Having been raised in places with cloud cover, I found the incessant sun of Los Angeles and the architecture that invites it into every crevice overwhelming. Tired of three skylights that let in too much late afternoon sun, in Spring 2023 my wife and I bought three sheets of the Coavas Window Film Privacy Frosted Glass Static Cling UV Sun Blocking Heat Control Window Tint Day and Night Home Bathroom Door Decorative Frosting Cover . We first sought custom blinds but were told the location of the windows meant they could not be installed, whereas this film I could install on the windows’ outside from the roof. The idea was that they would blunt the incoming light and maybe even lower our air conditioning bill; they did the former wonderfully but the latter not at all. Overall, the idea was a good one but the film we bought left a lot to be desired, and I do not know if I will seek a competing product.

The difficulty started right away, with installation. Perhaps my windows are too tall, about 5′ from top to bottom, but I found it very difficult to install each film in one go and without wrinkling. A big selling point of the product is that it is easy to install, but that was not the case for me. It took me a few tries and a couple of hours to get all 3 windows covered. The time was annoying, but even more annoying is that it took me two windows of practice to figure out how to install the film as one sheet, not two half size ones. So for two windows there was a clear crease, which is ugly. For all windows, there were air bubbles.

Within a year, however, a brown rust color developed in spots behind each film. Upon further research I learned the color is adhesive reacting to the sunlight, which was super annoying because the product is advertised as having adhesive in it. Too good to be true and it was. No problem, I thought, the film is supposed to be easy to remove, so I tried that.

Removing the film is where the real trouble started and is the inspiration for this post. Because the film had faced eastern sun for over a year and there was in fact adhesive, the film became stuck on the window idiosyncratically. In other words, I could not remove the film in one go. Worse, I could not remove it in even a few large chunks. I spent 3 sessions and at least 4 hours removing it. None of the advice about removing adhesive film online was helpful because it was aimed at the residue left by stickers or tape on small objects or tools, not on a giant window.

After much trial and error, I finally figured out a system to remove the film efficiently. The Pink Stuff, a paste, was useless because it assumes the sticky item has been removed and all that remains is stickiness, but in this case I had to first remove the film. Instead, I found Goo Gone poured liberally at the top edge of the film was the trick. The Goo Gone, a liquid, then seeps behind the film and works its way down the window. I do not know if the Goo Gone is acidic, but it seemed to loosen the adhesive. After waiting about 2 minutes, I could start peeling the film off. So long as I went slowly, I could remove large chunks. A big help was the small plastic scraper that came with the The Pink Stuff; the wide flat front helped generate leverage behind the film to lift wide amounts at once.

I continued in this way for about 45′ and removed about the final 1/3 of film, versus about 3 hours to remove the first 2/3. After the removal, there were still dots of adhesive or thin strips of film, but those were easily removable with a safety razor. The scratching noise was annoying from inside, my wife later informed me, but it removed the small dots very well.

After the small dots were removed, I used a window cleaning spray and paper towels for the final clean. It took 3 passes to make the window an acceptable level of clear, but now I am happy. The problem now is that I have two windows still covered and therefore with ugly brown markings everywhere, but I am not in a rush to remove them because of the time requirement and appreciation for the sunlight diffusion they do create. The window with the removed film now lets in very hot late into the kitchen, making it uncomfortable there for about an hour each day.

Below is the result. As you can see, the left window looks great while the middle and right ones are ugly. I forgot how much I miss the view, but I also forgot how much I do not miss the direct sunlight. I want something easier and prettier but do not know what that is.

I would remove the other two films if I had a good product to replace them with, but now I do not trust any of these films. They have to have adhesive and I doubt they are designed for year round sun exposure, so I think any replacement would have the same problem. I think the true solution is to find a window treatment vendor that can put true shades on the windows, inside.