I just added something to my house that I thought you all might like to hear about, since I’ve done so much around here in the renovation mode. Â I have 2 large picture windows in my kitchen that face southwest and in the afternoon, the sun beats against those windows heating up the kitchen so much during the summer months. It really gets uncomfortable in there and makes me rethink having a fan in there that I took down when we renovated. I now see why it was there. There’s only one vent in there too for cooling it off and that one vent doesn’t do much. Â Even though I have lined bamboo shades in there, it’s still not enough to block the heat. I knew about window tint for cars and homes, so I called a local place and got an estimate.
Let me say that this is in no way sponsored.  I decided I wanted to add this to my home and called a local business that had a good rating online, The Tint Guy. They were very thorough in explaining the process and options to me, so I made my decision on which 3M film I wanted to add to my windows and set up an installation day with them. I have another window in the guest room (Rhonda’s room) that is also single pane and it gets afternoon sun too on the front of the house, so I added film there as well.  Total for all 3 windows came to just over $300, so I was satisfied with that.  Keith, the installer came out and got them installed in no time.
He explained the differences to me, but it was hard to grasp until I saw it in person, and even then it was hard to tell the difference, but here’s the breakdown on what I got:
Rejection of Solar Energy/ HEAT!
NV25 rejects 61%Â
PR50 rejects 56%
Reduction of Glare
NV25 reduces glare by 73%
PR50 reduces glare by 44%
It’s hard to tell the difference with the tinting in place, but you can see the Before here when he took the shade down to add the window film. I chose the NV25 for the kitchen, since it blocks more heat and glare and I’m happy to have less light in here. Â We don’t often open these blinds anyway, because….the neighbor is right there and it’s not that great a view, plus the heat.
And here’s the After shot. Â The NV25 window tint should help this room with the blocking some of that summer heat, I hope! Â I haven’t had a chance to really test it out yet because all of a sudden we haven’t had a lot of heat yet, but it’s coming, no doubt about that! Â I will keep the blinds down as usual and with that extra layer of tinting, it should make a difference.
Here’s how it looks from the outside. Â It is the darker tint of the two I got just so you know. I was fine with darker tint on these windows since they face the drive way and not the front of the house.
The window in Rhonda’s room, I got the PR50 tinting. Â It isn’t quite as dark and doesn’t block quite as much heat and glare, but should do the job too on the front of the house. This is the Before.
And here’s the After.
And a shot from the outside of the house.
I’ll keep you posted on how this works, but I thought it was definitely worth a shot in blocking the heat from my kitchen especially. Â It really gets hot in there when I’m cooking during the summer, making it very uncomfortable, so hopefully this will help make it more bearable. Â I thought this was something you all would enjoy hearing about and seeing what I chose just in case you are in the market to for less heat and glare coming in your windows.
Thanks for stopping by today!
Nancy says
The back of our house also faces west and this is Florida! Nuff said! ? We wanted to use this but our homeowners association doesn’t allow it. So we got plantation shutters, which I love, but they don’t keep that much heat or cold out. So our kitchen and family room are warm in the afternoon.
Susan says
I’ll be anxious to see if you like it and think it’s worth the money. We have some windows that I would like to use it on. It’s pretty cool right now here in Illinois, too, but heat and humidity are bound to be on the way before too much longer! 🙂
Rhoda says
HI, Susan, I figured it was worth a shot and it wasn’t too expensive, so I’m glad I did it. Every summer I said I needed to do something so I got on it early this year. It has to help and hopefully will decrease heat by 50% or so.
JanOdom says
Good morning Rhoda. I have enjoyed your blog. Where do you recommend a place to buy bamboo blinds? Thank you, Jan
Rhoda says
Hi, Jan, I worked with Payless Decor here in Atlanta on my bamboo blinds and love the. You can check them out online. I have them all over my house and they’ve been great.
Deborah says
I have a Palladian window in my kitchen in the breakfast room area and when the afternoon sun hits it, it creates a lot of heat so I had a medium tint window film placed on the window, you cannot tell it from the inside or the outside. The installer told me to only use window cleaner WITHOUT ammonia or else it would turn the tint purple over time. FYI! Thought it was good info to pass along!
Rhoda says
HI, Deborah, thanks for passing that on, it’s good to know.
Rebecca Sharpton says
Can you still see out from the inside and does it block the u v rays that fade furniture?
Rhoda says
Yes it does block the uv rays and yes as you can see from my pics, it’s very clear to the outside. It’s not that noticeable at all from the inside.
Anita says
I have the same problem with my kitchen. In early years we put the tint on the windows ourselves and it helped a lot. Eventually it came off. But this year we’re going back to the tint, it works!!
Denise says
We had heat-blocking reflective film put on 4 large living room windows that face southwest (looking out over the back yard) in the early 90s. It works well, doesn’t darken the room enough to notice, and cuts down on glare. Because our film has a reflective surface, a few birds have crashed into the windows. They haven’t broken any windows, though, and the bird population is doing fine. I wouldn’t use it on the front of the house due to the reflective nature of the film we used, but we needed it along the back of the house. Good move, Rhoda. In my experience, it’s worth the money.
Anita says
Years ago we had the tint on our kitchen windows as the afternoon sun came in. It worked for many years until eventually it came off. This year we’re going back to it for the same reason! You’ll notice a difference.
Becky says
We had this done about 5 years ago and still love it! Yours looks great!
Andrea G Corley says
I had it done in my office windows because it gets very, very hot in my office and they work GREAT. Hope you are as pleased as I am!