Business owners whose facilities feature glass window panels or displays must fend off many potential problems. Glass can transfer stifling heat in the summer, allow precious warmth to escape in the winter, subject occupants and furnishings to destructive rays, and sustain damage from vandalism or accidents.
If you find yourself worrying about any of these issues, investigate your options for covering your facility’s glass windows with protective films, from glare-blocking tints to abuse-absorbing coatings. Take a look at how different types of commercial window films suit different needs and challenges.
For Glare and UV Reduction: Commercial Window Tint
The blazing New Mexico sun can prove a formidable annoyance at your workplace. Blinding glare can make some parts of your building all but unusable at certain times of the day. In addition to the onslaught of visible light, the sun’s energy also includes UV radiation. This invisible radiation has an all-too-visible effect on furniture and carpeting, causing colors to fade and plastics to degrade.
Commercial window tint can put these issues to rest. Available tint colors and shades of darkness allow you to choose darker tints for areas that receive excessive glare (or require privacy from the outside world) while covering storefront displays with minimally tinted film. Window tint films block out almost all UV radiation regardless of their tint color or darkness.
For Thermal Insulation: Low-Emissivity Window Film
While window tint films can do an admirable job of filtering glare and UV rays, they have some limitations in their ability to control a building’s interior temperatures. Tinted films reduce the amount of heat entering your building, which can help you save money on climate control in the summer. However, they can also let valuable heat escape your building on cold winter days.
By contrast, low-emissivity (Low-E) commercial window film can help you regulate building temperatures all year round. This plastic film contains metallic particles that greatly boost its ability to reflect thermal energy. It reflects up to 80 percent of solar heat gain and conserves up to 50 percent of heat inside your facility.
Low-E film comes in three grades of tint: VT35, VT50, and VT70, each named after the percentage of visible light they transmit. Evaluations of VT35 film in multiple parts of the U.S. demonstrated its ability to save facilities an average of 29 percent on their HVAC bills (compared to buildings with untreated single-pane windows).
For Glass Protection: Anti-Graffiti and Security Film
If you worry about your commercial facility’s windows suffering defacement by vandals or accidental scuffs and abrasions, consider covering the windows with anti-graffiti film. This thick, clear film, also referred to as safety film, lends glass surfaces an extra degree of protection against scratches. Most scratches will penetrate no farther than the film itself, which you can then replace easily and affordably.
If someone tries to break your window, the anti-graffiti film will help to limit and contain the breakage, not unlike the way automotive windshield glass keeps breakage from flying into the car’s cabin. While you must still replace the broken glass, you won’t have scattered (and potentially dangerous) shards littering your building’s interior.
Security film works on the same principle as anti-graffiti glass. However, it boasts even greater thickness, allowing it to contain more forceful impacts. If your facility faces risks from natural disasters or major criminal activity, this film can keep glass from flying into your facility and causing injury. It might even prove enough of a nuisance to thwart a would-be burglar’s efforts.
Horizon Auto Glass & Tint can help you figure out what commercial window coatings will do the best job of addressing your particular concerns. Contact us today to schedule a chat with our experienced team.