Furnishing a home can be expensive. Flooring, furniture and furnishings costs can add up quick. With so much invested, doesn’t it make sense to take steps to protect that investment from sun fading? While most of us love open and airy homes with lots of windows, the biggest threat to your floors and furnishings can be right outside those same windows, the sun. The sun is responsible for the primary causes of faded floors, furniture and furnishings. Most people do not want to sacrifice their views and the open feeling of their home to protect their furnishings from the sun, so what can be done? One of the best ways to attack the 3 primary causes of sun damage and fading is with a window film retrofitted to your existing windows. This article will examine exactly what causes the fading and damage to occur and how window film is a great solution to consider.
What Causes Fading and Sun Damage?
A common misconception is that UV rays are what cause sun faded floors and damage to furnishings. While UV is certainly the largest component, as the chart below illustrates, these rays only account for 40% of the causes of fading. Solar heat and visible lights are also major contributors, accounting for 25% of the problem. The last factor is comprised of a variety of this we simply put under the heading “Other”. These are things like interior lighting, humidity, etc. This article from Build Direct explains this from the angle of a flooring supplier.
The first thing this chart demonstrates is that you cannot “stop” fading completely unless the item you want to protect in a dark, climate controlled room. In real life, the most you can do is attack the primary contributors of fading in a significant enough way to slow down the fading process in a substantive way. By slowing the process, you extend the life of your floors, furniture and furnishings.
Why Is A Window Film Retrofit To Your Existing Windows a Good Solution?
As mentioned above, most people do not want to darken their home with sun blocking curtains, blinds or drapes in an effort to stop fade damage from occurring. So, assuming the windows will not be covered the majority of the time, you need to attack the fade factors before they enter the home. The reason a window film retrofit is a great option is because it attacks all 3 primary contributors of fading. Most professionally installed window films will block 99%+ of the UV rays. So, that removes almost 40% of the contributing factors of fading. In addition, many window films can significantly reduce the solar heat and visible light coming through the window. When you combine these factors, you can take a large slice out of the fade pie chart shown above. This protection can be accomplished while retaining the open feel of your home.
So, let’s do a quick calculation of a common home window film to show how much it can reduce fading versus a clear window. The window film being used in this scenario will block 99% of the UV rays, 68% of the visible light and 41% of solar heat. So, the fading math calculation would go as follows, (40% x 99%) + (25% x 68%) + (25% x 41%) = 66.85% Fade Reduction. As you can see, although window film will not 100% stop fading as we discussed above, by reducing the fade factors by 66.85%, you can substantially extend the life of your furniture, floors and furnishings.
We hope this brief article shed some light on what the factors of sun faded floors, rugs and furniture are and how retrofitting window film to your existing windows is one of your best options to address this issue. If you are interested in learning more, click HERE. If you have any questions or would like to schedule a free, no obligation assessment and estimate, call us at 770-386-6170 or email us at [email protected]. We would be happy to provide a free, no obligation consultation and estimate of implementing a window film solution in your Cartersville and Atlanta, Georgia area home.
