Vinyl siding can be melted and ruined in a variety of ways, including from a grill placed too near the wall or by machinery operated or left idling too close to your property. But the most common cause of damaged siding is vinyl siding melted by the sun. But not by the regular sunshine; if sunshine melted vinyl siding then it would be a horrible building material! Sunlight reflected off windows melts vinyl siding when the reflected beams become extra concentrated and hot. And the windows that do so are a new type of building material: energy efficient Low-E windows. So if you or a neighbor recently had new windows installed, watch out for solar glare melting vinyl siding and causing damage that necessitates costly replacement.
Melted Vinyl Siding from Low-E Windows
How can sunlight reflected off Low-E windows melt vinyl siding walls? The same way you can use a magnifying glass to create a point of light hot enough to start a fire. Low-E, or low emissivity, windows have a highly reflective coating that reflects much more solar energy than traditional glass windows. Often, all that bounced energy ends up in one concentrated spot. And what’s another name for solar energy? In this case, it’s heat.
How to Stop Vinyl Siding Melting
To stop sunshine melting vinyl siding you need to apply Turf Guard Window Film over the glass. This anti-glare window film won’t reduce the efficacy of these energy efficient windows; they will still reject maximum IR and UV light and keep the home cooler and safer against interior fading. But the light rejected won’t form a concentrated beam. Instead, Turf Guard Window Film sends reflected solar energy bouncing in countless directions, harmlessly scattering away and not melting vinyl siding or ruining artificial turf grass or other aspects of a property.