Window Graphics quote

[RayRosher]

not sure about price
But i have heard of glass cracking and shattering if the wrong vinyl is used

[Stuart Miller]

The type of glass, the darkness of the vinyl and any shading of the glass are all important in whether the glass will crack or not.
The glass type is the most crucial.

If toughened or tempered glass then there is not too much worry as it can stand some heat differential and is unlikely to crack unless the extremes of the other two considerations are met.

Annealed glass has many small cracks around it edges from the way it is cut. Anu one of these small cracks can propogate if uneven temperatures occur accross the pane.

Laminated glass is often met in shop windows and this is usually two layers of annealed glass seperated by a thin film.
Laminated can even be worse than single annealed as the both layers will contain the micro cracks at the edges and there can more of a temperature differential occuring because of the extra thickness of glass and the seperate panes expanding at different amounts either side of the film layer.

Using Black or a dark vinyl can absorb more energy from the sun rather than reflect it so can heat up more causing greater temp differential. Try and keep to lighter colours to lessen the effect.

If the glass warms up evenly then there is less likely hood of the cracks propogating so the two things to consider here are amount of cover of the vinyl and any "initial shading" of the glass.
Obviously complete cover of a window is therefore better than having only part covered.
"Initial shading" however is often not considered unless you are a tinter and trained to look out for it. This may be if the window is in a recess, has an overhang above it, a tree or corner of another building which may cast a shadow accross the glass. This is particularly important when the sun first hits the glass in the morning. This initial impact of the sun can create quite a temperature difference accross the pane if it has been a cold night and the glass is hit diagonally by the sun.
It is therefore a combination of glass type, vinyl colour and shading which must be considered, not just the vinyl.

To get back to price.
I would usually charge my basic glass installation charge of £30 per sq m for a vinyl flood coat. As many vinyls are usually cheaper than window films.

So for 26 sq m I would charge around £800.
I would expect to do this alone, wet, in 4 vertical drops per window, using 1200mm wide vinyl.
I would hope to do this in a day by myself, although a helper would be useful on a 10ft drop.

Extra time / price would depend on the lettering size, complexity to be installed before the flood coat.

[Nick Harper]

Thank you for such an informative reply Stuart.

It made very interesting reading and has enlightened me to things i would never have considered.

Nick