Summer is here and while most of us welcome the sun, we don’t always appreciate the damage it can bring. The extra daylight hours combined with the heat and UV rays can cause sun damaged floors and furniture in your home. This article is designed to examine the true causes of this sun damage and guide you through one of the best ways to avoid ruining a floor or piece of furniture like you see in the picture above.
First, let’s discuss what exactly causes this type of sun damage. A common misconception is that the sun’s UV rays are what cause sun damaged floors, furniture and furnishings. While these UV rays are certainly the largest component that causes fading, as this chart illustrates, they only account for 40% of the total. Solar heat, or the heat you feel passing through your windows and the visible light streaming in are also major contributors. These account for an additional 25% each of the causes of fading. The last factor is listed as “other” as it is comprised of a variety of things that are harder to control and are not major overall contributors. These are things like interior lighting, humidity, etc.
One of the first things you might realize from this chart is that you cannot “stop” fading completely. The fact is that unless the item you want to protect in a dark, climate controlled room, it will typically fade over time. However, if you plan to have the flooring and furniture in a place that will be exposed to these elements, the most you can do is attack the major contributors of fading. By significantly attacking these contributors, you can slow down this fading process and extend the life of your floors or furnishings. For these reasons, one of the best ways to attack the primary causes of sun damage and fading is with window film.
Why Is Window Film a Good Solution?
As mentioned above, most people do not want to “close-up” their home in an effort to stop the damage from occurring. So, assuming the windows will not be covered, you need to attack the factors before they enter the home. Window film is a great option because it attacks all three major contributors of fading before they enter your home. Most professionally installed window films will block 99%+ of the UV rays. In addition, many window films can significantly reduce the heat coming through the window. Finally, it is possible to block up to 60% of the visible light coming through a window without noticeably darkening the window. When you combine the overall reduction in these three factors of fading, you can take a large slice out of the pie shown above. The best part is this protection can be accomplished while retaining the open feel of your home by using window film.
We hope this post shed some light on what the factors of sun damaged floors, furniture and furnishings are and how utilizing window film is one of your best options to address this issue. If you are interested in learning more, you can reach us by calling 865-947-3013 or emailing us at info@coolsunlight.com.
