'Tinted' windows?

Joined
11 Dec 2007
Messages
400
Reaction score
2
Country
United Kingdom
We need new glass on the front of the house upstairs & my wife mentioned the other day about how she'd seen a house with windows that seemed a bit tinted & she was on about it as a possibility. From her point of view it'd be better for getting changed so she doesn't have to shut the curtains.

My workplace has had an extension built that has tinted windows. I call them tinted but i don't know if they are. They're certainly different to your 'everyday' type windows, whether it's a film or something that's within the glass. I know it's difficult to see in but you can see out perfectly fine. If they have the office lights on then you can see in much better. I'm crap at visualising though and they have these new windows in black frames whereas all the other existing windows were in white frames so i'm not sure how it'd look.


Anyway how much extra do these things cost?
What is the actual design of them? Is it a film like a peel off (i doubt it) or is it the actual glass itself (which is what i'm expecting)?
Benefits and disadvantages of these?

The front of our house gets the sun all day long in summer and you have to have the blinds shut if you want to watch TV otherwise the glare is terrible. Also the rooms can get quite hot, so i'm wondering if this tinted glass (i'll carry on calling it tinted until someone corrects me) will A) cut down the glare and B) not have the room being so hot.

But they can't be perfect so there must be some sort of disadvantage.

Hopefully someone knows what i'm referring to so that i don't have to go getting a photo. :)
 
Sponsored Links
What you had in the office was very likely an obscurity film, but only worked whilst the lights were off - as soon as you turned the lights on inside, it was useless.

You can buy the tinting film for cars on ebay, but make sure you get the installation tools as well to scrape the water out from under the film.
 
I'll have a chat with my boss but they can be a bit funny when you're asking for information, even over something as innocent as this. They get paranoid & it's like - why do you want to know? So they may or may not tell me what the deal is with their windows.
 
Sponsored Links
Why bother with the boss, it's you're house that you're dealing with, and it's tint film that you want.
I bother with the boss because he had the windows installed, he paid for them so he should at least know what he has installed, whether it's with or without film.

I bother with the boss because when i asked him this week, i was told that it's actually not a film that was applied & it's actually the glass that is the way it is.

Then when i ask if they could get me a name for this since they're saying it's the glass makeup yet when i say tinted people online are thinking of film they came back with

"solar control glass"

There was more to the name but i assume that's the important bit?

Does this explain any better what i was trying to describe in the OP?
 
Yes, you've explained about the boss, but it's not the same. He had the system installed from scratch, you're you're trying to retrofit, and new glass panels will be expensive. If the panes aren't too large, then you just decide on which type of film you want. The solar control film is great during the day, but is see through at night, whereas the tint cuts down the light during the day, but will make you turn the lights on earlier than normal.

If you don't like the film, it can be removed carefully with a hair dryer.
 
This doesn't answer your question per se, but my parents have large south facing windows in their lounge which were originally installed around 40 years ago with a 'tinted' outer glass and a clear inner glass making up the double glazed unit. They were fantastic for daytime privacy since you could see out much better than you could see in, although the difference all but disappeared when the internal lights were on.
 
Yes, you've explained about the boss, but it's not the same. He had the system installed from scratch, you're you're trying to retrofit, and new glass panels will be expensive. If the panes aren't too large, then you just decide on which type of film you want. The solar control film is great during the day, but is see through at night, whereas the tint cuts down the light during the day, but will make you turn the lights on earlier than normal.

If you don't like the film, it can be removed carefully with a hair dryer.
Yeah i know he had the whole thing installed from scratch but i was thinking he had new glass in new frames, i want new glass in existing frames & was simply looking in to this as a possibility, trying to find out more info about it so that we can come to a decision, that's all really.

I did wonder about the cost but again that brings us back to me just wanting more info.

My wife raised an interesting point though - his glass is mirrored. I don't know if this is a result of the type of glass it is or whether it's an optional extra, but we have kids playing in the street here & they all seem to like to gather outside our house (street is on a dip & we're in the centre). Can just see it - when they notice the mirrored effect, it'll attract them to our house even moreso, no doubt coming on the drive to have a look (caught them running up the neighbours pathway so they're not shy about it). So a mirrored effect is probably not a good idea really.



Is this film costly? And do the regular window installers apply it or is it a third party company?
 
The films quite cheap, and you can install it yourself; there are several videos on Youtube. You can use the car window tints, or the solar film that was linked in an earlier post. It comes in rolls, but it's only 0.76m wide, so if you windows are wider that this, then you'll end up with a join. I got some window film from Lidl's last year, and upped the opacity in the bathroom.

Click on the links in #5 and 6, and search ebay for window tint tools.
 

DIYnot Local

Staff member

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.


Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

 
Sponsored Links
Back
Top