Smashed Outdoor Glass Table Top - Replacement - Acrylic?

[Martynt74]

I'd been an idiot when covering our outdoor sofa and hadn't pushed the table back against the sofa edge. Annoyingly the rain has then caused the cover to drop down in the gap and create a pool of water.

I went to sort it out this morning as i was still half asleep and stiff and stupidly put the glass vertically against the edge of the sofa, as i picked it up it slipped and fell back down. Probably less than a 10mm drop, but with that side impact it shattered into a million pieces which then put me into an even worse mode as i had to clean it up!


I've had a look online at a few places and seems i can get a piece of 8mm 60x60 of toughened glass for ~£60. I've also asked for quotes for a couple of local glazing places to see if that works any better.

In the meantime though i'm wondering whether some kind of acrylic might be a better option? Prices seem comparable for the decent stuff that won't just turn into a scratched ugly mess, but it also removes the risk of future shattering.

Anyone got any other ideas/comments before i buy something one way or the other?


EDIT - Another option could be to just buy a 60x60 porcelain tile. It could even look quite good, however does anyone know how that'd stand up to polishing the edges to remove the sharpness?

 

[LuckyBenski]

I think regular acrylic will age in UV light. It may craze or crack, or discolour. That said if you find the stuff that's meant to be like glass (slightly blue tinted) that may be treated for UV?

Acrylic will scratch easier but can also be polished so that's a bonus in terms of maintenance.

I like the porcelain idea, it's a bit more "outdoor appropriate" IMO.

Edit: hindleys are good for acrylic: www.hindleys.co.uk

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Acrylic is not the right material for the job for quite a few reasons:
Good acrylic way more expensive than glass.
It will need to be thicker than glass because its not as strong.
You can't suspend it, it needs to be fully supported underneath otherwise it sags.
It scratched by you just looking at it, you'll wreck it in 5 minutes as a table top. It's really quite soft.
There is the whole outside thing too, acrylics are typically vulnerable to UV and heat.

TLDR: stick to tempered glass.

 

[Jimbo1010]

Something similar happened to me. Had a large glass table top that I decided to put under a metal fire pit to protect the grass. Heat transferred through the metals legs into the glass and after a couple of hours....boom! As you say, millions of pieces of glass. Took me ages to clear that up!