One-way daytime privacy: Silver 20 $10, Cool Alloy 20 $12 per sq ft. Day-and-night privacy: Frost or Whiteout $11 per sq ft. $400 minimum. See every rate.
The bedroom window that faces the neighbor's deck. The front room where the blinds stay shut all day. The bathroom you would like some daylight in. Privacy film gives that glass privacy without blinds. Which film you choose decides whether it lasts past sunset, and we tell you that before you buy.
Two ways to get privacy.
One-way reflective film. Silver 20 and Cool Alloy 20 work on a brightness difference. In daylight the outside is brighter than your room, so from the street the glass reads as a mirror while you see out. They are solar films too: they cut heat and glare and block up to 99% of UV.
Frosted and whiteout film. Frost and Whiteout blur the view both ways and let daylight through. Blackout blocks light completely, tempered single-pane glass only. All three work the same at noon and midnight. Patterns and custom cuts: frosted and decorative film.
One-way film reverses at night. Frost doesn't.
After dark, with a lamp on inside, your room is the bright side. Anyone outside sees in about as well as through plain glass, and you see a mirror. That is how reflective film works, whoever installs it.
Three honest ways:
- One-way film by day, plus a shade or curtain you close at night.
- Frost or Whiteout for privacy at every hour, where you do not need to see out.
- Blackout on tempered single pane only, where you want no light in at all.
More in our post on daytime privacy film and what to expect at night.
Which film. Which rate.
- Silver 20. $10 per sq ft. Strongest daytime privacy, biggest heat cut. Mirror look from the street in daylight.
- Cool Alloy 20. $12 per sq ft. Neutral finish, less mirror-like, still private by day. Low glare.
- Frost. $11 per sq ft. Etched-glass look. Light through, view blurred both ways, day and night. Cut designs quoted separately.
- Whiteout. $11 per sq ft. Solid white. Light through, no view either way.
- Blackout. $11 per sq ft. Blocks light. Tempered single-pane glass only.
$400 job minimum. What it costs has worked examples. Full rate card and glass checker.
How it looks from the street.
Silver 20 looks like mirror glass in daylight. Cool Alloy 20 reads as a subtle neutral tint. Frost reads as etched bathroom glass. The usual HOA concern is the mirrored look. Neutral films sit closer to plain glass, and our exterior films are rated at 9% and 10% exterior reflectance if low reflectance is required.
Where homeowners use it most.
- Bathrooms. Frost. Private at every hour, daylight kept.
- Street-facing living rooms. Silver 20 or Cool Alloy 20 by day, blinds at night. Heat and glare handled too.
- Bedrooms facing a neighbor. Frost on the whole pane, or Silver 20 with a shade at night.
- Home offices. Cool Alloy 20 for privacy without monitor glare.
- Door sidelights and sidewalk-level basement windows. Frost or Whiteout.
Side by side: frosted vs reflective privacy film. All part of home window tinting.
We check your glass before we pick a film.
We check your glass against the manufacturer's chart of 972 film-and-glass combinations before we recommend anything. The limits:
- Single pane under 100 sq ft. Dual pane under 40 sq ft. Triple pane treated as dual.
- Clear glass under 3/8 in thick.
- Odd-shaped windows over 25 sq ft and uneven exterior shading void the warranty.
- Blackout only on tempered single pane. No film on cracked, chipped, fogged or wired glass.
If a film is not safe on your glass, we say so and recommend something that is. Check your glass.
Install day. What to expect.
- Free in-home estimate. We look at your actual windows.
- Glass check against the manufacturer's chart.
- One written quote, every cost accounted for.
- Install, most homes in a single visit, floors protected, every edge finished.
On the day we clear the sills, cover floor and furniture, clean the glass, apply the film wet and squeegee it flat. Haze or small water pockets while the film cures clear on their own.
Every install carries the manufacturer's film warranty plus ikonic's workmanship guarantee. The glass limits above are what keep that warranty valid.