Security film- opinion needed (firm, place, glass)

[mikeyyc]

If your house has doors, security film is a waste of money. 1 second and a boot will pop pretty much every standard residential door in existence. If you want tint, that's fine, but you're still probably better off going with screens from an energy saving perspective.

[houstonfan]

Crazy high prices! I did about 4 and 3 yrs ago and one was about $7/sqft and the other maybe $4-5/sqft which has tint and security. It'll take yrs to recupe cost savings at 10k.
I feel that film can only do so much, the fact that plenty of light goes in means 'energy' is getting into your house. Use blinds, curtains, plant a tree.

[houstonfan]

Using exaggerated numbers, let's say your electricity bill per yr was $3000 and you saved 20% energy from the film, that's $600 savings per year. It'll take you more than ten years to break even on film installation.
By the way, the only reason I did mine was back then, there was a tax credit for energy saving measures and my total bill before tax credit was only about $1500, much much less after tax credit. Doesn't make sense with the numbers you were quoted.

[wolverine82]

I got it done for 3900$ for 585 sq.ft of windows and it was a job well done until now. Lets see how it looks after 30 days.

[Coog05]

^ Who did you use?

[wolverine82]

Sun tech glass tinting.

[studiobtm]

My experience with tinting has been very positive in that there is a significant difference in how cool the house is now. This winter there was a noticeable but lesser difference in warmth. I'm also able to leave curtains open and enjoy the view much more now that I do not have to worry about the sun fading my furniture, art work etc.

[Talltinter]

Originally Posted by mikeyyc

If your house has doors, security film is a waste of money. 1 second and a boot will pop pretty much every standard residential door in existence. If you want tint, that's fine, but you're still probably better off going with screens from an energy saving perspective.

Sorry you are mistaken. If the security film is properly installed, it will take minutes instead of seconds for someone to enter your home.

[Clever nickname here]

Originally Posted by Talltinter

Sorry you are mistaken. If the security film is properly installed, it will take minutes instead of seconds for someone to enter your home.

How does window tint change the amount of time needed to kick in the door; which is what he is referring to?

[Talltinter]

If the house was build after 1970 the glass has to be what they call safety which is tempered. Same type of glass on vehicle doors which breaks into millions of pieces to keep the occupant from being cut to pieces.

If you install security film with a daylight cut(trimmed along the frame). All you do is allow the person to break the glass and push it out

There has to be an attachment system to hold the film to the door. Depending on the type of door it can be wet glazed, a vinyl attachment or a new frame system.

Most back doors I have seen has a trim piece to hold the glass in the door. You can remove this trim, film to the glass edge, apply a structural silicone such as Dow Corning 995 to the glass void, install the frame over the filmed glass and structural silicone. For residential doors the glass is much thinner than commercial glass. I always recommend a 7 mil exterior film applied on the exterior surface and a 8 mil film applied to the interior glass.

Once the silicone has cured, it will be attached to the door frame and glass. When the glass is broken, that energy is transferred to the door frame and this will hold the glass in the door frame. So instead of just hitting the glass and walking in, the person will have to beat on the door multiple times to create an opening big enough for them to enter.

Nothing will stop a person from entering a home if they are dead set on doing so. Making it more difficult will make noise and slow someone down allowing the occupant to take appropriate action.