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The Top 5 Benefits of Residential Window Film

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1. Window tints can reduce harmful ultraviolet rays.
We all know UV rays can have negative side effects, the most well-known of which is skin cancer. But did you know that you can still be exposed to these rays through your home’s windows? Instead of hiding from the sun, installing a window film can stop those rays from entering your home and save you and your family from wrinkles, sun spots, and other UV-related damage.

2. Residential film will protect your belongings.
You’re not the only one who can be hurt by the sun’s rays—ultraviolet light can damage your investments. Your furniture, carpet, and belongings can fade if they remain in the sun for too long. Film tints help furnishings and decorations keep their color and look new longer.

3. Tinted windows can make your home a more comfortable place to live.
Not only will darker windows add a whole new level of privacy, but they’ll lower the temperature of your home in the summer, and trap warmth in the winter. They’ll also reduce that pesky sunlight glare that bounces off your computer and TV, and increase your security by deterring strangers from peeking inside.

4. Tinting your windows is an eco-friendly way to reduce bills.
Since tinted film reduces the amount of heat transfer that usually happens through your windows, this improved energy efficiency will manifest in the form of a smaller electric bill. Saving dollars on annual cooling costs isn’t just good for you and your wallet, it’s good for the environment because you’re using less electricity.

5. Window tinting can add style to your home.
Let’s be honest, window tinting just looks sleek. It comes with a variety of important benefits, but it’s undeniable that it looks aesthetically pleasing too. Window films are water and scratch-resistant, making your windows that much easier to clean. It’s an easy, one-time investment that will pay you back in the long run.

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How Much Can Window Films Save Me on My Electricity Bill?

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When making home improvements, you should always opt for changes that will save you money in the long run. It’s all about adding value to your property while keeping in mind the cost of maintenance and upkeep. Installing residential window films is one project that can definitely provide you with a significant return on your investment down the line.

Window tinting is a very eco-friendly way to save money on your energy bills. Having tinted windows can reduce your need for air conditioning in the summer, and act as insulation that traps warmth in your house in the winter. While window tinting is beneficial in every season, the need is especially prevalent for those living in areas where the weather is warm year-round. Tints can go a long way in keeping your house cooler—our residential window tint blocks up to 80% of the sun’s heat. This is how we drastically lower air conditioning costs.

There’s no way to calculate exactly how much money window film will save you on your energy bill. There are many factors that make everyone’s experience different: which direction your windows face, how much sunlight reaches them, and the size of your windows all contribute to varying levels of savings. You can typically expect annual costs to be lowered by at least 15% with a quality window tint film.

There are other ways that window films can save you money outside of your energy bill. Window tints can protect your home’s interior and prevent carpeting and flooring from fading. They can spare you the need for curtains, drapes, and blinds. They also strengthen the integrity of your windows, making break-ins less likely and protecting your family from flying glass that can be caused by severe weather and household accidents.

If you’re considering window tints from EP Window Films, call 832-271-3750 to discuss your options and learn more about the benefits they can have on your home.

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Can Commercial Window Tinting Help My Business?

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Commercial window tinting is a valuable investment for business and building owners everywhere, regardless of climate. This is most obvious in regards to your building’s security—everyone knows that film can dissuade burglars and help prevent windows from breaking. But what other benefits can your business see when you invest in commercial window tinting?

One of the most notable benefits of applying commercial window tints to your business is that it can help you maintain a more comfortable work environment. The right tint can make you’re building up to 15 degrees cooler by blocking harmful sun rays that damage skin and produce uncomfortable temperatures. Window tints keep employees, guests, and customers happy even in the hottest summer months.

Moreover, windows are usually the first thing people see when they walk into your business. Windows that are dirty, streaked, or cracked can give potential customers a bad first impression. You can enhance the physical appearance of your company with sleek-looking darkened windows—they might even pay for themselves by attracting more customers.

Additionally, the furnishings in your office are likely expensive. A window tint can protect your belongings from fading in the sun. Instead of spending more later on upkeep and replacement of these assets, you can prevent wear and tear now with commercial window tints. This will keep the interior of your business looking fresh and extend the overall life of your furniture.

EP Window Films can help you improve efficiency in your workplace. We can improve comfort and productivity while decreasing energy costs. If you’re interested in commercial window tinting, give us a call at 832-271-3750 to receive more information about what would work best for your space.

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How Can Security Window Film Protect My Family?

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As a homeowner, you should always protect your most valued asset. Not only does your home house your important loved ones, but it likely holds a large sentimental value. When reflecting on the safety of your home, it’s important to remember that windows are typically the most fragile and vulnerable point of entry. Windows can be a target for thieves, and a major threat during storms—there’s a reason why you’re told to seek shelter in a room without windows during tornadoes and other severe weather incidents.

Luckily, window films provide a low-cost solution that aids in crime prevention and accident avoidance. But how exactly do they work to provide this safety and security?

The most notable way a window film can protect your family is that it can prevent an intruder from gaining access to your home. Untreated glass windows can be shattered with very little effort. A piece of glass that has been treated with a film is much harder to break—and even if the glass is shattered, the fragments can be held in place by the film. Burglars who attempt to break through a security film will find that it takes more effort, which garners much more attention. This can cause intruders to move on to the next, easier target.

But we all know glass doesn’t just shatter due to unwelcome visitors—a stray baseball or strong wind from a storm can crack your windows too. So while we often point to window films protecting from intruders, it’s worth noting that the elements and household accidents are far more likely to cause harm to your home’s windows. When untreated glass breaks, no matter how, it launches shards all over your floor, which can injure your family members and pets.

You can seek protection from breakage and dramatically reduce risks with residential security film from EP Window Films. You can’t always control what happens in and around your house, but you can maintain a sense of safety knowing that there’s one more barrier between you and danger. Call our experienced professionals today to learn more about what will work best for your home and enhance your family’s security.

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How Glare-Reducing Window Tints Can Improve the Comfort of Your Home

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When contemplating the benefits of residential or commercial window tinting, we often hear about all the money-saving properties of window films. But window tints don’t just save you dollars on your electricity bill or protect your belongings from fading—they also protect from an increasingly annoying problem that almost everyone faces.

Picture this: You’ve settled into your living room couch, and you power up your favorite electronic device to watch some Netflix or catch up on the news. If there’s any inkling of sunlight coming from behind you, there’s going to be a glare on your screen. Even if it’s not the most sun-flooded room at high noon, you’re likely going to have to work around a pesky reflection to adequately read your screen.

In this situation, a typical response would be to close the curtains, draw the shades, or reposition yourself and your furniture to find an angle that works. But instead of rejecting the daylight altogether, you can invest in a specialty window film to get rid of this problem for good.

Window films feature glare-reducing technologies that provide you with the ideal environment for spending time on electronics. They reflect away the harsh UV rays that impede your screen time, improving the comfort of your living space. You don’t have to struggle to read your phone or sacrifice natural light when you have a residential window film. These tints can filter this light and even decrease the eye fatigue that comes with direct sunlight and glare.

If you’re considering window tints but don’t know where to start, call EP Window Films at 832-271-3750. We’re the most trusted and recommended window specialists in Houston, and we would be happy to discuss your options and help you decide what products would work best in your home.

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4 Ways to Effectively Lower Your Winter Heating Bill

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As the first real cold front makes its way through the state, many Texans are blasting the heat for the first time this season. Although Houston’s winters are typically in the 50s, this seems like a pretty low temperature when you consider the fact that we’ve spent the last five months in the sweltering Texas heat. Heating your home in the late fall is unavoidable, but it doesn’t have to be costly. Try some of these helpful tips if you’re looking to keep your heating bills low this winter season:

  1. Adjust your vents and ceiling fans

Once a room is properly heated, you should close any and all vents to prevent draining energy. Additionally, many people don’t realize that most ceiling fans come with directions so that you can still utilize them in the winter. In the summer, a counterclockwise ceiling fan pushes cool air downwards. Alternatively, if you switch the rotation to clockwise, your ceiling fan will push air upwards and allow for your home’s warm air to be more circulated.

  1. Turn down your water heater

It takes a lot of energy to warm up water, especially when the temperature is low outside. Lowering your water heater’s temperature by just 10°F can save you up to five percent on your water heating costs—A temperature of about 120°F is still high enough to give you all the warm water you need without showing a noticeable difference in temperature. It also helps to turn your water heater off before you leave town for an extended period of time.

  1. Don’t fiddle with your thermostat

As a general rule of thumb, you should set and forget your thermostat. It’s easy to get trigger happy and try to get your home to a comfortable temperature quickly. But thermostats are self-regulating and work to keep your home at one constant temperature. Constantly changing the temperature will show itself on your energy bill because it takes a tremendous amount of energy to stop and start. It’s more inefficient, and you’re better off running your furnace for longer, steadier times. Try to program your thermostat to a lower setting while you’re gone for work, and adjust it once when you return.

  1. Install residential window films

Your home’s walls and ceilings come with insulating properties that can help control the interior climate. Unfortunately, an untreated window does nothing to trap warm air in your home. A window film, however, can insulate your windows and can keep more heat inside your home during winter. This will cause you to need less heat and spend less money. You’ll also reap the benefits of window films come summer—cooling costs will be lower because the film will trap cool air. It’s a long-term investment that’s a win-win no matter the season.

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5 Ways to Make Your Home More Environmentally Friendly

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  1. Avoid plastic

We’ve all heard the phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle.” But recycling is actually the least desirable of those three, in part because only about 50% of what you put into your recycle bin actually gets recycled. Reducing and reusing is a far better move for the environment. Focus more on purchasing less plastic, and giving new life to the items you currently have. Bags, envelopes, papers, boxes, and containers can all have a longer life cycle than we typically take advantage of.

  1. Conserve water

Water isn’t free, but it’s usually pretty cheap; this can cause Americans to waste a lot of it. But even if it doesn’t come with a hefty price tag, more and more areas struggle from droughts, which is why cutting back on water usage is more important than ever. Small actions like turning off the tap while you brush your teeth, fixing leaks, cutting your showers short, and refraining from running your dishwasher until it’s absolutely full can help reduce your water usage.

  1. Be mindful of the products you buy

One way to do this is to think twice before shopping altogether. Ask yourself if you really need to consume more. If the answer is yes, read labels to ensure you’re minimizing your impact on the planet. Opt for products that don’t endanger wildlife and are made of recycled goods. If you’re buying food, plan wisely to prevent food waste.

  1. Go solar

Solar panels have become more and more popular as of recently, especially in places like Houston where we get an average of 204 sunny days per year. Embracing the sun as an energy source can seriously cut your electricity bill and add value to your property. Contributing to this industry can create local jobs, protect the environment, and boost the country’s energy independence.

  1. Outfit your windows with window film

Solar panels aren’t the only way to use the sun to your advantage; applying a film to your home’s windows is another great option. Windows film is sustainable in more ways than one. The sun-blocking film keeps your home cool in the summer and warm in the winter, which will prevent the need for cranking the AC or heater. Your wallet won’t be the only one thanking you for lower energy costs—the environment also wins. Additionally, window film replaces the need for blinds and drapes. This will keep you from consuming unnecessary products that will end up in a landfill some years from now.

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5 Window Fun Facts That You Definitely Didn’t Know

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  1. Windows weren’t always made of glass.

The earliest windows are believed to have been openings in the roof of a home just to let in light during the day—they would be covered with animal hide or wood at night. Eventually humans fashioned flattened pieces of translucent animal horn, marble, or paper to allow light but protect from the elements. The Romans were the first that we know of who used glass, but the glass at that time was likely too thick to even see through.

  1. Windows weren’t common in homes until the early 17th century.

Before they were prevalent, windows were actually seen as a luxury item. Aristocrats would even have their windows removed and stored somewhere safe while they were out of town, like you would with a nice car or other pricey valuables. After they became common practice, England and other European countries enforced a “window tax” that was based on the number of windows on a property. This is why some homes of that era have bricked-up window spaces—all because savvy residents wanted to avoid these high taxes.

  1. The White House has 147 windows.

And it’s likely that they’re mostly made of ballistic (bulletproof) glass. It’s even possible that there are 294 panes of glass, as backing existing windows with another layer of protection can be standard for government buildings. The 147 windows of the White House vastly outnumber the 8 windows that the average US house has. Buckingham palace, however, has a total of 760 windows.

  1. It takes workers three months to finish cleaning the windows on the world’s tallest building.

It’s called the Burj Khalifa, and it’s a skyscraper in Dubai that stands at more than 160 stories. It apparently takes a team of 36 window cleaners a whopping three months to get through the half-mile of windows, and those involved have to carry electrolyte packs and wear clothing that resembles moon suits. Definitely not a job for the faint of heart.

  1. The US Department of Energy predicts that 25% of energy bills are due to faulty windows.

In 2017, the average household electricity bill was around $111. If you’ve noticed that your energy bill is higher than you’d like, it might be because your windows allow too much heat transfer. This can be especially true for those who live in areas like Houston, where weather sees extreme highs and lows. Glass is simply a poor insulator. This is why window film is such a viable option for many—it allows for sunlight that makes your home appear open and spacious, while still filtering out the sun’s UV rays. Call EP Window Films at 832-271-3750 if you want to improve the look of your windows and see a reduction on your home’s heating and cooling costs!