There are many areas in a house where home owners would like to have more privacy. The most common areas are bathrooms and shower enclosures. Other area include home office and there are also owners who would prefer that their wardrobe or cabinet glass to be frosted so that inside’s view is obscured. You can now do so very conveniently with opaque window films.
Window films are made of vinyl material and the window tint industry had came a long way since many decades ago when it was first introduced. Originally, window tinting is used in the automobile industry. Then, as more and more designs are introduced and because of competition, it is also now widely applied in residential and commercial buildings. When it was first introduced in buildings, window tints consists of dark tinting films similar to those applied in automobile industry.
Over the years, the technology of manufacturing window films have also greatly advanced to a stage where window films are now of such high quality that you can hardly tell that a glass is installed with it. The followings are some of the more popular types of window films for residential homes: etched glass window film, stained glass window film, frosted window film and colored window film.
Most of the times, owner will just choose opaque window film to make their windows opaque. Under this category, you may choose either a full frosted window film or a lite frost version. A fully frosted one will make your window totally opaque, whereas a lite frost version will make it semi-opaque, meaning that you can still see shadows.
There are few advantages of using window film over other choices to add privacy. Although opaque window film makes window opaque, it does not block off light. That means that you do not need to turn up more lights as natural light can still shines through. It can also withstand both heat and moisture making it very suitable to be installed on bathroom windows and shower enclosure.
Another modern design that is fast catching up popularity to be used to add privacy is colored window film. Traditionally, coloring a window would require the mixing of certain minerals into the glass making process to create the color required. With color window tinting film, all you need to do is just apply it on any glass surface and the ambient of the room will be immediately transformed.
Stained glass window film is also popularly applied to make a window opaque. Stained glass used to be popular during the medieval times but a few hundred years later, an architect by the name of Sir Frank Wright introduced it widely into buildings. Since then, it has caught popularity and many homes today have some windows that is stained.
One concern that many home owners have is whether will all these window films make the window look fake and artificial, or worse still, will it make it look cheap. The technology of manufacturing window films in today’s world is so advance that you can hardly tell the difference between an original glass and one that has been decorated with window films.
You may purchase opaque window film at many locations. You may purchase it at hardware stores, DIY mall or through online. Most merchandiser should be able to provide you with a warrantee of at least three years. The lifespan of the window film usually last twice as long as its warrantee, so usually, three years warrantee is sufficient. Anyway, by the end of the sixth year, very likely you may want to redecorate your windows again.
There are in general two types of opaque window films in the market today. One need adhesives to stick to the glass and they are known as adhesive-based window film. The other ones are self-adhesive and they stick to glass surface through static action. These type of adhesive window film is very convenient as they can be installed as a DIY process in less than fifteen minutes. When it comes to removal, you simply peel them off. The advent of this type of DIY window film makes them very popular among home owners.
Other than making a window opaque, window film have many other benefits too. It helps to filter off harmful ray of the sun such as ultra-violet ray. It also helps to filter out heat gain and therefore make your house a much energy efficient home. When installed, it reduces glare and creates a much more comfortable environment for its occupants.
