Did you know that 3M window film otherwise known as window tinting can significantly reduce fading from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays?
One of the biggest misconceptions about the fading of your window treatments, wood floors, carpets, drapes, furniture and artwork is that ultraviolet rays are the only cause. This could not be further from the truth.
There are many different causes of fading from the sun’s rays. The 3 major causes of fading are ultraviolet at 40% (also known as UV), 25% from infrared light (also known as heat) and 25% from visible light (also known as glare). The remaining 10% cause of fading is made up of a few elements such as humidity, indirect light and quality of the dye anchorage in the material.
About 15 years ago I received a disturbing phone call from a customer that had tinted their entire home. The product had been installed a little more than a year, best I can recall. She stated, “your window tinting/film doesn’t work?” I immediately told her I would be more than happy to come out and test the product and make sure it was performing properly. The product was 3M’s Night Vision 15, our most popular product to date, it always performs awesomely. I have a knack for remembering my customers homes as well as the interiors.
The first question I asked her was, what about your love seat and chair, which were part of the set. She then stated hold on a minute! She went into the living room and returned to the phone. Never mind, she said. There was no fading on those 2 other pieces of furniture, just the couch. This was when I learned that quality of the dye anchorage was one of the reasons, we as an industry can’t use the words, “stop fading”, significantly reduce is the best work we can use.
Fast forward approximately 15 years, we discovered another cause of fading, this was on a wood floor. I went to visit a customer down in a Dallas loft. It was a new owner and they had called me out to see if they could improve the performance of the existing film. The film that was on the windows had been applied 15-18 years earlier.
They pointed to the main wood floor and said, there was a lot of fading and were skeptical that the film had worked. Upon closer inspection, the area that was faded was the area that was covered by the pad & rug. What we discovered was the off- gassing from the rubber pad caused the fading. We inspected the rug and other parts of the wood floor and there was minimal fading after 15 pus years in the direct Eastern sun.
In closing the window film performed wonderfully for its life of 15 plus years. The customer upgraded to another 3M window film and now has their own lifetime labor and materials warranty.
Window tinting/film has many other redeeming properties such as energy savings and protecting your home’s interior and your family from flying glass due to impact of flying debris or hail.
Be sure to come visit our showroom and facility @ 650 East Hwy 121 suite 310 in Lewisville TX and discover the “Wonderful world of window film”.
Call us today and schedule a complimentary consultation!