Yes. That thing requires suction cups to make it safe to handle.

Michael

And be careful not to trip over the pumps on the floor...

Ditto on calling the glass shop. My experience with same was that the glass company had the whole thing cut up and removed in about 20 minutes. No one got hurt and no glass to try to dispose of.

Thanks for your replies.

LOL Pete...those are the real estate agent's shoes in the photo. That was from the day we first walked in the house. After she completed that sale, she could have purchased about a thousand more pairs of shoes just like those.

I emailed a glass shop on Sunday and this was their response: "To remove your mirrror will cost $150.00 Cash or $180.00 Check Or Credit Card.
We are not responsible for any damages that may happen during removal to the mirror or surrounding areas."

So...when I call this guy, what do I ask? I mean, I can smash it with a sledge and use a crow bar and do all kinds of damage to the drywall myself and still have $150 in my pocket. I have to assume professionals will approach the situation with a little more finesse. What kind of "damages" are typical?

I had budgeted $1000 for this renewal project so I'm kind of excited at the notion that the mirror would go away for only $150. That leaves me a whole lot more for a new mantel shelf and that wood panel/plank idea I have (like the living rooms in Pottery Barn catalogs). But I won't be excited if they leave the drywall/carpet in worse shape than if we had done it ourselves.

You can rent suction cups and use a heat gun to loosen the glue, but that is a huge mirror. I would still go with the glass company and if there is more than one glass shop in your area, get their take on it as well. I understand as im sure you do that the drywall behind it is going to get damaged, so their statement is just to cover their butts for damages that will occur to the rock.If they are experienced glass shop, im sure they will have a few tricks up there sleeve in order to keep damage to a minimum. Hopefully that would mean at least one experienced person with help.It looks like a two person minimum project.

You could also be sure to cover the floor really well, etc., so that about the only place they CAN damage is the wall behind.

My vote would be something thicker than paper--like broken-down cardboard boxes taped together to be as flat as possible (you want to give them a safe surface)

Wall to wall, so if glass shards fly, you don' thave to vacuum them out of the carpet.

And maybe put paper over the cardboard, to make picking up the glass shards as easy as picking up the paper.

But maybe that's overkill.

Great idea,talley sue. I dont think you can be overkill when it comes to safety.Clear the area and cover up!

One trip to the ER for stitches and that $150 is gone.
What are you going to do with the glass?
We are pretty dedicated DYIers, but as I mentioned above, we subbed this job out.
Incidentally, they used a glass cutter and pulled the mirror off in pieces.
If the mirror is glued right to the drywall, you are likely to have damage, no matter what you or they do, but drywall touch up is just not all that big of a deal.
Good luck!

you can cover the whole thing in masking tape and smash it. not 100% risk free, but it works. i say since you have to bduget to pay to remove it, then hire someone to do it for you. no sense risking bleeding everywhere when soemone else can take the risk!

a piano wire will cut theru the glue with minimal damage to the drywall. you basically just saw it back and forth until the mirror comes down. if you decide to do this, you need a couple people helping to hold itwhile you saw. i recommend taping it as well to keep the pieces down if you break it. also, wear leather work gloves, safety glasses and preferably a long sleeved heavy shirt or jacket to minimize risk to you. it really is not that hard to remove, you just have to do everythign you can to stay safe.

I had two bathrooms which had mirrors on EVERY wall. I guess that was a very popular late-'80's-early-90's look. We are talking floor-to-ceiling and multiple walls. (That way, you could watch yourself doing "your business" from every angle LOL, which, IMHO, falls under the heading of "too much information".)

I hired a neighborhood glass/mirror shop to take down the mirrors, and when I saw them do it, knew it was nothing I could have comtemplated as a DIY. Two guys from the mirror shop came, looking like those Haz-Mat teams you see on TV, with goggles, helmets, and heavy-duty coveralls which were tucked into heavy-duty boots. The guys were quite efficient, although they did have to smash the mirrors, since the mirrors were too big for suction cups. Also, they did all the glass clean-up, leaving not even one microscopic shard anywhere. Yes, there was some drywall damage in the form of scratches, dents and shallow holes, but I needed to paint anyway, and the painters patched the drywall No Big Deal.

BTW, the mirror/glass shop told me they've developed a nice little side business doing these mirror removals. There's been quite a demand for it, and they've been kept busy with it. I guess all the people who have moved into homes built in that late'80's era are wanting those mirrors to come down.

I agree with other posters that it is worthwhile to hire out to do it. Who wants to deal with shards of glass? Better left to a professional.

Heavy duty duct tape, wire and hairdryer to warm glue up...smash it once or twice so it will pop in a few areas to make it easier to remove...we removed three vanity mirrors that were 60" x 40"...only one of the three broke!
It can be done..just use gloves.

The mirror in the picture, presuming it is 1/4" thick, is easily 200#. Spring for the $150.

Wow. I guess we didn't know any better when DH and I removed the mirror in our bathroom, which was about 8' x 4' a couple years ago. First we removed the vanity under it and then we just grabbed it and pried it away from the wall. We were amazed it popped off in one piece. It was adhered to the wall with big circles of black goop. Of course, it was installed by the builders rather than a private party - who knows what yours is stuck on with.

It took me a month but I did call a glass company and the mirror is now gone!

It was funny, I called around and got quotes for $200, $150, and $75. I asked the guy who would do it for $75 to come and do the job. I explained that it was 81 inches by 67 inches but I think his English was limited. He showed up today all alone!

So he said, "That's too heavy for one person." and I thought he went to his truck to call in backup. He came back with his ladder and a suction cup and started to yank this huge 1/4 inch thick mirror off the wall. It popped right off with about 6 repositions of the suction cup.

He asked if I wanted it in my garage. I said, "No, you're going to haul this away for me." He said, "No, I will cut it up and put it in the garbage." I was skeptical but I went with it.

Then it was loose and he kept saying, "This is too heavy for one person. It weighs 300 pounds."

So I watched as he cut the mirror into two pieces and lowered them to the floor. He cut those into long strips. Then he carried the strips outside where he found three trash cans on the cul-de-sac to spread the weight (it was trash day, yay!) and cut the strips into small pieces. The trash truck rolled by within the hour so my neighbors will never know that we borrowed their cans.

There are some circles of mastic remaining on the wall, no big deal. The mirror was glued to the builder's original beige primer, so we know it was original to the house (1985). I have a painter coming in an hour to give me an estimate, I'm so glad it is not a huge mess for him.

Thank you to everyone who weighed in on this project! I wanted to pick a paint color before I removed the mirror and that took me a month! We chose Benjamin Moore Concord Ivory- I can't wait until it's done!

Hire a professional. All the posters who recommended this are 100% correct and the cost, in my case, was very reasonable. And it was SAFE. Be smart and safe - call a pro.

10 year old post!!

I know, but the advice to hire a pro was on target. :). I found it googling about mirror removal!

Valuable information as we too will be removing large mirrors in the bathroom. Watched YouTubes on removing it ourselves. Certainly looks possible but with our cabinets already removed in prep for new ones to be installed, there is too much gamble in a multiple hundred pound mirror crashing to the tile floor into a zillion pieces flying all over the room. Thanks for all the info above!

I need the large fireplace mirror removed asap. It's coming from the wall quite a bit and you can see openings in the wall behind it, so the drywall needs to be repaired asap as soon as the mirror is removed.

And your question/comment is??