Plastic windows are quite often equipped with various films that are needed to protect from the sun, make the glass more durable, and decorate. When buying an apartment, windows can be covered with such films, but they are not always needed by the new owner. In addition, if it is time to update the windows, since the films tend to become unusable, the question arises of how to remove the sun protection film from the window.
You can remove the sun protection film from the glass in different ways, choosing the most convenient and affordable. This is done both mechanically and with the help of various detergents, they also use a combined approach in order to clean well.
The film can be quite useful: it has a small thickness, while making the window much stronger, it can no longer be broken with a simple stone. There are different types of films that help to protect the double-glazed window even from strong impact, such as a gunshot; they are classified as protective. It will not work to remove a perforated film from glass or any other type of protective or tinting variety from the outside: an attacker will not do this, since the process takes a lot of time, effort, and attracts the attention of others. Most films are glued from the inside, with the exception of the protective one.
Knowing how to remove the film from the window glass may be required, if desired, to replace it when updating the interior, replacing a double-glazed window. Sometimes the product loses its visual appeal and needs to be updated, or the owners of the premises want to change its illumination, make the room lighter or darker. The process of removing the film is simple, does not require hiring a specialist, but it is worth considering that you will have to spend a sufficient amount of time and effort on this. You need to work carefully: in the process it is easy to damage the glass, scratch it, especially if you remove the film with hard materials such as a spatula or a coarse brush.
When choosing a method, means, option for cleaning glass, the owners of the premises proceed from several parameters:
The easiest option than to clean the glass from the sun-protection film is a spatula and fingers. Some types can be gently pry off by tearing off the edge, but this does not always work out due to the fact that the film is glued unevenly, in some places it is damaged and exfoliates.
It is quite difficult to remove the adhesive from the film from the glass. It is poorly removed by detergents, does not lend itself to mechanical action. In order to remove it, you can use white spirit or another alcohol-containing substance that can gently clean the surface. Do not use rags with coarse pile, as they can leave marks visible in the sun on the glass.
Understand , how to remove the old film from plastic windows may be required if it is damaged, you want to change the appearance of the window, renew the old coating that has deteriorated.
Removal methods can be divided into two - mechanical and chemical. The first allows you to remove the film from plastic windows without much money, but with the risk of scratching the glass. The second will take longer, cost more, but with the right tools, you can thoroughly clean the surface without harming it. For greater efficiency, the methods are best combined: first you need to cut off all the swollen, cracked or otherwise deteriorated film.
You can remove the film from plastic windows with your hands, then get rid of the glue with the help of substances such as COSMOFEN 10, FENOSOL. These detergents have a cheaper counterpart that you can buy at a hardware store: it's called P-12.
It will be much easier to remove the protective film from plastic windows if you heat it up with a building hair dryer before peeling it off. The heated glue becomes more viscous and allows parts of the structure to be peeled off. However, the glue itself is best removed when it cools down a bit.
You should try to heat the surface evenly: the better you do it, the easier it will be to remove the self-adhesive film from the glass and the remnants of its glue. The latter will not be easy to remove, you will need to use a solvent, a scraper and detergents. You need to act carefully, otherwise you can scratch the glass. A steam generator can help with this. With it, you can remove the stained glass film from the glass ,
get rid of the tinting or protective film, glue residue. If you don’t have a steam generator or a powerful hair dryer at hand, you should not try to heat it up with an iron. So the film will not be removed, but it will partially stick to the surface of the iron, which can spoil it to a large extent, and after cooling it will not be easy to tear it off the iron.
You can remove the self-adhesive film from the glass, if it is well warmed up, using a hard eraser for artists. The remains of the eraser are removed from the window easily. To do this, you need a dry sponge or rag. If there is glue left, you can apply the eraser again or use a solvent. Most hardware stores have something to remove the film from the glass.
Before removing the film from the glass, you need to carefully study all the methods, purchase suitable detergents and tools with which you can clean the surface.
The protective film under the influence of ultraviolet, sunlight and time strongly sticks to the plastic profile and glass, bursts, cracks, dries up. Remove the protective coating no later than 10 days after installing a new window. To separate the film from the plastic, use a scraper, a dull knife, or a stiff brush. Heat the dry tape with hot air from a hair dryer or use solvents (white spirit, RP6), denatured alcohol, Schumann, professional plastic cleaners. Wipe off the remaining glue with a school eraser, nail polish remover, and vegetable oil. Use a holistic approach to remove self-adhesive window tint or sunscreen.
Adhesive tape protects new windows during transportation, installation, construction work in the room. Untimely removal leads to its drying out. Knowing how to remove the film from plastic windows, you can quickly and effectively restore their attractive appearance and remove dust adhering to the adhesive base without damaging the surface.
A protective film is applied to a new metal-plastic frame using an adhesive composition.
Its quality largely determines how easily and quickly it will be removed. Unscrupulous manufacturers use a cheap coating that "sticks" to the window, bursts and peels off. It is difficult to tear off such a film even on time.
Hot summer weather, as well as the south side of the window, exacerbate the situation.
A profile installed in winter is somewhat easier to clean if done on time. In frost, the coating also collapses, bursts, loses elasticity.
Important! Remove the protective film no later than 10 days from the date of installation of the new profile, so that it does not have time to stick and collapse.
To remove an intact film from a plastic frame or window sill, it is enough to pick up its corner with any sharp object (scissors, knife, fingernail), and then carefully separate along the entire length. The coating will easily move away from the profile, will not tear and will not leave sticky marks.
The old, stuck film will have to be removed using improvised means or solvents.
Conventionally, methods for removing dried film can be divided into:
In some cases, a complex approach may be required to remove a very old, damaged coating.
Using a scraper, a knife, a hard brush is one of the most popular methods for cleaning a profile from a protective film. You need to act very carefully so as not to damage the plastic or glass.
Any brush with stiff, non-metallic bristles or dishwashing sponge with an abrasive layer will do.
Action algorithm:
Use a special glass-ceramic scraper or a construction rubberized spatula.
Use a dull knife or blade to avoid damaging the profile and injuring yourself. Wash the frames with soapy warm water, clean gently with a blade.
Important! Metal tools can leave deep scratches on plastic, where dust and dirt can clog. Their use is not recommended.
After removing the tape, wash the frame well
The method is effective for removing cracked, dried-out film from PVC windows.
Cut off a small strip of wide stationery tape, stick it to the frame, tear off sharply. Small, dried pieces of the protective coating will stick to the adhesive tape and with it will move away from the plastic.
Chemical solvents corrode the adhesive base, quickly and effectively remove the film from the windows.
With the onset of sunny days, tinting on the window glass protects from excess light and heat into the room. Thanks to this coating in the summer, the apartment maintains a comfortable coolness and coziness. But with the onset of cold weather, I want to clean the window from the sun-protection film. This is not so difficult to do if you know the technology and apply some tricks.
Sun protection film sometimes leaves marks on the window that are difficult to remove.
Cleaning the window from the film is a long and laborious process. Starting this procedure, you need to be patient. There are several ways to clear a window.
Add dishwashing liquid to a bowl of water. Soak a flannel diaper in this liquid and stick it to the window for at least 1.5-2 hours. When the fabric dries, it must be abundantly moistened with the prepared solution from the sprayer. Film adhesive is water soluble, so the longer it is soaked, the easier the coating will come off.
Use a spatula or toothpick to pry off the film and pull it down evenly by 2-3 centimeters. If it does not come off well, it should be qualitatively moistened with liquid from the sprayer into the gap between the film and the glass. Wait 10 minutes. Again, easily and smoothly, without sudden movements, pull the film down. Moisturize again. Thus, the coating will gradually move away to the very end. This lesson will take a lot of time, but the main thing is not to rush.
After all the glass has been cleaned, moisten the remaining islands that have not been peeled off again and remove them with a scraper. Wash the window with ammonia and water.
With the help of a steam generator, you can easily peel off the film from the window
In this case, you will need a steam generator. Direct a jet of hot steam to the top of the window pane. Process it for 7-10 minutes. As soon as this part separates freely, steam the next section. Continue in this manner until the entire glass surface is clear.
At the end, the window must be washed from the remnants of the film with warm water and dishwashing detergent or ammonia. To do this, dissolve a bottle of ammonia in a bucket of water.
If the polymer coating is heated to a temperature of more than 50 ° C, then it will become plastic and it will be easier to separate from the surface to which it is glued.
To do this, you need a building hair dryer. It is necessary to evenly heat the entire surface of the glass, holding the device from it at a distance of 10 to 15 cm. If you linger in some area a little longer, the glass may crack from overheating.
Direct a jet of hot air to the upper corner and hold it for a few seconds. Remove the hair dryer and pick up the edge of the film with a sharp non-metallic object. Then remove the coating in stages.
Methods with a household hair dryer and a steam cleaner can only be used in the warm season, until winter weather sets in outside the window. Otherwise, temperature differences inside and outside will cause the glass to crack.
A glass-ceramic hob scraper is best for removing the foil.
To remove the foil from the glass, you can use a scraper to clean the glass-ceramic hob. This tool copes with the problem without the use of household chemicals.
If the scraper failed to remove everything, then the hard side of the sponge continues to clean the window using this mixture: soda or Comet powder is mixed with alcohol or solvent. Wiping the foil from the glass in this way will not work right away. When, after painstaking work, the result is achieved, the glass surface must be put in order by polishing it with felt and diamond paste.
Another option is Amway Oven Gel Cleaner. It is distributed over the entire surface to be treated and left for half an hour. Dilute a small amount of vinegar in water. Wet a rag or sponge with this liquid and wash the glass. If the first time it was not possible to wash the film from the sun from plastic windows, then the procedure is repeated.
It helps to get rid of the problem with a drill with a soft nozzle for grinding glass together with powder for the same procedure.
When using household chemicals for cleaning windows, do not mix two different solutions, this can lead to an unexpected reaction of the components that make up the substance.
To wash the film from the sun from the windows with the help of chemicals, you must follow the safety precautions. When starting work, it is necessary to wear rubber gloves, tight closed clothing, and in some cases a respirator. Window sashes must be fully open. Children and animals should not be in the room at this time.
The film and foil can be removed using the following means:
If the coating is difficult to move away, it is worth arming yourself with a scraper. You will also need a few microfiber cloths, a kitchen sponge, and a few towels or large, soft, absorbent cloths. They will be needed in order to collect liquid flowing onto the windowsill.
When using household chemicals, you must follow the dosage indicated on the label.
Toothpaste cleans glass well
If none of the above methods helped, you can apply the following tips:
Enterprises producing metal-plastic windows supply their products with a protective film. Its role is to protect the frames from dust, dirt and scratches during storage, transportation and installation of window units. After that, it becomes completely useless and needs to be removed. Let's figure out how to do it.
Whichever method is chosen from those described below, it is very important not to damage the hydro- and vapor barrier coatings located at the junctions of the frames with walls and roofs during the removal of the film.
The higher the temperature provided by the device, the more efficient the method becomes. The best option is to use not a weak enough technique for drying hair, but a powerful hair dryer. An alternative to a hair dryer can be a heater, if its mechanism of action is also based on blowing hot air, or a clothes steamer.
Procedure:
It is important to observe safety precautions - if the instructions for the tool recommend working with gloves and well ventilating the room, this should not be neglected. Otherwise, you can earn intoxication of the body and a chemical burn of the skin.
Use only stationery tape (transparent or colored - it does not matter). Masking and double-sided adhesive tapes on a fabric and paper basis are covered with a less sticky adhesive composition.
If in winter in your region frosts reach at least -10 ° C, just wait for the cold weather and let the frames cool down well by opening the windows in the room for a couple of hours. If not, you can try to cool the problem areas artificially by applying frozen bottled water to them and immediately trying to peel off the film following fresh traces. But the effectiveness of this option is much lower.
The oil itself must also be removed from the frames, otherwise it will harden over time and form dark and sticky stains, to which dust will quickly adhere. Remaining oil can be removed with soap, dishwashing detergent, acetone or alcohol.
The protective film on the frames of plastic windows is designed only for their short-term protection against dirt and scratches. After installation, this coating should be disposed of as soon as possible, otherwise it will be quite difficult to remove it later, although it is realistic.
Glad to see everyone on my blog!
After installing plastic windows, not everyone immediately removes the film from them. But in vain!
More than once I have seen in a recently built nearby house how the tenants rub it with wet rags and try to scrape it off with a scraper, because they did not immediately realize that it had to be removed immediately after the purchase.
What can I say, because many people buy apartments after the film has had time to dry tightly.
Therefore, be vigilant, read useful tips on effective cleaning methods and immediately check them in practice.
On the protective films of profiles, manufacturers write that it is necessary to remove the film from metal-plastic window structures immediately after carrying out work on their installation. But, for a number of reasons, this requirement is often neglected.
The protective coating protects the structure from contamination that inevitably occurs during repair or construction.
For example, the film can be useful in the design of slopes, external insulation of housing, and decorative work.
In such cases, the film adhesive remains on the frames longer and hardens over time. This complicates the process of peeling off the film, and the glue itself sticks to the windows in the form of unaesthetic black spots.
How then to remove the film from plastic windows?
Useful advice!
This problem can be solved in two stages, successively applying mechanical and chemical methods.
The first will allow you to remove the film itself, while the second will deal directly with the glue.
Accordingly, to achieve the best effect, it is advisable to go through both stages. It is this approach that will allow you to effectively get rid of the problem and avoid scratches on the windows.
So, the protective coating can be safely removed with three tools:
In the first case, carefully separate the film with the sharp edge of the scraper. Due to the fact that this device is designed for glass-ceramic, the likelihood of scratches on windows is quite low. But you still need to be careful while working.
The second option is considered safer and more reliable. Hot air must be used to heat the glued surface.
It is important not to overdo it so that the film does not melt and stick to the structure tightly. While still warm, the coating is removed in one confident movement. If necessary, the edge can be pry off with any sharp object.
Removing the film with an eraser, at first glance, seems to be quite an exotic method. In practice, this method will require a lot of effort from you, but the PVC profile will certainly remain intact.
But in order to remove the film from plastic windows, the use of one mechanical method is not enough.
After the physical separation of the film, an adhesive remains on the window frames, which is firmly bonded to the structure. If the composition did not have time to dry well, you can do with an ordinary household rag and soapy water.
A well-dampened cloth should vigorously rub the contaminated areas. However, in some cases you will need more powerful tools. So, chemicals COSMOFEN 10 or FENOSOL showed themselves well. They are good because in addition to persistent dirt, they can also remove minor scratches.
You can also use "Nanoflex P-12" - an equipment cleaner. It is worth mentioning that the listed methods for removing the protective coating are suitable for all elements of window structures. The adhesive composition in them, as a rule, is used the same, which allows the use of the same tools for working with frames, double-glazed windows, window sills, and fittings.
In conclusion, we note that before removing the film from plastic windows, it is necessary to complete all construction work in the opening area. So you can keep the attractive appearance of the structures for a long time.
Naturally, with the exception of those works after which it will not be possible to physically remove the film.
source: veka.ua
The frames of metal-plastic windows are protected with a special film in order to protect them from dirt, scratches and other damage during transportation and installation.
Removing the film from metal-plastic windows is extremely simple, if done in a timely manner, i.e. immediately after the windows have been installed.
If for some reason you tightened up with this, then removing the film can be a big problem. According to the instructions, the film must be removed within 10 days after the installation of metal-plastic windows.
If you increase this period to a month or two, then, most likely, nothing terrible will happen. When the film remains on the frames for 3 or more months, it will take a lot of effort to remove it.
Why is there such a discrepancy? It turns out that the protective film consists of 2 layers and is glued to the frames with a special adhesive. Under the influence of heat and solar radiation, a thin inner layer of the film decomposes and tightly adheres to the plastic.
To separate the surface layer of the film is not as difficult as the inner one.
Reasons that increase the adhesion of the film to the frame:
Finally, consider how to remove the film from metal-plastic windows if it was not removed in a timely manner.
Often the film is not removed because the repair is delayed and you want to protect the window frames from paint, whitewash and other contaminants. This is the wrong approach, which will give rise to even more dilemmas. It is much better to remove the protective film, and if necessary, stick masking tape on the frames. It won't be hard to take it off.
source: stroiportal-dnepr.com
We often hear questions like this:
“A year ago, plastic windows were installed in the company ****. All this time, the apartment was being renovated, and my husband and I lived with relatives.
Now, after the repair was completed, they found that the protective film that is glued to the plastic does not tear off. That is, the film that was inside the apartment came off normally, but from the side of the street it is held tightly.
How can I try to remove the film from the window? Is there any remedy?"
I have to disappoint you, I do not know of such means that can help you with 100% probability. After installing the window, the protective film must be removed immediately, otherwise it is destroyed in the sun under the influence of ultraviolet radiation and fuses into the plastic.
Note!
The protective film must be removed immediately, otherwise it is destroyed in the sun and melted into the plastic.
Manufacturers of plastic windows even write warnings on this film, but usually in a foreign language. In our practice, there was a case when we installed windows for the whole house for customers, and the profile from which the windows were welded lay for a long time on the street under the sun.
We were not able to remove the film from these windows, and the problem arose, of course, after all the windows were installed. As a result, we had to completely replace all the windows with new ones.
But sometimes, special cleaners can help to remove the film. We have Cosmofen plastic cleaner for sale. A very serious thing to say. Distributed specifically for window companies.
There are 3 brands of Kosmofen: Kosmofen No. 5, Kosmofen No. 10 and Kosmofen No. 20, they differ in the degree of dissolution of PVC plastic.
So Kosmofen No. 20 does not dissolve plastic at all, Kosmofen No. 10 is a weak solvent for PVC and Kosmofen No. 5 is the strongest solvent.
I think that if Cosmofen does not help you, then nothing will help you. The only way out is either to change the windows, or to spit and forget, thank God the film is on the street and is not visible from the apartment.
source: www.okna-lider.com
When installing plastic windows, always remember that it is necessary to remove the protective film that trims the profile for safety purposes immediately after the windows are in place and all finishing work is completed.
However, real situations indicate that consumers often order PVC windows from one company of such well-known brands as KBE, PROPLEX, Veka or the eminent Rehau, and their installation is carried out independently or with the help of other contractor companies.
In such situations, everyone completely forgets to remove the notorious protective film on the profile, which, under the influence of sunlight, sticks to the window so strongly that it is almost impossible to remove it.
In which case, it will be possible to make claims about the quality of the work performed, and its employees will be required to take care of removing the film from the outside of the profile.
On the windows, the film prevents scratches, both during their installation and during installation. Experts in this field recommend getting rid of such a harmful film within 10 days after the windows have been exposed to the sun.
If time is lost and the protective layer has not been removed, do not be self-willed, but listen to useful tips that have been tested by time and practice. Many make a gross mistake when trying to remove the film with a solvent. So the film will remain on the windows, and the profile can be hopelessly damaged.
Proceed with extreme caution, because the entire profile can be damaged from strong heating.
An equally effective tool for removing the film from the window will be the use of a special scraper used when cleaning cooking surfaces and ceramic tiles.
You can safely work with a scraper, because it does not damage the plastic surface.
Try very carefully to pick up the edges of the adhered film with a scraper and remove it piece by piece from the window. If possible, work only with your fingers, as even a safe scraper can leave scratches on the PVC profile.
When finished, thoroughly wipe off the remaining adhesive with warm soapy water. If the glue cannot be cleaned with soapy water, then use the special Cosmofen 10 cleaner.
It is important that it not only removes adhesive residue from the film, but also largely masks the resulting small cracks. From improvised means, an ordinary eraser from the school desk helps well, it perfectly rolls up the remnants of glue, helps to achieve the desired results.
All of the above tips are time-tested and give positive results with careful handling of all devices.
But if you conclude a contract for the production, supply and installation of plastic windows with one organization (which is the best option), then make sure that they take care of removing the film from the window as well.
