Window Film in Pacific Heights, San Francisco

Clear Window Film That Keeps Pacific Heights Bay Views

Along Broadway, Vallejo and the north side of the hill, the main rooms look across Cow Hollow and the Marina to the bay, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands. Nobody who paid for that outlook wants a tint that turns it gray or green. For these rooms we suggest a clear or near-clear spectrally selective film, which turns away much of the infrared heat and almost all UV while letting most visible light through.

North-facing glass in this city gets little direct sun, so heat is rarely the issue on the view side. Glare is. Afternoon light comes off the water and the sky, and a wide window throws haze across any TV or laptop facing it. A light film takes the edge off that without the mirrored finish that neighbors and building boards tend to dislike. Before anything is ordered, we put sample pieces on your own panes. Come back to them in the late afternoon if you want, when the light off the bay is strongest, and decide from inside the room rather than from a brochure.

UV Protection Film for Art, Rugs and Floors in Pacific Heights

Plenty of homes here hold things that do not tolerate sunlight: oil paintings and works on paper, antique rugs, silk upholstery, old oak and walnut floors. Ultraviolet light drives most of that fading, with visible light and heat adding to it. Clear UV film screens out almost every bit of that ultraviolet at the pane, and it is the least expensive single step a homeowner can take.

The rooms that need it most are usually the ones facing south or west: the back of a north-slope house, or the street side of a house on Jackson or Washington. We start there. Film slows fading but does not end it, so we still recommend rotating rugs and hanging the most valuable pieces out of the direct beam.

Window Film on Victorian and Edwardian Bay Windows in Pacific Heights

The older houses have angled bays, some still with original single-pane glass, some with leaded or beveled panes in the upper sash. Film is applied to the inside face of each pane and trimmed just short of the edge, so the wood muntins and stops are not touched. A clear film is very hard to spot from the sidewalk, and the facade keeps its period look.

Old glass gets a closer look before we quote. We check for cracks, loose glazing putty and thin panes, because darker films absorb more heat and are not advised on every piece of glass. Where a pane is fragile or irreplaceable, we tell you, and suggest a lighter film or leaving that pane bare.

Privacy and Security Film for Pacific Heights Homes and Fillmore Street Shops

Many houses sit close to the sidewalk, so front parlors and ground-floor bedrooms are in plain view of anyone walking down Pacific Avenue or Clay Street. Frosted or gradient film on the lower sash blocks that sightline while the top of the window stays clear for daylight. On garden doors and low panes, safety film holds broken glass in one sheet, which slows a break-in and keeps shards contained if a pane cracks during an earthquake.

On upper Fillmore and along Sacramento Street, the boutiques, galleries and restaurants deal with two different problems: stock fading in display windows, and keys or stones scratched into door glass. Clear UV film handles the first. A replaceable anti-graffiti layer on the outside of the glass handles the second, since the film is swapped out instead of the pane.

• Spectrally selective clear film on north-facing view glass
• UV film on south and west rooms with art or antique rugs
• Frosted lower-sash film for street-level bedrooms
• Safety film on garden doors and French doors
• UV and anti-graffiti film for Fillmore and Sacramento Street storefronts