We all know that the suns ultraviolet rays are damaging to the health of your skin and eyes. Its not just your health it affects. Those UV rays will all damage many surfaces it touches, particularly your furniture. The daylight that comes in through your windows will over time damage your flooring, furniture, and fabrics. You may notice it more on fabrics such as curtains, but the same is also said where fabrics are used on the floor, such as carpets or
office carpet tiles.
As glass only blocks out about 30% of the suns UV rays, available on the market is energy efficient low E glass, but it will still let in over 50% of the suns rays, so not a complete solution, but certainly an improvement. The best way would be to simply pull on your blinds or curtains. This can completely block out the UV rays. If using curtains remember the colour of the curtains will fade over time just as the furniture would have done. In fact even more so, as they are directly in the windows. At least curtains are easy to replace and not too expensive, unlike flooring.
Tinted windows are an option. They work in a very similar way to the way sunglasses protect your eyes. A cheaper option is to buy a tinting film that is placed over the glass which is used for when car windows are tinted. These options will make the home dark. Im sure its not the homely feel you wanted to create, and they will still let in roughly 30% of those UV rays. Lightening of the colours in your furniture and flooring will still happen. You are just delaying the inevitable.
There is a new type of glass that gives the best solution. It blocks out 95% of UV rays as appose to 70% by the energy efficient low E glass. The technology has come from the point that light is split into 3 parts;
visible light or sunlight
near infrared or heat
ultraviolet light
This new advanced technology lets in the sunlight, but is a barrier to the harmful UV rays, and also some of the suns heat making it more energy efficient. In the United States this type of glass can qualify for a federal energy tax credit of upto $1,500. So it is surely the best option if you want to stop the colour fading, but may not be the most cost effective.
