I’m too cheap to turn on the A/C unless it’s absolutely necessary, and even when I do, I imagine dollar bills floating out through 45 square feet of west-facing windows at the back of the house. Enter…heat control window film. I got it last Thursday, and installed it yesterday. The roll was 3′ x 15′, so I did just the large ones at the top (and had exactly enough), but if it doesn’t fall off in the next week, I’m going to get some more and do the small windows at the bottom, the west window in my closet, and (at least–it’s daytime privacy film as well) the west window in the Man Cave.

I skimmed the installation instructions, but figured it couldn’t be much different from the bamboo pattern film I installed in the front room, and I was right. There was a clear protective film I had to remove, which was kind of a PITA because this stuff is thin, but I managed it. P said he’d help, but he went to Walschwitz, so I decided to give it a go on my own. The pieces were about as big as I’d want to handle alone, and cat hair made it interesting, but it’s on there, and at least so far, hasn’t fallen off.

First window. Not a huge difference, at least from the inside.

Big difference from the outside.

All three finished. Inside…

And outside…

Put everything back where it belongs. Done!

It still looks a little wavy, but not as much as yesterday, and that’s supposed to go away once the water/detergent dries (they suggest baby shampoo, but I just used Dawn dish detergent). We’ll see. The blinds will go back down; just left open as they usually are except when I’m trying to block heat. The sun did peek out for a bit yesterday, but not very strongly, so I can’t yet tell how much difference it’ll make. I used P’s thermometer on bits of the carpet where there was unfiltered sun, and sun filtered through the film, and that suggested a temperature difference of about 20 degrees. It’s sunny today, though, so I’ll check it again.