Fading ??

[KNEEBITER]

Duane

I had posted a thread about window treament for my living room. We went today and had a look at blinds. My question is: My living room window is on the north/west side of the house, The Kingwood will sit in front of the window. No direct sun as the back side of the house but it does get bright during the mid to end of the day. Will I have a problem with fading of the leather if I leave it as is with no window treatment? Just trying to figure out how crazy I need to go with blocking the light.

I looked at the 2" wooden blinds as well as the cellular cloth/poly fan type that open from the top or bottom. I never realized how many different options that there was in blinds. I am now dizzy. I do not want to take away from the sofa or room and make it look cheap so I am taking my time to find the right look.

Thanks

[sharlokhomes]

There are only high chances of leather gettng faded if it remains in contact of direct sunlight.

[KNEEBITER]

Thank you for the reply. Can you define direct sunlight? In front of a window that has light but not the sunny side of the house is this considered direct?

[drcollie]

There is always going to be some fade from indirect sunlight, though it will be at a much slower rate than if the sunlight is 'playing' on a piece of furniture or rug, etc. UV rays can really do a lot of damage to things, and actually break down fabric fibers over time - leather simply bleaches out its color. At my house, we basically 'lost' most our first generation of decent furniture due to sun fade, so my wife and I are really attuned to it after we had to replace most our furniture because of it. We use solar film on the windows and I spray the Leather Magic UV block on all our furniture on a regular basis.

[juliepooch]

Hi Kneebiter,
I added a post to "Looking for help with window treatment" last week about our fading problem. I agree with Duane that UV film is probably the best and easiest way to go. Unfortunately that was not an option for us. I am now in the process of ordering leather sunscreen to protect my existing leather furniture and new Evening sofa.

[KNEEBITER]

Duane

Is the Learher Magic uv protectant silicone free? Is it 100% compatible with my class 3 and is it recommended by H&M? Duane or Julie ,

Is the window film clear or tinted? I would not want tint on my window but would do it if it was clear.

Thanks

[drcollie]

Not sure about the silicone content, you would have to call Leather Magic to find out. Yes, its 100 % recommended by H&M and tested safe for use on the hides.

I have two kinds of window film I use. At my home, I had all the windows covered in a very light shade, probably # 3 out of 20 shades available. You can't even tell its in there, other than there is less glare than an untreated window. If I had it to do over again, I'd step a little darker to # 5 or # 6.

At my store, I use the darkest they make, # 20, and put it on a large roll-up shades. I pull the shades every day about 1 p.m. and leave them down until the sun clocks behind the building across the street. That super dark is VERY effective, but you wouldn't want it on your windows all the time.

Have a solar film expert come to your house and give you an estimate. He will have all the shades with him and you'll be surprised at how clear # 1 through # 5 are.

[KNEEBITER]

Thanks Duane . My windows are 10 year old Harvey low E argon. Not sure if that means anything as far as UV protection.

[drcollie]

Low E helps, for sure. But its not as effective as a full-on UV Blocker. This is one of those things that you can keep an eye on, just knowing it can fade gives you an awareness to look for it, and then you can deal with it at that time if you see it occurring. Where the big surprises come is when people don't give it a second thought, then one day go pull out the sofa to replace the carpet and find the back of their furniture went from Dark Navy Blue to nearly white with a blue tint!

[drcollie]

Here's an example of sun fade in my kitchen shown on Bruce pre-finished floors that were installed 10 years ago. This is a north facing window, all indirect sun. Look how badly the wood finish had faded around where the carpet lays. I did not install Solar UV film on the north facing windows in my home, figured I would not need it.....I should have!