If you’ve ever heard of window film, you may be wondering if it’s worth considering. After all, it comes with a number of benefits. Are those benefits really true? Are there drawbacks? Is window film a worthwhile investment? Your local window and glass experts are here to break it down for you.

Privacy Without Blinds

Before we address the drawbacks, we want to talk about the benefits of window film and what most people agree makes window film a worthwhile. The first thing is that many types of window film provide privacy without you having to install blinds. This is really great for a number of reasons.

First and foremost, even if you enjoy having curtains, there is a period in the evening when many people’s homes are visible to the outdoors. If you open and close your blinds each day, you likely wait until it’s already dark to close them. Between the sun setting and the blinds being closed, anyone walking down the street can see inside your home. That’s a huge breach of privacy that most people aren’t fond of. If you get a one-way window film, you’ll be able to forego closing the blinds or curtains entirely or close them at your leisure. 

The ability to forego blinds is especially useful to those with floor-to-ceiling windows, as they’re hard to cover. Not needing to find specialized blinds or curtains saves a lot of time. Plus, you can enjoy those huge windows at all times of day without sacrificing privacy.

UV Protection

Window films typically come with UV protection, often with some tinting. This protection is extremely beneficial to the home’s occupants, including plants and animals. Minimizing UV exposure helps prevent skin conditions, including cancer, and more.

Glass Reinforcement and Security

Privacy and UV protection are great quality of life updates, but the reinforcement of glass is probably the most important feature of window film. Window film is thick and adds a significant amount of strength to glass. Breaks are way less likely to happen and, if they do, the film holds the broken pieces of the window together. This prevents injury on broken glass, but it does something else as well.

Because breaking a window coated in window film is so much harder, break-ins relying on windows are no longer viable. Even if a would-be intruder can manage to break your window, they’ll be unable to pass the barrier window film provides. The additional time it would take to get past the window film makes entry impossibly risky. Would-be intruders will flee to avoid being caught.

Drawbacks

Now that we understand the benefits of window film, the question becomes, is window film a worthwhile investment? Is there something I’ll regret? The answer is pretty straightforward. The main and drawback to window film is that installation can ruin your windows. That is, it can ruin your windows if installed incorrectly. If the installation is messed up and someone attempts to remove the film, it will leave behind a messy coating of adhesive that’s literally impossible to remove effectively.

The second and final drawback is that installation, even if not botched entirely, can lead to imperfections. Window film is covered in a strong adhesive on one side. When the film is applied to the window, any dirt or air that gets trapped between the film and window will be stuck there permanently. This can be quite unsightly.

Because of these two drawbacks, the most important thing to understand is that you need professionals to install the film. Ensuring you hire competent window film installation specialists will save you from needing window replacements. If, in the end, you do make a mistake in installation, or the professionals you hire do, Aluplex is here and waiting with window replacements. Though, in the end, we hope you don’t need them.

Tired of the mold lining the cracks of your window frame? Unfortunately, a moldy window frame is a common problem for people – especially those in older housing. The question people are asking is, why? Why is your window frame molding, and how do you prevent it from happening? The answer is actually fairly straightforward. Let’s see what’s causing your window mold problem and how to fix it.

Long-Term Accumulation

The good news is, some of you homeowners are simply dealing with long-term accumulation. If you don’t have cleaning your window frame on your chore list, it’s possible that your windows have simply been growing mold for years. A little bit of moisture is all a window frame needs to start accumulating mold in the cracks and crevices. If left to its own devices, that mold can spread across the window track and leave it looking coated in grime. The solution is to simply buy some mold killer or a powerful cleaning spray and clean the window track out.

Rapid Accumulation

If cleaning your window frame has only temporarily solved your problem and mold has returned in less than a year, you are dealing with rapid accumulation. This isn’t caused by simply time; it’s a sign that your windows aren’t doing so great. Let’s look at why that is.

Window Insulation

Modern windows are made with two panes of glass. The space between those two panes is filled with an insulating gas. This insulating gas is heavier than air, which makes it hard for temperature to pass from the outdoors to the indoors, or vice versa.

As windows age, the seal between the window panes and window frame begins to weaken. As it weakens, the insulating gas can leak out. When the insulating gas is diminished or has leaked out entirely, you’re left with an uninsulated window.

Old Windows Cause Mold

When old windows have lost their insulatory properties, they become susceptible to two things: moisture leakage and temperature leakage. Both contribute to window mold.

Let’s start with moisture leakage. If the seal between your window panes has been damaged or weakened, rain water can begin to leak into the space between window panes. You can tell if this is happening if, on warm days, you can see condensation on the inside of your window panes. You can frequently spot this moisture along the edges of the panes. This is not a normal occurrence with functioning windows. This moisture can than cause mold growth between the window panes or further seep past the second pane and into the window track, encouraging mold growth there as well.

Next, we have temperature leakage. You know how a cold glass of lemonade will sweat with condensation on a hot, summer day? If windows aren’t properly insulated, they’ll do the same thing during winter. The cold temperature outside, if not mitigated by insulation, will leave both panes of your window cold to the touch. This cold will draw condensation from your warm interior toward the window. This is why your windows may fog up when it’s cold out. And, as the condensation collects, it will run down the windows and into the window track, leading to window frame molding.

Replacing Old Windows

The only solution for rapid window frame molding is to replace old or damaged windows. Aluplex offers high quality windows to the GTA and we look forward to helping you with your window replacement. Improve the appearance of your home and the quality of your air by ridding your home of window frame molding. Call us today if you have questions about our windows or the installation process.

Want to make your business interior more compelling for those who drop in? Designing a new shop or office that you want to blow away the competition? Let’s take a moment to talk about one of the often overlooked design elements of a business interior: the windows. In fact, let’s specifically talk about high windows and their benefits. High windows come with a lot of upsides that most people aren’t aware of. Let’s make sure you’re not one of those people.

Improved Lighting

Tall windows that reach up toward the ceiling of your interior may seem excessive. However, they do come with quite a few benefits, the first of which is improved lighting. One of the most overlooked parts of interior design is natural lighting. People simply love the clear and natural feeling of sunlight through a window. When compared to people’s opinion of electric lights, there’s a clear winner. Businesses with a lot of natural light are preferred destinations to those that feel more closed off and reliant on bulbs.

Opting for taller windows allows more of this beloved sunlight to make its way indoors, providing great light for reading, eating, seeing the faces of coffee dates, and so much more. In office spaces increased natural light can also improve employee morale and even mental health.

Greater Curb Appeal

High windows improve business exteriors as well. If you saw two shops, one with a small window, covered in cheap blinds, and one with tall windows, perhaps with a set of nice shades in front of them, which do you suppose you’d be drawn to? For most people, the answer is the latter. People love tall windows as much from the outside as they do from the inside. 

Exterior Visibility

One such reason that people enjoy tall windows on the exterior of a building is because of the improved visibility. You don’t know what lies behind that small window with the cheap blinds. However, tall windows are happy to reveal the contents of a shop. Seeing the smiling faces or beautiful displays on the other side of a tall window is great for luring in potential customers.

High Class Feeling

We can’t overlook the psychological perspective on tall windows. People don’t just like them because they offer more sunlight. They’re also loved for offering a higher class feeling to an interior. Perhaps this impression is leftover from the days when glass was harder to afford. No matter how you look at it, sitting next to a window that stretches high above you feels undoubtedly high class. 

Rely on Aluplex

When you’re in the market for glass, Aluplex is Toronto’s #1 choice. Give us a call if you need custom windows for your business or office. We look forward to providing you with high quality glass and installation services.

Bay windows are an oft-romanticized feature of large houses – for good reason, too! These beautiful bay windows allow a wide view of the surrounding area as well as provide a place for décor or seating. They’re functional and beautiful and provide quite a lot of character to an otherwise ordinary home. With that in mind, we, at Aluplex, are wondering: have you considered bay windows for your luxury bathroom?

A Bigger Bathroom

Having a bathroom with an exterior wall big enough for a bay window isn’t the experience everyone has. However, even in medium-sized bathrooms, if you have that exterior wall space, you can make your bathroom feel huge.

Bay windows create a luxury bathroom. When you give a relatively small space a large window, you borrow some of the vastness of the outdoors. Make your bathroom feel like a retreat. Windows have enough spacial magic to make that happen.

Better Lighting

One of the immediate benefits of adding a bay window to a bathroom is the improved lighting. Bulbs can give you visibility, but they often make a room look yellow or so fluorescent that you feel like you’re under stage lights. Nothing can beat an open flow of daylight.

This lighting is generally a plus, but is even more of an improvement when you’ve been staying inside a lot. With our current inability to go out in public on a whim, getting to lie in the bath under the morning sunlight can be incredibly therapeutic.

Beautiful Views

Because bay windows aren’t flush with the wall, they provide a lot more visibility than other windows. A bay window by the bathtub will allow you to look out over a garden, a pond, your own well-maintained backyard, and more. Getting the chance to enjoy the outdoors from the comfort and warmth of your evening bath is a wonderful experience that everyone deserves to have at least once.

Improved Shelving

Bathtubs often don’t have much space around them for storing things. Shower/tub combos usually have built in shelving, but a free-standing tub is not as well-equipped. Placing a bay window with a waterproof shelf at its base will give you a great place to store bathtime necessities. Decorate your windowsill with plants, a bowl of soaps, fancy pump bottles, or just everyday shampoos. You’ll have plenty of space for all of your things and won’t have to fumble around in the dark to find any of them.

Ordering Quality Bay Windows

The question then comes down to: where do you get bay windows for your luxury bathroom? If you live in Toronto, the answer is an easy one. Aluplex is the leading provider of windows in the GTA. Our quality glass gives a crystal clear view of the outside while providing the insulation and longevity of something utilitarian. Give us a call if you’d interested in ordering bay windows in Toronto today.