Reduce the Risk of Birds Breaking Your Home's Sliding Glass Door

When you hear a sudden crash and the sound of broken glass hitting the floor, you may initially panic and think that your home is being broken into. While this is possible, a more likely cause of the noise is a bird hitting your sliding glass door and breaking it. Once you've assessed the damage, your first priority should be to call a glass service that specializes in glass-door repair jobs. Technicians will arrive to safely clean up the mess, measure the size of the void, and install a new pane of glass for you. Next, you need to figure out ways to reduce the risk of birds flying into the new glass. Here are some ideas.

Relocate Large Indoor Plants

People commonly place large indoor plants near their sliding glass doors to allow the natural light to reach the plants, but there's a concern with this location. When birds are outside, they may see the vegetation through the glass and wish to land on it. The result will be an impact with your glass door that may cause damage to both the bird and your door. If you have many indoor plants, consider moving them a little farther away from your glass door so they'll be less visible to birds outside.

Use Glass Decals

Many companies sell decorative glass decals that you can place on your sliding glass doors. These serve a dual purpose: they can augment the look of a room as well as give birds the illusion that the pane of glass is actually a solid barrier rather than an open space. There are many different styles of glass decals that you can choose, including simple abstract designs. They're easy to install, and because they just stick on the glass, you can remove them later on without any mess.

Install a Second Screen

Conventionally, a sliding glass door has one screen door on the exterior that you can leave open or shut. The presence of this screen door will dissuade birds from flying into the glass in most instances, but the other half of the sliding door that doesn't have the screen in front of it could still be flown into. You can solve this issue by installing a second screen door. This way, unless you're actively walking through the sliding door when it's open, the two screens will cover the entire glass surface. Even if a bird does fly into the area, the screens should provide a bit of a softer surface, which can prevent the glass from breaking.

For more information about preventing incidents like this or to get your glass repaired, talk to a company like Allied Glass & Mirror.