How To Frame a Bathroom Mirror Without Getting Hurt

Feb 9, 2012 by Frank Scherer

Framing in a bathroom mirror is one of those home improvement jobs just has a lot going for it. First of all it’s great “show off” job. You get to showcase your skills, not just as a decorator but also as a crafts-person who can take ideas and turn them into reality. Framing a mirror is also cheap to do to.

Now this doesn’t mean you have to be a low-budget to want to do it either. It’s just one of those jobs where you get to use cheap raw materials and turn them into something of real value on your home.

It’s also project doesn’t take much time. In fact if you have everything all together in a ready to go you can have the entire project done in maybe an hour to an hour and a half. Of course this doesn’t count painting and drying time. But really your only dealing with a mirror, and between four to maybe 10 or so small pieces of wood. Then the final “big plus” for framing your bathroom mirror is that you get take a look at it everyday. More than once. So the appreciation factor is big here which is always nice.

The trick to it though is to learn how to frame a bathroom mirror without getting hurt, and the primary risk here is the cuts. It’s so easy to do too, and given the size of the piece of glass, in a fraction of second you could be left with a gaping slice. People have even died from glass cuts that have severed an artery.

Then of course there’s always the risk that comes with handling power tools. If you are going to use power tools.

Don’t Get Cut Because Glass Can Sure Do It

Don’t be one of those people who learn the hard way just how dangerous a sheet of glass is. They find a nice unframed mirror at, say a yard sale, pick it up for a bargain price, and only have 30 or so feet to carry to fit in the trunk of their car. The problem with a sheet of glass though is that there’s only one way to carry it and that is with both hands over the outer edges.

Just like carrying a giant razor blade with both hands over the the razor’s edge.

So rule number one is glass safety comes first, so never take chances, and that starts out by wearing a pair of thick leather gloves. They don’t have to be expensive goatskin leather either.

“When working with glass, it is important to wear the necessary protective gear to shield eyes and skin from injury if the glass breaks or shatters on impact. Eye gear is required when doing any sort of cutting or grinding, and is often recommended during installation procedures as well. Gloves and footwear that protect against cuts are also important when moving any type of glass pane.”

Rather those cheap “super thick” heavy leather garden gloves you can pick up at your local hardware store works best.

A long sleeve shirt and pants with leather shoes are also a must because when a large piece of glass breaks huge shards comes straight down like guillotines that can cut your foot completely in half.

Then lastly a roll of masking tape goes a long way towards making your project a whole lot safer too, so if you don’t have some get some. Go around the entire perimeter edge with tape to cover up the sharp edges. Then crisscross strips of tape across the face of the glass to keep it together in one piece if it should break.

Basic Power Tool Safety 101

Mirrors have been getting framed long before there was ever power tools, so there’s no problem doing the job without them. However, a quick look around the Internet will show that pretty much all the instructional material that details how to frame a bathroom mirror depicts it being done with power tools. An electric miter saw for cutting the wood strips and often a pneumatic “air powered” brad gun is used to attach the frame to the wall. Two very dangerous tools.

Now there’s no such thing as a small skin cut with any type of power saw. If the blade comes in contact with you while it’s running you’re going to the hospital for stitches so always exercise complete caution using one.

“But, if you look into the accident statistics, they reveal something quite different; power tools are often involved in some of the most serious accidents involving cuts, amputations, impaled objects and eye injures.”

This means that if the blade guard is missing don’t use it, and always tie your hair back if it’s long enough to hang down and get snagged by the blade.

Then if you’re saw doesn’t have an automatic blade brake on it like newer saws have, always wait until the blade stops spinning “completely” before you attempt to adjust it.

Ask any carpenter or trades-person who uses a pneumatic staple, brad or nail gun on a regular basis at work and they’ll tell you that they’ve been shot by it at least once. It’s almost a given that it’s going to happen because they’re just that dangerous. Then when you place an air gun in the hands of an inexperienced person the risk of being shot skyrockets.

Even so, being shot by even a large 16 penny gun really isn’t as dramatic as an injury as it may sound like. It’s getting shot in the eye or head that you have to be concerned about, so always wear goggles, and if someone is using one up on a ladder make sure that it it has a functioning safety and that they keep their finger off the trigger.

Get Started on the Mirror Framing Project

There really are several ways that you go about the job and how you do that as determined by a handful of different factors. For instance if you have a large mirror that’s already attached to your wall in front of your sink you’ll approach it in a different fashion than, say if have a smaller mirror that hasn’t been attached yet. Even so, there really is no one set rules that determine specifically how to frame a bathroom mirror so there’s plenty of room here for creativity.

Now can skip the learning process altogether are opting for one of the many mirror framing kit packages that are available online.

They basically snap together and by doing so sidesteps so many that potential problem areas that come with doing the job piece by piece using wood trim.

Now if you look carefully at all the kit packages though you’ll see that they all come in one basic design motif. Straight pieces along the sides that butt into decorative square corner pieces.

“I’ll try to answer all your questions with pics and instructions, so that all of you can try this at home. I learned again the best way to do this and I think I have it fine-tuned now. I’ll cover it all below in a bulletpoint list so that you can see all the instructions in one spot.”

There are two things that you can do to make it easy on yourself if you decide to do the job from scratch using wood trim. One is to wait it to install the mirror on the wall until after you’ve cut and “test fit” all the pieces on the floor or a table.

This way you can check to make sure that everything’s going to go together correctly before you start in nailing the frame and the mirror together on the wall.

Then the second thing you can do is to opt for a painted mirror frame. With paint you’re free to use caulk to fill in all your mistakes and bad fitting joints. You see, if you go with a stained and lacquered finish you need to do perfect work because everything will show through in your finished results.