is doing the roadway work or your county engineering or local Department of Transportation office who whould or should know who is doing the work in that area.

 

[nytrillium]

if your making a big tank i have a few panes of Tempered 1/4 inch glass thatt you could have for FREE.... they are from a sliding glass door and i removed the frame from one and there are 5 panels i think .... THe dimensions are like 2 feet by 5 feet i think.
Again... you can have them for free.... Just pick them up or pay shipping. A couple of the panels are kinda dirty as they were ourside for a while but nothing a little 409 cant take care of ... (with a good rinsing of course) They are TEMPERED... which means you cant cut them..and you cant drill them. so your kinda limited on the size of your tank.
if your interested email me lapoltba@hotmail.com

 

[dfrick23]

can you double up 1/4"? it wouldnt be as strong as regular 1/2" would it? maybe if you put like a 1 1/2" brace down the middle from top to bottom. what do you guys think?

 

[nytrillium]

i honestly couldnt tell you.... but i dont think it woudl be as stong. plus you will get a freaky effect going through one pane of glass, through and airspace, then throught another pane of glass and then into the tank. I vaguely remember my physics class adn each time the light moves through a different material it changes directions, so it probably wouldnt be pleasing on the eyes.
But hte offer still stands, to you or anyone who wants it. Like i said you wont be able to cut it.. If you have a large glass shop by you they may be able to "untemper" it by heating it up (uniformly in a giant oven/kiln) and letting it cool slowly. But that probably isnt worth the effort.

 

[dfrick23]

is there any way to get the "air space" out?

 

[nytrillium]

aside from epoxy'ing the two sheets together not really. because even if you just layed the sheets together there would be air there... but the other problem wiht that is that it doesnt really give you any added strength. Unless you bond the two panels together you just have 2 1/4 inch panels.
I thought i could use them and scavenged them from a jobsite i was at last week but i realized that i didnt have the time or patients to figure it out. I am by no means an expert on glass but you may want to try going to a glass shop by you and see what they say about cutting tempered glass. they would deffinately know more than me.
I actuall had one of these pop on me the other day... (hence only 5 panels are left)

I was trying to "untemper" it like i was saying... not really expecting it to work... I had one of those giant propane torches and i was heating the glass up really slowly moving the flame up and down the glass trying to do it as evenly as possible. But it was no use... after doing it for about 5 minutes all i heard was a loud "POP" and what sounded like rain... (the little pieces of tempered glass hitting the floor) and i ended up wiht a mess...

Hope i helped a little