Window Blinds - discussion of alternatives

The following is a list of several discussions from the board about window blinds.

pierce8468

when i first started working. i would put mirror on cars if asked. but then i though about this. what if that icehole is driving past my shop. or anywhere for that matter. and blinds the hell out of some other driver. who in turn crashes into a car . carrying my daughter. since then fark mirror. id rather starve

It might be best to go with a light Stainless Steel film or something comparable. It would allow plenty of light into the condo. It's not really considered a privacy film but what I've realized over the years is even if the film gives just a slight amount of reflection then people tend to look at themselves or the reflection rather than looking through the glass. But if you want the appearance to remain the same for the most part on the exterior you might have to go with a pretty light film----which means less privacy! I think in this situation....chick is right. You might be best going with blinds.....you just can't have a film installed that gives privacy but changes the outer appearance only minimally!

Does anyone hang the blinds like you see at airport safety control towers? If you do could you list your suppliers phone number? Thanks

These people only make film roller shades:

Sun Control Products
11 E Veterans Memorial Hwy, Kasson, MN 55944
Phone: (507) 634-2081

This company makes both film rollers and all other styles of blinds as well. Possibly better prices, haven't compared in a while.

Prestige Window Fashions
195 Raritan Ctr Parkway, Edison, NJ 08818
(800) 653-2330

By the way, DO NOT BUY A SYSTEM THAT DOESN'T HAVE A CLUTCH ROLLER!
(yes I meant to yell!) The spring rollers wear out quickly and don't function near as well, easier to damage the cheasy material with the spring roller system. If you do bid with the spring roller for cost benefit, make sure you tell them the differences and offer the same product with the clutch system.

I have more west coast suppliers as well, but aren't you east coast?

The film blinds similiar to those used by air traffic controllers, would everyone plese list their sources for this product? Thanks in advance!

Altough this topic has been covered and kicked here before I did find this ABC article recently (attached). What caught my attention in addition to the estimated cost of $100 psf was the sentence in para. 3 which says "Sandwiched between the panes in a plastic film are free-floating particles, much like the ones created by the urine of the dog." MDOG you should look into this

An office in downtown Oakland was retrofitted with the electrochromic glazings. The dimmable lower windows are darkened to reduce glare. (Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory) Adjusting The View
Sun Too Bright? Just Dim The Windows

By Amanda Onion

March 9 More than 100 years ago, the dog of an English chemist was shuffling around the lab when it piddled on a tray of iodine.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Better Than Blinds Windows With A Slower Dim Adjustable Glasses?

The dog had also just lapped up some quinine for a sour stomach. A combination of the quinine, the animal's own sulfates and the iodine caused the liquid to suddenly darken into green crystals. Decades later, another chemist, Edwin Land, who founded Polaroid Corp., saw a reference to the incident and used the same crystals to create glasses that can block bright light.
Borrowing again from the quirky discovery, physicist and businessman Robert Saxe, of the Long Island, N.Y.-based company Research Frontiers, has developed windows that use special crystals to block or dim the sun's rays. At the turn of a knob, the windows can dim from clear to deep blue and every shade in between.

The dimmable windows consist of two panes coated with a conductor. Sandwiched between the panes in a plastic film are free-floating particles, much like the ones created by the urine of the dog. When a current is applied to the glass, the particles align perpendicular to the glass and let light in. When no current is applied, the particles assume a more random pattern and block the light, making the glass appear deep blue.

It has taken more than 35 years to refine the so-called suspended particle device or SPD windows, but Saxe and Research Frontiers President Joseph Harary say the product should be emerging in stores this year.

Better Than Blinds

"These windows are better than blinds or shades," said Saxe. "Because, unlike blinds, you can, if you want to, cut out 50 percent of the light, you don't lose your field of view. It just dims."

Saxe and Harary declined to estimate the cost of the upcoming product. But Steve Selkowitz, head of window and building technologies at the government-funded Lawrence Berkeley Lab in Berkeley, Calif., calculates the windows would run about $100 per square foot, compared to regular, quality windows that now cost about $20 per square foot.

Once the price of the windows goes down, they could offer significant savings in air conditioning bills. The U.S. Department of Energy has said that homeowners could save between $3,000 and $6,000 a year in energy costs by using dimmable windows and decreasing the need for air conditioning.

More savings could be made, says Selkowitz, if the window systems are linked up with special lighting that automatically dims when natural light is flooding into a room. And the windows, Selkowitz says, would last much longer than shades or blinds. But first, costs have to come down.

"These kinds of windows look good, but it will be hard to justify the cost until they reach levels where owners will be saving money," said Selkowitz.

Research Fronteirs' so-called Smart Window technology is in competition with at least five other comp colleagues outfitted an entire test building in Oakland, Calif., with electrochromic dimmable windows and found, when clear, the windows had a slightly yellowish look and when done, offered a sleek blue, high-tech look.

Adjustable Glasses?

Both SPD and electrochromic glass won't only be limited to pane glass. The material could also be placed in car windshields, sunroofs and even glasses. Now some glasses use photochromic glass that dim according the the amount of light in the environment. But photochromic glass does not have high durability and doesn't offer wearers the ability to walk outside and immediately "dim" their glasses to shades.

Selkowitz expects dimmable windows may be the first dimmable items consumers will actually be able to find at their local hardware stores later this year.

"The dimmable windows still have a way to go," he says. "But the same kind of people who wanted to be the first to have DVD players will probably be putting in these windows soon."

And it's all thanks to a dog that desperately needed a walk.

What about those commercial office jobs that look like a dog's breakfast bowl?

You tell them to prepare for you in the morning, you get there and they've have done Sweet F A.
Papers all over the place, not even enough room to swing a cat, computers all around, desks hard on the glass with those L shaped ones that just want to fall apart the moment you go to move them, blinds that have never seen a cleaner for years with all the dust and dirt keeping then together, 3 day old stale coffee in mugs. Grrrrrrr
Devil

OMG Someone bought the Blinds I removed them from my book just because I i got bagged so many times for showing it. Congrats

Heatgun,
I know I saw some monster drop blinds at the Mt. Rushmore visitors' centre in '78.
Bet they're rooted now.
Devil.

I sell all sorts of blinds, they pick up in the winter, as lots of houses being built in summer are now in finishing stages. It really helps alot, we haven't hardly had a slow time for longer than a week in several years, even then we don't have a minute to spare, catching up on stuff.

Another great idea is to network with glass shops, stereo shops, muffler co's etc.

i know madico sells blinds as well, call my distributor 309-688-8858 and ask for Tom Hinds tell him mikey told you to call, and if he can't help you, he'll point you in the right direction

Does anyone know of some websites that carry window blinds?

This is why I also sell blinds, they pick up in the winter when houses are being finished and the season slows down. Also people tend to do more interior redecorating in winter as well, and blinds many times are part of it. There is a lot of knowledge involved in blinds but very little skill. Plenty of competition, but if your good in sales, thats not a problem. Many jobs can cross over, they call me for one thing, and I end up doing both. I'd be about dying if it wasn't for blinds sometimes.

I've found its not how long it takes me to work on the car, its how much time I have to work on the car. If I have 4 hours to do a simple car, its going to take 5, because I'll be off doing other stuff I havne't had time to take care of for the last 2 weeks, thinking I've got all the time in the world. Or like the other day when I had the flu and was working anyway. Got all my work rescheduled to the next day, except for windows on a truck top and a VW convertible, no less, talk about an easy car. Took me from 10 till 4 to get them done. Yesterday, had to do all the work I was supposed to do when I was sick, hung $2K of blinds, an 03 Malibu, 03 Forester wagon, 03 Merc something or other 4 dr, 03 Bettle with full metal film (first one of those I've done with all metal film, but did it with no relief cuts, one piece, I was stoked!) an 03 Escape with W/strip, and an 03 Ford f150. I file all my doors, answered phones, people coming in and out like crazy 6 people alone from 10 to 11 am, also had to take care of my 2 1/2 yr old and 3 1/2 yr. old. Still feeling dragged down from being sick but got it done by 6 pm. Of course the day before I was going slow as all get out. So, it all depends on how much time I have. I can do a celica in a little over half an hour or take 5 hours on it!

..Sorry to hear that...As for work, I'm in the same boat so don't feel bad...Was set to show samples on a decent size job tommorow after cars, but the guy called back just now and said his wife changed her mind and wants blinds...

In my shop I have all white walls. 2 florescents suspended for the back window1 higher than the other so when your looking out of the back window for cleaning, there are no "dark areas". then I wave the rest of the vehicle surrounded by 6 more florescents. At night time when you firt walk in the bay, It blindsyou ! LOL It's onlya double car garage.

I have done about 15-20 houses in this one housing track in my area. Once one got it they all had to have it. Anywho, most of them went with SL-10, due to outrageous heat in this area. One of the first to do it was a couple with a 2 story home. I told them the day and night visibility stuff and they seemed like they understood. Everytime I go to another house that neighbors this 2 story they always ask if I told them that people can see in at night. I tell them of course...why? Apparently this couple forgot....the dont have any blinds, no drapes, nothing. But they walk around completely nude EVERY NIGHT!!!! All the other neighbors are a little disturbed by it I guess.

Take down the blinds, put blinds back up.

Simple...

Daytime privacy with blinds open, nighttime privacy with blinds closed.

Compromise... just a little.

Ok heres the problem I have a customer that wants her sunroom done so that at night no one can see in her home she wants to take her blinds down and use only film but wants to be able to see out. what can I do

I can't speak for NY law, but I know that even though you can buy it at Walmart here, you'll get a ticket for it..it's unsafe in the sunlight, it blinds people that are driving around you ..

I had a live in girlfriend in my early days that thought this until I clued her in by say, 'All the old men in the neighborhood must have their watches set for showtime by now'!

Yeah... I got slapped over that one... "Why didn't you tell me this sooner", she said.

curious FX why less for res than comm. I realize the S.F. is usually greater but I find res work for the most part more of a pain how do you adjust pricing for sash locks. mini blinds, drapes, sloppy paint jobs etc, and generally speaking I find res clients a bit more nit picky. As far as ldder work is concerned I consider anything I can't get to with an 8' ladder high work and add $ for that window. As for furniture I kind of of look at each job and decide if extra $ are warranted a chair is one thing a freaking entertainment center is definately above and beyond.

forgive my Canadian Lingo..but when you say treatments ..are yourefering to solar blinds ?..if so, they're great..started the family business installing them..good for stores that like changing signs often in the windows ,but need the reflectivity of a strong blind in the day , and the normal vision by rolling itup at night..I also prefere it though..

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:
now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

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