Gila Window Film - Right for you?

Southern summer sun, you just can't get away from it here in July in North Carolina. And with a living room window facing directly west with no trees to block the light, the light rapidly heats up our room. What's the solution?

While living in Chicago we had a similar issue with an east facing room getting direct sunlight. We choose a 3M product called Prestige which worked outstanding. The drawback is that it was costly - about $600 for the sliding glass door. So we thought we'd take a less expensive way out and try to install the window film ourselves. After researching our options we choose the off the shelf solution you typically find at your local home improvement store. I read the pros and cons about it and thought it was worth a try. Hope my lessons learned with help you out.

We went with the Gila Heat Control Static cling option. Here are a few comments about the process:

• Our window is 60" wide by 32" tall.  The roll is 3' by 6.5'.  So the problem became how to get the window covered with minimal cuts using 1 roll.  Solution.....you can't.  Two rolls are needed to cover the window with 1 cut.
• It seems like, although I can't prove it, that we bought a box that had previously been opened because when I unrolled it there were "long bubbles" in the roll.  I thought it would be possible to use squeegee to get them out.  I was wrong.  Save the pain and return it and get another roll.
• Before you do anything, watch the videos on the Gila web site.  They are just a few minutes long and will save you.  DO THIS, I'm not kidding.
• Don't buy the squeegee and "solution" pack that is right next to the film rolls in the store.  Chances are you might have a squeegee for cleaning windows.  It worked just fine for me.  The "solution" is a cap full of baby shampoo to a squirt bottle of water.  Save the money, you don't need to buy it.
• You need a utility knife and several replacement blades.  It's window film, it's not going to dull the blade, right.  WRONG!  The blades will wear down quickly.  Change them often.  If you plan on splicing two pieces of film, switch the blades even more often.
• Have plenty of paper towels around to cleanup the water solution.
• BE PATIENT!  You'll have to work the film a little bit and it can be quite frustrating.  Of course, clean the window well before you apply any film.  There is no point trying to put the film on a dirty window.

I installed the film on 3 windows - two of them were 30" wide by 34" tall.  The last was the big one as described above.  The two small windows "look professional" as my wife said.  The larger window, well, the wheels fell off the train.  I think we just had 2 bad rolls.  The film would not cling to the window and nothing I could do worked.  Some of the "creases" and "bubbles" I was able to get out, but not all of them.  

Overall I'd say for the money we spent the installation was ok, not great, just ok.  Quite frustrating at times.  But I will say that the heat entering the room has been substantially reduced - and after all, that was the goal.   So'd say the project was a success.

Hope this helps you out.  Check out Home Depot and Lowe's for the product.