There is a large mirror on my bathroom wall that has to go, but I think it’s glued on. What’s the safest way to remove it?
You think it’s glued on? Then it probably is.
Put down a drop cloth on the vanity and floor… cover the mirror with a canvas drop cloth… nail the drop cloth to the wall if you need to. Put on long pants, socks shoes, long sleeve shirt… safety glasses, gloves… Then smash the mirror with a large crow bar, hammer, sledge. it will break… some pieces will fall.
Carefully Clean up the mess, vac, and wet mop the glass…
Then cut out the drywall behind the mirror to the studs… install blocking as needed… install and finish new drywall in prep for paint.
I’ve done 4 of these… I’ve tried carefully removing the first one… the glue always wins, and the mirror always breaks… so I don’t waste my customer’s time and money any more… I walk in the plan to smash it and replace drywall… its faster for me and cheaper for them… because its just going to break anyway.
If it is glued on, you still have a chance to get it off in one piece. What I generally do is cary a slim flat piece of steel that is sharp on one edge and slide that back and forth behind the mirror to cut/notch/ruin the sheetrock paper around the glue. You would be surprised to find out how sturdy those things are and will bend a bit before cracking or breaking. Be aggressive with the piece of metal, to be honest you could probably use a flat handle machete to get the job done, just wear cutting gloves or it could end badly. They have great metal enforces gloves on amazon for cheap. If it is not glued on carefully pry up the brackets on the top and bottom, it will give way under its own weight.