Window film


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Old 04-11-06, 03:23 AM
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Window film

I'm looking for any info on window film. We have a large bay window which gets the direct afternoon sun and heats up the house in the summer. Would window film help this problem? How effective is it? Where does one find it? How expensive is it?
 
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Old 04-11-06, 04:35 AM
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Originally Posted by Touque
I'm looking for any info on window film. We have a large bay window which gets the direct afternoon sun and heats up the house in the summer. Would window film help this problem? How effective is it? Where does one find it? How expensive is it?
I tried this stuff once. Got a big sheet of it at Lowes or HD for a sliding glass door. Wasn't terribly expensive but we never could get it on there without wrinkles, ended up giving up on it.
 
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Old 04-11-06, 05:32 AM
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Lowe's and HD carry it, it's very effective, and as wreck says it can be difficult to apply. The trick is to follow the directions religiously and take plenty of time [not suggesting wreck didn't do that]. The biggest key is that the glass surface must be absolutely free of dirt and debris. This means washing the glasss several times, then going over it with a single edge razor blade, then cleaning again. Also the surface has to be wetted as per instructions and a lot of squeegy work done to work out the water and bubbles. The film itself can be tricky to work with becasue you have to separate the backing by pressing two pieces of scotch tape together at a corner and pulling apart. When it separates you can get some unwanted curling AND you want to avoid touching the film to anything that could pick up dirt or dust. Might try your hand at a small, out of the way window before you dive in on the bigger stuff.
 
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Old 04-11-06, 07:51 PM
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Sounds very difficult, but thanks for the info. We do have a HD in the city near us, I'll have to check them out this weekend. The main window is large, about 6' x 5', so I am feeling leary about this. Ideally I would like to remove it for the winter because the sun through that window helps with our heating bill. But if it's that hard to put on I don't think I'll be doing that.

Bob
 
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Old 04-12-06, 04:35 AM
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That could be tough; I think the film that HD carries is 4' wide. Think you would have to hunt for wider.

Here's some more instructional material:

http://www.dulley.com/diy/fwfilm.shtml
 
 

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