Film lets in light, keeps heat out

Sunlight, while inviting, can be hot and cause furniture to fade.
By LAURA CHRISTMAN
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Natural light makes a home bright and inviting. So bring it on.
Be careful, though. Invite too much sun into your home and you'll be sorry. The dark side of sunshine is that it's hot, glaring and fades furniture and carpets.
You can keep the sun out with curtains, blinds and shades, but they also block the view to the outside world and can make you feel like a cave dweller.
Maybe it's time to consider another option: solar window films.
"I've got them on every window of the house," says Susan Botts of Redding, Calif. "Now we can open our curtains and look out and see without the glare and heat."
Nancy Wolochuk had Sunblockers put solar window film on most of the windows in her new home. She and her husband, Alan, lived in a house with similar exposures and had witnessed the power of the sun.
"Our furniture was completely faded, to the point of almost starting to rot," she says.
They weren't going to make that mistake again. Their clear window film is subtly tinted and keeps out most of the ultraviolet light (the main culprit with fading), but doesn't make the home seem dark.
Comfort factor
Debbie Reiner says her Palo Cedro, Calif., home is more comfortable since she had window film put on all her windows. She's hoping the films reduce high electric bills. "So far there's been a noticeable temperature difference," she says.
Solar window film isn't new. It's been around since the late 1960s. Early versions were shiny metallic and offered a look akin to aluminum foil.
Appearance wasn't the only drawback. The films often bubbled, faded and were easily scratched.
Those problems have been overcome, says Jack Audino, general manager of Sunblockers.
"As technology changed, so did the product," he says.
Today's window films are durable and attractive. They can have a reflective appearance from the outside, but many are so understated they're difficult to detect on a window.
The window film used to restrict glare and heat has ultra-thin layers with components such as copper, titanium or ceramic and a scratch-resistant coating.
The film has an adhesive backing and is put on the inside window surface.
For those building a new home or replacing windows, another option is spectrally selective glass, says Rick Chitwood, president of Chitwood Energy Management in Mount Shasta, Calif. The glass has a coating to reduce heat gain. The coating is applied during the manufacturing process.
"It's a new formulation of a coating that's better for hot climates," Chitwood says.
The windows cost about $1 more per square foot than standard windows, he says.