window tinting

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homeowner
Posts: 29
Joined: Thu Feb 16, 2006 1:52 pm

window tinting

#1 Post by homeowner »

curious. ive searched but found no thread about this. 2 different companies have asked about this. is it something i might want? is this something the window manufacture does or is this done by the local co? do many get this option? are they happy with it? thanx for any input.

InfoSponge
Posts: 155
Joined: Tue Jan 17, 2006 2:25 am

#2 Post by InfoSponge »

Ask your dealers why they are offering tinting and when it is most useful for customers. Here is my opinion...

If you plan to look out of the window a lot, low E is a better option, I think. It provides similar radiant heat blocking without as much color distortion as you look out the window. Consider looking at a sample of both and make up your mind only after looking and analyzing the difference in SHGC relative to your needs. If you live in a cold climate, tinting might be bad, because it blocks some heat gain you would want from the sunlight. If you are in a warm climate and blocking lots of radiant heat is very important and you don't care about or the color distortion, you might consider it. The windows I looked at around here supply the glass pre-tinted from the factory, though there might be some window dealers that try to tint it. If so, I'm not sure I would trust their work as much, and it might void your window warranty if they try to modify the glass like that.

Tru_blue
Posts: 72
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2006 3:21 pm

Re: window tinting

#3 Post by Tru_blue »

You're either talking about tinting existing windows with a film, or ordering windows with tinted glass. I'm assuming you mean the latter but I'll briefly touch on both.

A film can be applied to existing windows to reduce visible daylight and reduce solar heat gain. Such films also reduce UV transmission by typically blocking 99.5% of UV rays. Unfortunately every window company I know of will void their warranty if a film is applied by others. The film can cause the glass to potentially absorb more heat than it was designed for, possibly leading to premature seal failure or a stress crack. I haven't actually seen this to be a common problem, but I can see why glass manufacturers wouldn't want to cover seal failure if a film was applied by another company.

As for getting tinted glass when ordering new windows, I'm wondering why anyone would want it unless they want to reduce daylight. Low E squared (a double coat of Low E, common in many windows) can actually reduce solar heat gain better than routine tinted glass, but without the heavy tint! Here's some relative heat gain stats (the lower the better at blocking heat):
GLASS TYPE - - - RELATIVE HEAT GAIN - - - DAYLIGHT TRANSMISSION

Clear IG - - - 185 - - - 81%
Gray Tinted IG - - - 151 - - - 55%
Gray Tinted Low E IG - - - 125 - - - 51%
Low E Squared/Argon - - - 99 - - - 72%
Gray Tinted Low E2/Argon - - - 80 - - - 40%

There are advantages to getting tinted glass - reducing visible daylight can be beneficial in an office where the blinding sunlight may make it hard to read papers or see a computer monitor, etc. And there are tinted glass options that will lower the visible daylight and solar heat gain even further that are not listed above (especially the reflective ones).

To answer your other questions:
"Is it something I might want?" Maybe, if you want to block daylight or seriously lower solar heat gain.

"Is this something the window manufacturer does or is this done by the local co?" Tinted glass is done by the glass manufacturer, unless it's a film.

"Do many get this option? Are they happy with it?" Residentially I have not seen many get it ever. Commercially I have seen it a lot. As for how much they like it, in commercial applications they have seemed pleased, or perhaps the best word is "satisfied;" in residential applications I really don't know because so few have it.

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