Single pane commercial but with auto tint

February 10, 2013

I've read number of threads but a friend of mine who owns a business downtown wants me to tint 50"x60" window. It's an older window (like many buildings in New England) and is single pane. I have some tint left over from tinting my car (mostly EWF 2-ply HP films) and was wondering if it's safe to use them.

Since I'm doing this for a friend I'm not really charging much other than the cost of the tint but also don't want to break the glass or mess things up badly as it is a business. Should I play it safe and just grab a commercial/flat film? It wouldn't be a problem getting something like EWF's 35% NR glare cut...but of course since I have some tint left over I figured I ask first.

TintDude · February 10, 2013

Do it right, glass replacement isn't cheap.

coast2coasttinting · February 10, 2013

While it may not break the glass. I never recommend using auto film on large plate glass. :twocents

kats2112 · February 10, 2013

Up there, WAY too risky.

Unless you identify it as tempered glass, don't even think about it.

February 11, 2013

Thank you gentlemen; I will take the safe route

Anon o Mouse · February 11, 2013

Hi,

out here in south east asia, most windows are single pane. Auto tint is used 99% of the time with no issues. including dark and non reflective film. Although most customers go for fully reflective and 20% vlt.

Can someone tell me why you can't put semi reflective or fully reflective window film on SINGLE pane 6mm glass windows.

thanks

coast2coasttinting · February 11, 2013

High solar absorption rates.

kats2112 · February 12, 2013

Can someone tell me why you can't put semi reflective or fully reflective window film on SINGLE pane 6mm glass windows.

You can. It's the NON reflective stuff to be more careful with. C2C misread your question. The high absorption of non reflective films make for more heat buildup on glass. Add a shadow (cooler portion of the glass) and that could cause the glass to fail.

vquestfilms.com · February 12, 2013

Glass breakage and lack of warranty aside... the thing about using auto films on commercial buildings is that many automotive films (I'm not infering EWF 2-ply HP films will) will fade or turn purple which creates a very visible issue for our industry. A lot of these films only come in max 60" widths so on 72" windows you see alot of seams.

I spoke with a buildiong engineer who went this route and now he is the proud (or more accuratly, not-so-proud) manager of a purple high rise. He hates window film now, will not recommend it, in fact he warns his contacts against using it on thier properties. The film not only experienced color failure, it never performed to the level that was actually needed which meant that there was little to no energy savings.

What we end up doing is creating a bad repuatition for window film when we make the choice to install film that is not ideal or even designed for the intendended application. Let's not do that. Glad to hear that the OP is going to take the 'safe route'. :beer

davlisgen · February 14, 2013

I only do flat glass, and I use an HP 4 auto film where a reflective film won't work. I have even put it on north facing dual pane glass where privacy is an issue. There is still a lot of single pane glass out there, and if a smoke film is what the customer wants, then thats what they get. It's not a good heat blocker, but that's not what I sell it as. It's a good glare and light blocker. A lot of property managers will not let you put a reflective film on their properties I use it for interior privacy, and it works well sometimes as a one way film. I tell them up front, what the film will do. They get no glass breakage, or color change warranty.

If anything gives this industry a bad name, it's the large amount of piss poor installs, adhesive breakdown, and color change on all the cars out there.