Hornsby sits where the apartment towers around the station meet streets of Federation homes on big, leafy blocks, with bushland never far away. Those three settings each break glass in their own way, and each needs a different answer.
Amrah Glass & Aluminium repairs and replaces window glass across the area. All glass to AS 1288, a fixed price agreed first, and nothing left open overnight.
Call 0468 497 928 or send photos with a rough size.
The tree cover is why people live here, and it’s also our most common storm call-out. A gum drops a limb, the limb finds a window, and the pane goes through.
If the tree is yours, it’s a straightforward home insurance matter. Photograph the damage before anything is cleared, including the branch where it landed, then get an itemised quote.
If the tree belongs to your neighbour, the picture is less simple than most people assume. A neighbour is generally not automatically liable just because their tree dropped a limb onto your property. Liability usually turns on whether they knew, or should have known, that the tree was dangerous and did nothing about it. A visibly dead limb that had been raised with them in writing is a very different situation from a healthy tree losing a branch in a storm.
In practice, most people claim on their own insurance and let the insurers work it out. If you’ve previously written to your neighbour or to council about that tree, keep those messages, because they matter.
What we do either way is get the opening closed the same day and give you paperwork an insurer will accept. Before you touch anything, clearing broken glass safely is worth a quick read, especially with debris mixed through it.
Hornsby and Waitara have a lot of unit blocks, and there’s a legal point worth knowing.
NSW strata law requires owners corporations to have compliant window safety devices fitted to openable windows where a child could fall, generally those more than two metres above the surface outside. The device has to limit the opening to about 12.5 centimetres and resist being forced by a child, while still being releasable by an adult.
A few things that follow from that:
If you’re in a unit and a window is broken, tell your strata manager first. We quote directly to managers and work around resident access.
Plenty of homes here still have their original leadlight panels in front doors, sidelights, stair landings and bay windows. They’re worth protecting, and they aren’t ordinary glazing.
Leadlight is a lattice of lead cames holding dozens of small glass pieces. Over a century the lead softens and the panel starts to bow, which is usually the first sign of trouble rather than a crack. A bulging panel is on borrowed time, because the weight pulls at the solder joints.
Full restoration, which means removing the panel, stripping it back and re-leading it, is specialist work by a leadlight restorer, not something to hand to a general glazier. What we do is the practical side: making a damaged panel safe, refitting it properly in a sound frame, and fitting clear protective glazing over the outside face so the original is shielded from balls, hail and weather.
If you have a leadlight panel, tell us when you call so the right trade turns up.
Hail and wind damage through storm season. Break-ins at rear windows on bushland-backed blocks. Fogged double glazing in newer builds and renovated homes. Timber sashes where the putty has gone and the pane has loosened. Cracked panes in bathrooms and beside doors, which then have to come back as Grade A safety glass regardless of what was there before. Our page on matching glass to where it sits sets out those rules.
Standard clear glass is usually fitted the same day or the next morning. Toughened, laminated, obscure and double-glazed units are made to order, typically one to three business days, with a board-up or temporary clear glazing holding the opening until then.
Price comes down to pane size and thickness, glass type, frame condition, access and urgency. You get a fixed figure before work starts and an itemised invoice for insurance or strata. We’re through the area regularly, including the bushland streets up in Hornsby Heights.
Call 0468 497 928 or email amrahglass786@gmail.com. Seven days, 7:30am to 6pm.
A branch from next door broke my window. Who pays?
Not automatically the neighbour. Liability usually depends on whether they knew the tree was dangerous. Most people claim through their own insurer.
What should I photograph after storm damage?
The broken window, the branch or debris where it landed, and a wider shot showing the tree. Do it before anything is cleared away.
Do apartment windows need safety devices in NSW?
Yes. Owners corporations must fit compliant devices to openable windows where a child could fall, limiting the opening to around 12.5 centimetres.
Is a flyscreen enough to stop a child falling?
No. Screens aren’t designed to take weight and don’t meet the requirement.
Can you repair a leadlight window?
We make damaged panels safe, refit them and can fit protective glazing over them. Full re-leading is done by a leadlight restoration specialist.
Why is my leadlight panel bulging?
The lead has softened with age and is stretching under the weight of the glass. It should be looked at before the joints give way.
Which suburbs near Hornsby do you cover?
Waitara, Asquith, Normanhurst, Hornsby Heights, Mount Colah, Wahroonga, Thornleigh, Westleigh and the surrounding upper north shore.
