It’s likely that you’ll need to break a window in your home at some point. If you are a parent, the worst-case scenario would be to lock your kids or baby inside the home or car, and not have the keys with you. Surely you want to know how to break a window quietly without fearing kids.
You can break the window quietly through the following Tricks and tips:
- Use the Available Tools
- Use the Spark Plug
- Automatic Steel Center Punch
- Using An Emergency Hammer
- Use A Normal Hammer
Breaking a window can get you unwanted attention. You may be viewed as an intruder with malicious intent by passersby, onlookers, or by law enforcement.
Table of Contents
5 Methods on How to Break a Window Quietly
1. Use the Available Tools
You would have to get your hands on everything that is readily available as in emergency situations we don’t have time to look for those tools in an uptown shopping mall.
Tools you would need are things like a hammer, a screwdriver, pliers, and other similar items that can help break the window glass. To muffle the sound, you would need duct tape, a pillow, or blankets.
All you have to do is to cover the window with duct tape and place a blanket right below to collect broken glass. The duct tape would hold the pieces in place and absorb the impact noise when you hammer down the window.
You can also place a pillow against the window. It will further dampen the sound that managed to leak through the duct tape.
2. Use the Spark Plug
This method is particularly effective for breaking car windows quietly. Unlike ordinary glass, the tempered glass found on most vehicles is quite difficult to break.
You can use a spark plug to break tempered glass. Despite being strong, tempered glass can be broken with a strong blow. The glass shatters into cubes instead of shards so you are less likely to be seriously cut.
The tempered glass cools faster than regular glass. This causes it to have a lower density. As the outer part of the tempered glass cools more quickly, it compresses the inner part of the tempered glass.
A sudden impact, like that from a spark plug, releases the internal energy and thus shatters the glass.
Cover the glass with duct tape before shattering it with a spark plug to keep it as quiet as possible. It is more likely to crack than shatter.
3. Automatic Steel Center Punch
Just like a spark plug, an automatic steel center punch shatters the window without making much fuss.
A sudden punch blow shatters the glass by releasing the internal energy entrapped during the making of the glass.
It might take several blows, but it is more effective than punching your way out of the window. The use of duct tape would further dampen the noise.
Always keep a spark plug or automatic steel center punch in the glove box for emergency situations.
4. Using An Emergency Hammer
An emergency hammer is a small, lightweight, and inexpensive utility hammer that can be kept inside of your car so that in the event of an accident, you can break the window glass.
It attaches to your keychain or slips conveniently into your glove compartment. Some models also come with an LED light for nighttime use.
The handle is made out of steel and plastic. The head is made from hardened steel and will not break down when used to shatter glass.
For emergency situations, it must always be in your reach: in the glove box or under the driver’s seat beside the first-aid kit.
In case you are locked in a house or inside a car, the emergency hammer will help you escape without being caught.
5. Use A Normal Hammer
You can use the normal hammer to break the glass, but that might create more noise than other methods.
Use a blanket and duct tape, before you start breaking the window.
Precautions to Observe When Breaking the Glass
One of the best ways to protect your hands and your face during glass breaking is to wear gloves.
If you don’t happen to have them handy, a long sweater also works well since it will cover any sharp edges that are created when the glass breaks.
Make sure that kids and pets are nowhere near the room because they’re at risk of getting injured by sharp objects.
Finally, make sure you know the glass type. For instance, the techniques we discussed above to shatter the tempered glass of the side window might not work on the windscreen glass as it is laminated glass.
The laminated glass would crack rather than shatter as it has a plastic layer that is baked between the two pieces of glass.
Conclusion: How to Break a Window Quietly
We hope this article has been helpful in providing some advice on how to break window glass without making noise.
Safety is always the first priority and we recommend taking precautions when breaking windows for any reason, but if you find yourself with no other option than to smash a pane of glass, take these steps beforehand so that hopefully your emergency doesn’t get worse before it gets better.