This is my old mirror (taped to control demo fragments). Yes I’m in for a lot of bad luck. 
I had tried cutting it off by sliding piano wire beneath, but the wire was totally ineffective against the adhesive. Destruction was the only option.
You can see that the silvering was degraded at the edges, so it needed replacement.
Demolition is underway. This thing was well glued. The adhesive they used was equivalent to liquid nails. It required banging on a sharpened flat bar with a hammer.
When all the glass was off, I still had to remove the adhesive, which was about 1/8” thick. I tried a heat gun and hot scraper, but they didn’t work at all. Tried a torch but the wood was less heat resistant than the adhesive. The partially painted strip of molding on the left in the image below was put in place as a guide to position the new mirror exactly parallel to the door.
The oscillating blade was just the ticket. It cut through the adhesive like butter, and by keeping it at a low angle it didn’t damage the wood any further. (The flat bar already did a lot of damage.)
I used Liquid Nails mirror adhesive to mount the replacement mirror. The back of the new mirror has been treated with a spray-on coating that’s supposed to prevent silver degradation from the salt air. To hide any underlying marks or discoloration, the new mirror was ordered 2" wider and 2" taller than the original. Very happy with the results.
I had tried cutting it off by sliding piano wire beneath, but the wire was totally ineffective against the adhesive. Destruction was the only option.You can see that the silvering was degraded at the edges, so it needed replacement.
Demolition is underway. This thing was well glued. The adhesive they used was equivalent to liquid nails. It required banging on a sharpened flat bar with a hammer.
When all the glass was off, I still had to remove the adhesive, which was about 1/8” thick. I tried a heat gun and hot scraper, but they didn’t work at all. Tried a torch but the wood was less heat resistant than the adhesive. The partially painted strip of molding on the left in the image below was put in place as a guide to position the new mirror exactly parallel to the door.
The oscillating blade was just the ticket. It cut through the adhesive like butter, and by keeping it at a low angle it didn’t damage the wood any further. (The flat bar already did a lot of damage.)
I used Liquid Nails mirror adhesive to mount the replacement mirror. The back of the new mirror has been treated with a spray-on coating that’s supposed to prevent silver degradation from the salt air. To hide any underlying marks or discoloration, the new mirror was ordered 2" wider and 2" taller than the original. Very happy with the results.
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