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Experience with UV film on Window? House is a damn sauna!

I did the HD tint on our old sliding glass door and a couple larger windows. It was reasonable to install and helped. When we remodeled we got new windows and shutters/shades

Don't discount radiant heat from the walls. They have retractable shades you can mount under your gutters and pull down during heavy sun. I did something similar for our studio shed and it made a huge difference.
 
We live in a condo with massive west-facing windows that we used the UV film on. While results may vary, here’s my take:

1. They definitely mitigate some of the heat - combined with blackout curtains it does get less warm.
2. The radiant heat from the walls themselves did not change - but we also wanted the added protection for our stuff from UV damage and hopefully added privacy. Can’t say for SURE, but when we look at our windows from the outside they seem pretty mirrored. If anyone still gets a show, hey - enjoy it. :D
3. We did the work ourselves - the film is not cheap (especially with large surface area to cover - I want to say I needed 8-10 boxes of the large rolls?)...and it’s a PAIN to get it on bubble-free. A couple of panes really should be re-done but we’ve tolerated them.
 
Dubbington said:
Anyone DIY UV film their windows?

The film can be bought from Amazon and Home Depot BUT I worry about the efficiency and quality. The quotes I got is using 3m tint, same stuff for cars. I'm not sure where to get that stuff as I think most is sold to installers only.
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I've placed removable static cling tint on the affected windows of our place. At the first house I used the mirrored stuff and was amazed at the difference it made. I didn't like how it looked from the outside of the house though. It easily peeled off when we moved.

At the new house I covered 200sq ft of windows (the entire sun-room) using the static cling stuff. This time we just went with a dark tint. The temperature dropped 15-20deg pre-tint to post-tint.

In my experience, the only drawback with static-cling is that it isn't as optically clear as the 'permanent' stuff. We rarely notice it though.

It's cheap and removable (Amazon). Buy just enough to do one room and test the results. It helps more than we anticipated. Well worth the minimal cost.
 
I've found mirror tint helped most without making it too dark. I cut out pieces to fit pane perfectly, then tape them on in summer. Then remove, roll up and put into storage for winter.

As mentioned, UV isn't problem, it's blocked 99% by glass anyway. It's the light and infrared that heats up stuff on inside when it gets in.
 
...orrrrr plant a tree. Seriously.
 
DucatiHoney said:
...orrrrr plant a tree. Seriously.
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Total win. I planted two trees at the front of my house to shelter the two big picture windows, and an apple tree in the back for apples and shade. Totally worth it.
 
Enchanter said:
I've placed removable static cling tint on the affected windows of our place. At the first house I used the mirrored stuff and was amazed at the difference it made. I didn't like how it looked from the outside of the house though. It easily peeled off when we moved.

At the new house I covered 200sq ft of windows (the entire sun-room) using the static cling stuff. This time we just went with a dark tint. The temperature dropped 15-20deg pre-tint to post-tint.

In my experience, the only drawback with static-cling is that it isn't as optically clear as the 'permanent' stuff. We rarely notice it though.

It's cheap and removable (Amazon). Buy just enough to do one room and test the results. It helps more than we anticipated. Well worth the minimal cost.
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Thanks for this I am now looking into it as my upstairs gets light all day through some huge ass windows and it makes the upstairs a massive heat sink for the sun. I am going to try this method.

DucatiHoney said:
...orrrrr plant a tree. Seriously.
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I refuse to have trees too close to my house here in the swamps I have seen too many trees knocked over by high winds and that doesn't even count when we get hit by a hurricane.

But for California, I think it would be a good thing to do although it would take years to truly help out depending on how high the windows were.. but be kind to the next owner and plant them now....

I did plant some red maples down by the driveway loop though but they are too far away to block any sun.
 
I bought one from the depot for my front window

fine print said not to install in on windows xx years or older. I had to return it. Not interested in potential damage to an 80"*60" window
 
alot of heat comes from wall/attic heat saturation. The sun beats down on it all day, and that heat eventually saturates the materials and then radiates into the house in the evening hours. No amount of tinting is really going to offset the fact that you are sitting next to these heated physical materials.

When we installed solar panels on the house, one of their biggest benefits is that they acted as a giant heat deflector, reducing that saturation dramatically. Awnings, trees, are also good options to accomplish the same.

Whole house fan can also be used to move lots of air into the attic and dissipate structural heat.
 
mercurial said:
alot of heat comes from wall/attic heat saturation. The sun beats down on it all day, and that heat eventually saturates the materials and then radiates into the house in the evening hours. No amount of tinting is really going to offset the fact that you are sitting next to these heated physical materials.

When we installed solar panels on the house, one of their biggest benefits is that they acted as a giant heat deflector, reducing that saturation dramatically. Awnings, trees, are also good options to accomplish the same.

Whole house fan can also be used to move lots of air into the attic and dissipate structural heat.
Click to expand...
Probably wouldn't hurt to have a sprinkler system on the roof to help cool it down with a few minutes of evaporative cooling.

Probably wouldn't be a popular method with the water shortage folks. :laughing
 
I was reminded of this thread as I just installed some static cling mirror tint on some of my windows.

So I bought some Kespen brand static cling mirror tint from Amazon last week. I installed it on one pane just to see how it worked and it seemed to make the window itself hotter but the area away from the window was not as hot as the untinted one. So I decided to do another test that would show quicker results. In my bedroom the AC does not work that well due to crappy builder and stupid AC contractor. it also doesn't help that the sun hits two of the windows from about 3pm on and it will make the room a sauna, so with this in mind I decided to do a quick install of the reflective tint on my bedroom windows.

I spent most of Sunday morning making sure that the windows were as clean as I could make them. this involved cleaning it with window cleaner and then using a razor scraper to get rid of and stuck on crap. Once I did this I cleaned it again. Due to my windows not matching any size tint there was a lot of measuring and cutting. Once the pieces were cut and ready I had my wife help me and we got the backer pulled off and the windows and tint sprayed liberally with slightly soapy water. Got the tint on the windows trimmed and squeegeed out before 2pm on Sunday. So it was now the moment of truth. The sun hit that side of the house and at around 6pm the room was only a little bit hotter than the rest of the house instead of the raging inferno it normally was without the tint. So I am ordering some more tint as there is a small window in the bathroom I am going to do and then one more window in our bedroom that gets some sun around that time although not as bad as the two I already did. I already had blackout drapes in the room but the tint was a game changer. It worked so well I am going to do all of our upstairs windows that get hit by the sun all day to help the upstairs AC run less.

Just wanted to give a real world update to the hive so that if anyone is on the fence about it they can have a real review of it instead of trying to shift through all the Amazon shit reviews.

One other tip I bought a cheap $12 or so install kit that had some squeegees and stuff in it and it was extremely useful during install.
 
Thanks for sharing your experience, it sounds like really useful information. :thumbup
 
I open the entire house early in the morning when It's cool out. My south side windows are covered by my porch awning. The windows to the east and on the north side, which gets some morning sun, are covered by reflective insulated foil once I close up the house. I came home from cedarville Sunday. The AC was off, it was 100 outside and about 76 inside.

I am fortunate to have a big tree that shades the south side, too.
 
two wheel tramp said:
I open the entire house early in the morning when It's cool out. My south side windows are covered by my porch awning. The windows to the east and on the north side, which gets some morning sun, are covered by reflective insulated foil once I close up the house. I came home from cedarville Sunday. The AC was off, it was 100 outside and about 76 inside.

I am fortunate to have a big tree that shades the south side, too.
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That's all good for the summer, but how about the winter when you'll want some heating?
 
Climber said:
That's all good for the summer, but how about the winter when you'll want some heating?
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I'll figure that out this winter. The porch awning has skylights I can remove the covers from and the shady tree will shed its leaves. Dubs question seemed more concerned about avoiding heat so thats the point I addressed.
 
Or y'all could just move to Eureka....if it gets above 65 I think by law they have to call a heat alert..:cool:laughing
DT
 
I don't mind the heat, and they build the houses well down here for it and put in sufficient AC systems.
 
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