Window Film
The conversation around the environment both outside the home and indoors requires us to understand the interaction between the elements and how we build our homes, the materials we use, and in this particular case the fact that in homes built today, over 15% of the total area of the house is glass.
The attraction for large windows allows for more light into a house and architecturally can enhance the overall style and appearance of the home. There are however considerations to be made regarding how to deal with the seasons; the effects the sun’s rays have both on the home and utility bills.
The electromagnetic energy that showers the earth from the sun comprises of three bands by wavelengths – the Ultraviolet Band, the Visible Band and the Near Infra-Red Band. Each of these bands respectively has differing outcomes in how we experience them – from fading, to creating glare and the transmitted heat.
Window film is a product that has been developed to control the effects the solar electromagnetic energy has on our homes, our person and the regulation of energy in the home, to create a stable and comfortable environment.
The film is impossible to see once applied to windows, and is constructed with a micro-thin laminate of high tensile strength polyester, and metal particles combined with a clear distortion-free adhesive.
One of the advantages of the window film is that it diffuses the sun’s light without blocking it. The latest window films manufactured are capable of reducing glare by as much as 75%. Both the sunlight and heat generated are responsible for fading and causing discolouration of furnishing and interior finishes.
Window film rejects up to 99.9% of the ultra violet light streaming into your home to protect and preserve your curtains, furniture, art and flooring.
With this added protection, the reduction of skin cancer means that health professionals would endorse this product.
When it comes to energy in your home, solar control window films help reduce utility bills by reducing the solar heat gain in the summertime, saving energy and demand on the air conditioner.
In winter they reduce hot spots, regulate temperature and retain warmth in the home by reflecting heat reaching the inside glass surfaces back into the house, normally lost through the windows.
Other qualities and attributes of the safety/security films are that they reduce glare, provide glass mitigation, provide protection from storms, and deter break-ins. The scratch-free coating allows windows to be easily cleaned.
Whilst the product is available from hardware stores for the do-it-yourselfer – the recommendation is to call in the professionals who work with superior quality products, with full manufacturer’s warranty, which apply with professionally installed systems.
Professional companies know their products. They can advise on which are suitable for any specific application to provide a good-looking outcome, performance and length of life.
In the consideration of your home, the aesthetics, your furnishings, your level of comfort, the high-energy functioning of your windows and utility systems, solar control window films are a worthy investment.