One way window film is commonly advertised as “daytime privacy only” for good reason. The reflective material by nature works best when your home (inside/interior) is slightly darker than the outside/exterior. This reflective quality of one-way window film causes the exterior to appear mirrorlike during the daytime to any passerby, keeping prying eyes out of your home.
Nighttime Reverse Effect. We do NOT claim that one-way window film is private at night. One-way window film’s primary purposes are still to provide daytime privacy and reject solar heat and 99% of harmful UV rays.
At night, the one-way window film has a reverse effect. The brighter indoor lighting turns your windows into mirrors that don’t allow you to look out, but anyone outside in the darkness can easily see into your well-lit home. This is because at night there is typically less light outside (exterior) and people tend to brightly illuminate their homes in the dark evenings, making the interior of their homes brighter than the exterior.
For these reasons, one way window film at night is not private. At night, we recommend people to draw their blinds or curtains (as with regular windows). However, with correct floodlight placement, the nighttime reverse effect can be mitigated. Keep reading below to learn more about how exterior lighting can help with this nighttime reverse effect of one way window film at night.
While the privacy benefits of one way window film are mainly for daytime use only, the adding of flood lights or spot lights on the exterior can enhance nighttime privacy, and reduce some of the mirroring effect on the interior at nighttime. It will take some experimenting from the homeowner to find the ideal balance of brightness between the interior and exterior to maintain some of the desired mirrored effect on the exterior. One way window film at night still requires that the exterior be brighter than the interior to maintain any level of privacy.
The regular/common position of flood lights (pointing upwards from a distance) are the ideal position for maintaining privacy with one way window film at night.
Usually flood lights and spotlights are positioned pointed upwards towards the interior ceiling area, allowing the main spotlight (light tunnel) to sweep above the head of any person inside the home.
As discussed during your free consultation, wherever a light tunnel is created (whether from a bright light or direct sun) there will be less privacy in that light tunnel alone. This includes a light tunnel created from a direct ray of sunshine, which changes position throughout the day depending on the time of the day.
However, with this correct placement of a flood light, the exterior will generally be brighter, achieving the exterior-to-interior lighting ratio that is required for increased privacy.
See the photo below for further clarification on this ideal lighting position and ratio.
As can be seen from the photo, the spotlight is beyond/above the line of sight, and the interior lighting is maintained at a romantic level. As long as the floodlights are brighter than the interior of your home.
As long as the exterior is brighter than the interior, privacy will be achieved.
If the exterior and the interior are equally bright, then privacy will be negatively impacted.
As can be seen from this photo, from a distance there will be great privacy. However, if someone were to be very close up to the window, there would be less privacy, particularly the visibility of anyone or thing that is also right at the window.
Frost Film: The Best window film solution for 24/7 Privacy
For the above mentioned reasons, we only recommend frost film (or blackout or whiteout film) for areas of the home that require COMPLETE privacy during both the daytime AND nighttime. One-way window films are best used for areas where ONLY daytime privacy is required.
Unlike one way window film at night, frost film does not use metallic, reflective, mirror-like effects to achieve privacy. Frost film is simply a lightly spattered window film that creates an opaque, frosted appearance during both the day and night. Frosted film also still allows some light to filter inside, creating a soft white glow and a comforting ambiance of privacy. For the purposes of most people, this white-gray frost film will provide all the privacy that is needed in areas such as bathtubs, toilets and other areas that require privacy.
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Our free window film estimate includes measuring of your windows, where we will examine your windows and recommend the correct product for you.
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Victoria, B.C. V8R 0A4,
Canada
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