Preparing windows

[mpic]

I have always used masking tape to cut down the shattering that might occur, but getting it off after this hot Texas sun has had it in sight for a month is a royal pain.

I was thinking of covering the entire window with clear contact paper...do a really good job of it, ya know? Has anyone ever tried it? You would never have to take it down and it's washable. I wonder, though, what the sun would do to it...turn it yellow?...melt the glue?

[DanKellFla]

Masking tape is worthless. I have no idea what clear contact paper would do. I suspect that it would be nearly worthless as well. Since nothing is on its way to Texas right now, do some research on this website and others on window coverings. There is a lot of information out there.

[NC George]

Do it yourself window tint for cars works wonders with vehicular glass, so some type of stick on film might work well. (This is essentially how safety glass is made, a layer of plastic film is sandwiched between two layers of glass.) I used to have some loud stereo systems in my car back in the day, and a couple of times they were stolen by a miscreant breaking out the window glass. On the windows they broke that had window tint, the window would be intact, with only a fist (or rock) sized hole in the glass. The rest of the window would be shattered, but the tint film held the window in place. On non-tinted windows that were broken, the window would be entirely gone, and laying in lots of pieces in the interior of the car.

[sprink52]

The problem is stopping an object from penetrating the window unit. There are some good films on the market that will stop objects from penetrating the glass but the entire window unit (frame and all) gets blown out of the framed opening due to the force. That is why storm shutters and plywood are the best inexpensive protection.

High impact windows and doors work well because the entire window/door assembly is tested along with the way it is attached to the wall structure.

Anything else is a waste of time and effort.