Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Is a Glass Sink the Right Choice For You?

Maybe the thought of a glass sink may give you doubts about its durability. If this is so, just think of all the ways you use glass every day. You have glass in the windows of your home and your car, you use glassware for drinks and you have glass table tops. So, why not a glass sink? Just think of how beautiful this will look on your new sink vanity, bathroom vanity, or in your modern bathroom. It will really enhance the decor of your bathroom.

Glass sinks are made of tempered glass. This is glass that has been heated to just below the melting point and then cooled at a very rapid pace to make it much stronger and more durable than regular glass. While it can break if something very hard is dropped into the sink, it is safe because it breaks into tiny pieces rather than large slabs of glass that can give you a severe cut. The small pebble size pieces are not sharp so there is no danger that you or a child will suffer a deep wound if the sink shatters, which highly unlikely anyway.

At the same time, you do have to treat a glass sink with care. The bottom of the sink is the thickest and the rim is quite sound. Quite often the reason that homeowners have had broken sinks or shower doors that were made of glass is that they were not installed properly.

Normal everyday items that you use in a bathroom, such as toothbrushes, hairbrushes, and toothpaste, etc., will not cause the glass to break if you drop them into the sink. You need to be careful when filling the sink with water, however. If the glass is really cold, then you should not run hot water into it until the glass has warmed up a bit. You can easily do this by gradually increasing the temperature of the water.

Cleaning a glass sink is actually a lot easier than cleaning one made of acrylic or stainless steel. You can use glass cleaner for cleaning the sink, just as you do for cleaning your windows. If you do have stubborn stains that will not come off easily, vinegar works well in taking these off.

You should not use any abrasive scouring pads or cleaners on a glass sink but you can still use them on bathroom vanities or regular sinks if you need to. When cleaning, you should avoid placing any extra pressure on the rim because this is the most vulnerable part of the sink. Wipe the sink out after each use to prevent any water spots from causing stains on the glass to make your cleaning chore a lot easier.

If you have any plumbing skills, you can easily install a glass sink either as an insert into the bath vanity countertop or as a freestanding vessel sink that rests on the top. Take care when you are fitting the plumbing fixtures to the drain hole in the bottom of the sink. If you tighten them too much this can cause the glass to crack. Once there is a chip or a crack in the glass, you cannot repair it. It must be replaced.

Once you see what glass sinks look like as you browse the various sites online or look at photos in magazines, you should keep in mind what styles you prefer so that when it comes times to renovate your bathroom, you will know just what your future plans for your home are!

Allison Ryan is a freelance marketing writer from San Diego, CA. She specializes in home improvement and remodeling, particularly for bathroom vanities and steam shower doors. For a wide variety of bathroom vanity ideas or for the ideal swim spa, please visit http://www.mybath.biz/

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