Application guide

See window film in use.

Window film can be almost invisible or deliberately obscuring. These representative examples show how solar, glare, UV protection, privacy, safety and decorative films can appear across homes and workplaces. The exact result depends on the glass, film and available light.

A person drawing a squeegee down a wet sheet of film on a full height kitchen window, the water running ahead of the blade and a spray bottle on the sill — Residential · Installation exampleSolar film being fitted to a residential kitchen window and worked flat.

Heat reduction

Solar-control film on the glazing that takes the sun. The room keeps its daylight and its outlook; what changes is how much of the sun's heat comes through with them.

About heat reduction

A living room looking straight out through full height glazing to a sunlit garden of eucalypts, the room bright and evenly lit rather than glaring — Residential · Application exampleSolar-control film on full-height residential glazing facing a sunlit garden.

The same building with reflective solar film on the glazing, the facade now reflecting the shopfronts, street trees and sky opposite — Commercial · Application exampleReflective solar film across a commercial facade, the street opposite returned by the glass.

The front of a brick and weatherboard house in late afternoon light, solar film across a group of windows giving each pane an even neutral reflection — Residential · Application exampleSolar film across the front windows of a brick home, each pane the same even tone.

A two storey commercial building with solar film across the whole street facade, every pane the same restrained tone and the sky reflected in the upper band — Commercial · Application exampleSolar film across a whole commercial street facade, consistent from pane to pane.

Glare reduction

The same family of film, judged on a different problem: whether a screen stays readable with the blinds open. Glare is about contrast rather than temperature, and the two are specified differently.

About glare reduction

A home office desk beside a bright window, the laptop screen legible against the daylight behind it — Residential · Application exampleGlare-control film at a home-office window, the screen legible against the daylight behind it.

A working office beside a corner run of treated glazing, the desks and chairs evenly lit and the rooftops and sky outside still clearly visible — Commercial · Application exampleGlare-control film on office glazing, the desks lit evenly and the view outside kept.

Daytime privacy

Reflective film works on a difference in brightness. In daylight the outside is brighter than the room, so the outer face of the glass returns the street rather than showing what is behind it.

After dark, with the lights on inside, that difference reverses and so does the effect. Where privacy is needed at night, the answer is an obscuring film or a film paired with a blind.

About daytime privacy

The front of a suburban house in afternoon light, its large living room window reflecting the street, sky and a neighbouring roof rather than showing the room behind — Residential · Application exampleDaytime privacy film on a residential window, seen from the street in afternoon light.

A low rendered commercial building with four large windows, every pane returning the sky, a street tree and the building opposite rather than the rooms behind — Commercial · Application exampleDaytime privacy film on the street windows of a small office, seen from the footpath.

Frosted privacy

Obscuring film frosts the glass itself, so it does not depend on the light and does not reverse after dark. Daylight still enters; the sightline does not.

About frosted film

A bathroom window with frosted film across the glass, the garden beyond reduced to soft tone and the daylight still entering the room — Residential · Application exampleFrosted film on a residential bathroom window, the garden beyond reduced to soft tone.

A person holding a sheet of frosted film against a window pane with a hand card ready in the other hand, a plain spray bottle and a trimming tool on the sill, and an already frosted pane beside it — Residential · Installation exampleFrosted film being fitted to a bathroom window, beside a pane already done.

The same partition with frosted film across the full height of every panel: the chairs behind read as soft silhouettes and the daylight still passes through — Commercial · Application exampleFrosted film across the full height of an office partition, the room behind it reduced to shapes.

A sliding bathroom window with frosted film across both sashes, the garden outside reduced to soft colour and daylight still filling the room — Residential · Application exampleFrosted film across both sashes of a bathroom window, the daylight still coming through.

UV and fading

Furnishings fade under the ultraviolet in daylight rather than under its brightness. Film filters the part that does the damage and leaves the room lit.

About UV protection

Late morning sun falling in a window shaped patch across a jute rug and a dark timber floor, beneath a framed artwork with its colour intact — Residential · Application exampleA residential living space beside treated glazing, with sun falling across a rug and timber floor.

Afternoon sun entering a living room through a large sash window and falling across a timber floor and a patterned rug — Residential · Application exampleAfternoon sun through a treated sash window, across a timber floor and a patterned rug.

A small workplace behind a glazed partition, afternoon sun falling across a timber table, a bookshelf and a timber floor — Commercial · Application exampleSun entering a small workplace through treated glazing, across a timber table, shelving and floor.

A furniture showroom behind a large shopfront window, upholstered lounges, timber and framed pictures standing close to the treated glass in full daylight — Commercial · Application exampleUpholstery, timber and framed work standing close to the treated glass of a showroom window.

Safety and security

Safety film does not stop glass breaking. It holds the broken pane together in its frame instead of releasing it, which is the difference that matters at the moment of an impact.

About safety film

A glazed sliding door after an impact: the pane is fractured in a tight radial pattern and is still standing in its frame — Residential · Application exampleSafety film holding a fractured residential sliding door within its frame.

A commercial shopfront pane after an impact: cracks run out from a single point and the whole pane is still standing in its frame, with no glass on the footpath — Commercial · Application exampleSafety film on commercial shopfront glazing, the cracked pane still standing in its frame.

Decorative and banded

The same obscuring material used as a surface rather than a screen: a band at seated height, or a pattern that reads as texture from a distance and stays partly open close up.

About decorative film

A glass balustrade beside a stair in a workplace, a broad frosted band running across every panel and continuing in line around the corner — Commercial · Application exampleA frosted band across a glass stair balustrade, running in line across every panel.

The same partition with an evenly spaced grid of small frosted dots across the glass, the room partly visible between them — Commercial · Application exampleA frosted dot pattern across an office partition, read as a surface at a distance.

A glazed office partition with a frosted band across it, the band level and continuous through every panel joint — Commercial · Application exampleA frosted band across a glazed office partition, level and continuous through every joint.

Installation and assessment

What the work itself looks like beyond the domestic window at the top of this page. Film is fitted in place on the glazing you already have, and the measure-up happens before anything is ordered.

See the full process