With too much heat and brightness caused by the sun, it is essential to have your windows tinted – may it be your home or your office. Tinted windows not only protects you from harmful UV rays, but it also allows you to save energy and add a sense of privacy in your space.
Wayne Bucklar: Joining me today is Gerry Whelan, CEO and Founder of Archer Glass in Brisbane. And Gerry has been a regular on the program, joins us today and talk about film. No, not movie film – “glass tinting film.” Gerry welcome to the program.
Gerry Whelan: Thank you Wayne.
W: Now Gerry film is one of those things that I’ve seen on automotive tinting but I’ve never thought about it for glass in buildings, tell us a bit about it.
G: Yeah, when you’ve got clear glass say in Brisbane facing north or west, so you’re facing north or west yeah you get a lot of heat increase through the glass from the sun. And if you apply different types of film, you get different levels of result in heat reduction, glare reduction and UV. Obviously with varying degrees of tint, you lose some light so there are some lighter ones and darker ones as well.
W: Okay. Now forgive my ignorance here because I’m not a glazier but you are, which side of the glass that this go on? The inside or the outside?
G: Always on the inside.
W: On the inside of the glass, I see. See I would have guessed the outside that’s why I’m not doing your job I guess.
G: Yeah, for weather. It doesn’t stand up to direct weather like it breaks in hail and stuff like that.
W: Of course. And so you’re saying now there are different types of film for different purposes and different tints?
G: Yeah, that’s right. So say the most common one is this one that’s an SM90. It’s got 99% UV which they all have, the glare reduction for this one is 82% and heat reduction 65%. And it’s quite a dark one but it gets very good results. You can get an idea there of how dark the tint is, that’s the SM90. Then you can go lighter ones like I said 50, with the heat reduction is 56%, glare 42, again UV 99. But you can see it’s a much lighter film, almost clear so you do lose almost no daylight with that one. And then of course there’s the one that’s being traditionally used in office buildings where it’s got just an absolute reflection and the same the heat reduction in that one though is 79% and the glare is 88%. So there is a huge result from it, but again windows all look like mirrors. And there is a degree of privacy as well but only during the day. At night it’s sort of dark when the lights are on inside, they can’t see out which you can see clearly in it like if it is clear glass. You can see in at night.
W: Ah, I see. There is more to this than the pattern meets the eye, isn’t there?
G: There is a lot of different little aspects to do different things and I’ll give you different results depending on what it is that you need most.
W: So Gerry if I’m looking at getting film fitted to my windows, it doesn’t have to be done when the glass is being put in it. It can we done afterwards?
G: Yes, it could be done at any time, years later. We have come into these some very old buildings.
W: Alright.
G: The glass in between and scrape off any little certain splashes of paint or something that might be on them and then we can apply the film and the all films have a lifetime warranty now as well.
W: It does sound like a very effective way to make the inside your home more comfortable to live in. I guess it’s a lot cheaper than changing glass or doing other things. Does it matter if you’ve got blinds or curtains?
G: No, it doesn’t matter if you have blinds or curtains so it’s not a problem. We just push them back or take them down and put them back if they’re really in the way. And the good thing about it is they all have like I said before the 99% UV reduction, which is the one that fades your carpet and cartons, fades furniture, everything like that so that cuts out that problem completely.
W: Oh right, so that not only does that help your cartons live longer but it’s also going to make your carpets live longer and keep your furniture in good condition.
G: All of that, yeah. Once they’re in that, if they’re getting any direct sun during the day, yes this would made a huge difference over time.
W: And Gerry the common one you said, is that mid-range tint? Does it make the rooms much darker?
G: I find that on a cloudy day, it seems to have more effect obviously because there’s not so much light outside in the first place.
W: Uh huh.
G: But yeah, it does. It can reduce the daylight quite a bit on those days. But then on a bright sunny day, you barely notice the difference.
W: And Gerry when people are keen on doing this, they obviously contact you at Archer Glass. I guess you need to measure up and quote on it. Is there any guidelines for this people about which ones going to look best or how do they go about picking which one they like?
G: Yeah, what you can do first is just measure each panel of glass because its price how that comes of the role.
W: Uh huh.
G: And how many windows you’ve got to attach yourself, you’ve measure each panel. And then ring up with a list of sizes of the panels you need tinted, then we can quote on that and for a couple of different types. And then you can either come into our showroom and then see them on our window and get a full view of it from inside and out that to choose one if you like or we have some on our website as well that you can have a look at.
W: Yeah. I can imagine that seeing the real thing in your showroom would be quite a help in making that decision.
G: Yeah, because you’re able to compare them side by side and their effect etc.
W: Gerry does it have any impact on the way the glass reacts if it’s damaged or broken?
G: It’s actually good impact because if your glass is not safety glass and it breaks, the film tends to hold it all together because they’re quite… so it won’t fall down so it actually has a semi safety effect on the glass if something happens. Obviously there you’ll then need to replace the film as well as the glass which adds to the cost.
W: It’s hard to see a downside in this Gerry. Is there any downside that you’re aware of when getting tinting on windows?
G: None that I know of because like any window can be done. And it is like you said, considerably cheaper than changing the glass. The only downside might be that when you clean the mirror, you got to watch that it’s a plain soft cloth and doesn’t have any zippers or buttons or anything like that on the cloth that might damage or scratch the film. If there’s a downside, that would probably be it – that you need to be careful.
W: A minor downside it seems. Gerry Whelan’s CEO and Founder of Archer Glass thank you for telling us about film tinting today. It does sound like pretty much a no brainer if you want to improve the confidence of your house and prevent the fading and damages that we talked about. Film tinting of your architecture glass seems like the way to go.
G: Yeah, absolutely. If we use the glass that’s existing, it’s a really good way to go to get the results you need.
W: Gerry thanks for your time today.
G: Thank you very much Wayne. Cheers, always good.