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Broken glass & insurance claims

Broken window
or patio door?

Break-ins, storm damage, a stone off a mower. Most homeowners don’t know their own insurance usually covers it. We replace the whole sealed unit and the frame it sits in — not just the pane — document the damage for your claim, and install it properly.

Call (732) 479-7123 Or book a free in-home consultation

What we get called for

It is almost always one of four things

Different causes, same evening: a room full of glass and a house that no longer closes.

The inside of a patio door after a forced entry: one panel shattered, its tempered glass fallen in a heap on the tiles, the panel beside it untouched
Tempered glass lets go all at once. The panel beside it is untouched — so a claim describes the opening, not just "the door".

  1. A break-in, usually through the patio door

    The slider is the biggest, lowest pane in the house, facing a garden nobody can see into.

    • Forced entry goes through the glass, or levers the panel out of its track. It rarely defeats the lock.
    • The frame, the track and the interlock take damage too.
    • That is why a glass-only repair so often fails within the year.

  2. A stone off a mower or a strimmer

    A blade throws a pebble faster than any window is built for.

    • One of the most common single-pane claims there is.
    • One of the easiest to document: the impact leaves a small, unmistakable point of entry.

  3. Storm damage and wind-borne debris

    A branch, a piece of somebody else’s roof, a garden chair. Coastal and open-lot homes take the worst of it.

    • The damage often reaches past the broken pane.
    • The unit next to it can be knocked out of square, or lose its seal without cracking.
    • That shows up months later, as fogging.

  4. Accidental breakage

    A ball, a ladder, a slip while cleaning. Undramatic, and covered as often as the rest.

    • A crack in a sealed unit means the unit has already stopped working as one.
    • Worth reporting properly rather than living with it.

How it goes

One evening of yours. The rest is ours

Most claims go wrong on the first evening, before we are called. Two halves below, and the short one is yours.

A patio door from the deck, the broken panel closed up with plywood and board by the homeowner, broken glass still on the boards below
Boarded up by the homeowner that evening — the right thing to do. Plywood hides what a claim needs to see, so photographs come first.

Tonight — you

  1. Photograph it, then close it up — in that order

    Plywood covers what a claim needs to see: the point of impact, the direction of the break, what else moved. So:

    • Take the photographs first. It costs a minute.
    • Board rather than tape.
    • Keep the pieces you sweep up.
    • Then call us.

From there — us

  1. We send a Project Designer, not a salesperson

    The person who comes is the one who will specify the unit.

    • Not a subcontractor, and not somebody working a commission.
    • They come to look at the opening the unit has to go into.
    • Everything after this follows from what they find.

  2. We gather everything the claim needs, in one visit

    One visit, one set of records, taken by the people who will do the work:

    • Photographs of the damage, and of the opening behind it.
    • Measurements.
    • The condition of the frame and the sill the unit sits in.

  3. We design your new Andersen unit to your liking

    A claim puts back what was there. You are choosing a window either way, so make it the one you would have picked.

    • We measure the opening properly.
    • We specify an Andersen unit around it: the series, the finish, the grille, the glass.
    • Where that goes beyond what the claim covers, you know the difference before anything is ordered.

  4. We write the scope of work your adjuster can approve

    An adjuster cannot approve what has not been described. Ours sets out:

    • What broke, what it takes to put it back, and what has to come out to get there.
    • Priced line by line, off the measurements and the design.
    • Photographs attached, and sent where it needs to go.

  5. We install it, and we take the mess away

    The crew that measured does the installation.

    • We take the debris with us. No dumpster in the driveway.
    • No bare opening over a weekend.
    • Nobody else to chase if anything is not right.

Why it matters who does it

Three companies is where claims go wrong

The usual pattern: a board-up firm at midnight, a glass company a week later, a carpenter when the frame turns out to be damaged. Nobody owns the whole job, and what falls between them comes back.

A sealed unit is not just a pane of glass

What broke is not just the glass, it is a sealed working unit: two or three glass panes, a spacer and insulating Argon or Krypton gas between them, made as one piece and not repairable. A glass company can replace glass, but it will usually be:

  • Generic glass, rather than the exact glass the window or door was manufactured with.
  • A different low-E coating — so a very different tint, hue or quality from the original panes on either side of it.
  • A different seal, or none, with no manufacturer’s warranty on it.

The frame is the part that gets missed

A board-up crew is not looking at the frame, and a glass company does not price it. If the opening took the impact, that surfaces after the claim is settled — a new expense.

Documentation written once, by the people doing the work

Photographs, measurements and scope from one visit describe one job. Three sets from three companies describe three, and they will not agree.

One number to call when something is wrong

If the replacement is out by an eighth, or the seal fails in a year, there is no question about whose it is.

What is actually in your window

The gas is the insulation

Andersen Windows & Doors

Cut through the edge of a modern window and this is what is in there. The panes do little on their own. The gas between them slows the heat, and the spacer and seal keep it there.

A triple-pane window cut through at the corner, showing the wood core, the aluminum exterior cladding, the sash and three panes of glass in section.
A triple-pane unit, cut through at the corner. Three panes, two sealed cavities, and the frame that carries them.
2 Double pane Argon sealed between the panes
Double pane insulated glass unit, cut through at the bottom edge A cross-section showing 2 panes of glass held apart by a spacer bar, with argon gas sealed into the cavity between them. A low-emissivity coating sits on the inner face of the outer pane. The spacer holds a desiccant that keeps the cavity dry, and an edge seal below it closes the unit and holds the gas in. The whole assembly sits in the window frame as one piece. OUTSIDE INSIDE ARGON sealed in at the factory Glass Low-E coating reflects heat back Edge seal holds the gas in Spacer keeps it dry Frame
  1. Glass
  2. Low-E coatingreflects heat back
  3. Argonsealed in at the factory
  4. Spacerkeeps it dry
  5. Edge sealholds the gas in
  6. Frame
3 Triple pane Argon sealed between each pair of panes
Triple pane insulated glass unit, cut through at the bottom edge A cross-section showing 3 panes of glass held apart by a spacer bar, with argon gas sealed into the two cavities between them. A low-emissivity coating sits on the inner face of the outer pane. The spacer holds a desiccant that keeps the cavity dry, and an edge seal below it closes the unit and holds the gas in. The whole assembly sits in the window frame as one piece. OUTSIDE INSIDE ARGON sealed in at the factory Glass Low-E coating reflects heat back Edge seal holds the gas in Spacer keeps it dry Frame
  1. Glass
  2. Low-E coatingreflects heat back
  3. Argonsealed in at the factory
  4. Spacerkeeps it dry
  5. Edge sealholds the gas in
  6. Frame

The gas is sealed in when the unit is built, so a broken unit is replaced whole — and the replacement has to match what was there, not just be cut to size.

Once it's repaired Laminated security glass stays in the frame when it breaks. If the glass is being replaced anyway, this is the cheapest moment it will ever be to upgrade it.

If it happened tonight

Don’t live witha hole in the house

One call starts the process. A Project Designer comes out to your home, gathers everything your claim needs to be approved, and upon approval, we will install your new Andersen window or patio door. One company, from the first phone call to installation.

Call (732) 479-7123 Or book a free in-home consultation

In New York, call (212) 235-0397

No obligation. No high-pressure sales. Just expert design advice.
Call (732) 479-7123