Privacy window film is a great way to make any room more private without the need to close drapes and blinds, completely blocking out natural light and cutting off your views of the outdoors.
Not only can you use window film to add privacy to any home or commercial building, but you can also use it to enhance security.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the different types of window film for privacy and security, as well as explain more about the many other benefits of window film.
What Is Privacy Window Film?
How Different Privacy Window Films Work
Window film is a pliable polyester coating that gets applied to a glass surface. Window film installation can help you achieve many goals for your property, one of which is increased privacy. There are a few main types of film you can use to add privacy to varying degrees, depending on your needs.
Main types of privacy window film:
- Reflective
- Tinted
- Translucent
- Opaque
Reflective window film is a type of mirrored film that can be used to add daytime privacy to your windows. It basically works like a two-way mirror — like the mirrors in police interrogation rooms that you’ve probably seen in TV shows and movies.
We say that reflective privacy film only adds daytime privacy because it is dependent on the level of light inside vs outside.
When the sun is up during the day, people looking at the glass from the exterior can’t see through it because of the reflection of sunlight. At night, on the other hand, when the lights are on inside and it’s dark outside, the effect is reversed.
Another effective way to add privacy to glass is with dark tinted window films. These films are available in many different shades of darkness, so you can achieve the appearance and level of privacy that’s right for you. The darker the film, the harder it is to see through the glass.
Reflective and tinted window films are the most popular types of privacy window films because they both still allow you to see out through your windows and can let a small amount of natural light in as well, depending on the film’s level of darkness or reflectiveness.
So, rather than closing your drapes or blinds to keep prying eyes out during the day (and feeling like you’re in a cave) you can leave your windows uncovered and still enjoy seeing the views and the sunlight outside.
Reflective and tinted window films are great for:
- Homes (especially ground-floor rooms)
- Office buildings (can even enhance a building’s appearance)
- Small businesses
- Other commercial facilities
If you require a higher level of privacy, you may decide that a translucent window film is the way to go. Translucent window film gives your windows the appearance of frosted glass, which means that neither you or someone outside will be able to see much of anything through the glass.
If the light on one side of a frosted window is bright, you may be able to make out blurry, blob-like shapes of something or someone that’s close to the glass, but it won’t be clear what those shapes are.
Frosted window films can also be used for decorative purposes, such as to create a gradient effect from clear to translucent from the bottom of a glass door up. Or, they can be used to add patterns or other graphics, such as logos or names, to a glass door or window.
Finally, if you want the most privacy possible, you can use an opaque window film. Opaque films are a solid color, usually black, and allow no light to pass through them at all. In other words, they completely prevent anyone from seeing through the glass, regardless of the lighting on either side.
Translucent and opaque window films are good for:
- Ground-floor bathroom windows
- Medical offices
- Conference rooms
- Corporate offices
- Other high-privacy facilities
How Does Privacy Window Film Add Security?
Making it harder to see through glass into certain rooms makes your property more secure by making it harder (or impossible) for would-be burglars or intruders to see what’s inside. If they can’t see valuables in a room or tell whether or not it’s occupied, they may move on.
Besides that, you can also combine privacy window films with safety and security window films to improve the physical security of the glass. These types of security films can hold shards of broken glass in place to make forced entry more difficult or prevent shards from flying dangerously inwards.
Security films won’t prevent your glass from breaking, but they can delay a forced entry attempt long enough to deter the would-be intruder, or keep a window safely in place if it gets impacted by flying storm debris.
Safety and security window film protects against:
- Forced entry
- Burglary
- Vandalism
- Storm damage
- Earthquake damage
- Other types of accidental and intentional damage
In addition to enhancing the privacy and security of your windows, window film can provide many other benefits. There is a wide variety of specialty products including energy-efficient (low-e) window films, decorative films, solar window films, and more.
Other possible benefits of window film:
- Improve energy efficiency (and save money!)
- Upgrade the appearance of your glass
- Add decorative features to glass
- Modernize office buildings and other commercial facilities
- Block heat
- Improve insulation
- Reduce glare
- Block harmful UV rays (that cause fading and sun damage)
- Increase property value (improve your ROI)
If you’re considering upgrading your windows with window film for privacy, why not take advantage of some of the other myriad of benefits as well? Different window films can be combined to achieve all the results you’re looking for.
Choose Campbell Corporation For All Your Window Film Needs
We are a certified 3M window film partner and are nationally recognized as leaders in the window film industry in the United States.
Contact us today for more information about how we can help you add privacy and security to your home or commercial building.
