Remove Dusted Crystal - Interior Glass

suntint · November 8, 2018

Going to need to remove an old band of 3M dusted crystal from office and conference room glass fronts. On some of these they are having new film installed. On some they are not having new film installed. I have already warned them about visible scratches where no new film is going on.

I saw old topics about removing Dusted using plastic bags and water with soap or ammonia solutions.

Since there will be no sun on this glass can anyone who has done similar to this recommend the best way to remove this? Still use plastic bags and water with soap or ammonia?

Thanks

Roach · November 8, 2018

Last year I had a job that we did with dusted crystal, and it needed to be remove probably less then a month later. Tried a few things, but nothing seemed to help. (Interior glass like your situation) We ended up just scraping it like normal film. But.. we did change our blades super super often. That seemed to help keep the scratches down. We didn't try bagging it since no sun was hitting them and we didn't have a ton of time to just wait to see if it helped.. but we tried ammonia solutions and some other stuff... as well as using steel wool... Just wasn't doing much.

Not sure that helps any.... If they installed the glass properly, you should be able to scrape it. If the rough side is facing out and has the film on it, that's when you might run into problems.

WearTheFoxHat · November 8, 2018

The bag it or "liner" trick works 99% of the time.

The bag or liner is just there to keep your slip from evaporating. No sun means less evaporating.

Towel the floor ahead of time!!!!

Heavy Dawn or similar dish soap in your slip sprayer.(ammonia not needed) Bag it up for an hour or two . Add more slip as needed. Edges sometime get dry.

The longer you wait the faster the removal.

I've had 60" x 90" panels removed in 10 seconds with this trick multiple times. Not including the wait time of course!

Edited November 8, 2018 by WearTheFoxHat

suntint · November 8, 2018

Thanks, Roach & Foxy!

TomTint · November 8, 2018

We have removed thousands of SF of that stuff. Bag it..keep it wet..and wait. .the longer you let it soak..the easier your job will be. Also helps to cut it into 8-10" wide strips when pulling it off.

suntint · November 9, 2018

Thanks, Tom.

suntint · November 12, 2018

This was done today. Was only able to soak for about an hour and half for each panel. Not taking 10 sec for each panel but definitely removed easier than used to seeing for removing Dusted. Will definitely use this method again.

Thanks

suntint · December 2, 2018

On 11/8/2018 at 10:05 AM, WearTheFoxHat said:

The bag it or "liner" trick works 99% of the time.

The bag or liner is just there to keep your slip from evaporating. No sun means less evaporating.

Towel the floor ahead of time!!!!

Heavy Dawn or similar dish soap in your slip sprayer.(ammonia not needed) Bag it up for an hour or two . Add more slip as needed. Edges sometime get dry.

The longer you wait the faster the removal.

I've had 60" x 90" panels removed in 10 seconds with this trick multiple times. Not including the wait time of course!

Came across that 1% of the time that it doesn't work!

A few weeks old 3M Dusted Crystal band that the client decided they needed larger coverage for. I suggested they add a band above and below the existing band leaving an 1" or so gap and it would like an original design, not like a fix. And it would be cheaper than a removal and re-install. But they decided they wanted the original removed and a larger full band installed.

Treated these just like the previous ones where bagging the film worked, but on most panels here it did not work and it was a tough removal. Some had plastic on for an hour, some had for over 3 hours. Doors were laminated, not tempered. Think the fixed panels were also laminated. On a couple of the doors the film pulled right off after bagging and waiting. Why? I don't know. Different side/coating of the glass? Don't think the problem was leaving plastic on for too long and drying out, was re-wetting to keep it wet.

Thought I had this figured out and instead didn't leave this off hour job till 1:30 am.