Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is not a project for people who will not read and follow directions exactly and lack patience. If this is you do not buy. You'll waste your money, waste your time, be mad, and write a crummy review about a wonderful product. First, the installation kit is junk. Fortunately for me I got a good look at one locally before I purchased. Get a spray bottle, add a cap of baby shampoo and fill with water. Get a good quality utility knife with a new blade. Plastic 4" wall knife. Long handled squeegee. Squeegee was 2.50 @ sam waltons house of discounts, wall knife was 98 cents at the hardware store, if you lack a utility knife one up to the job is 3 bucks including a few blades. Enough baby shampoo can be had to make gallons and gallons and gallons and gallons of solution can be had at the dollar store for, you guessed it, a buck. You should also have a few single edged blades for scraping the window. You could use the excess blades in your new utility knife but I would recommend a decent quality scraper handle and the associated blades which is a couple of bucks. If you have to purchase everything on my list the bill will be less than 15 dollars and you will have a MUCH better time with your installation. One spray bottle Baby Shampoo Squeegee Wall knife Utility knife Scraping blade Windex (optional) Old cotton diaper Yard Stick Read the directions. Go to Gila's website and watch the how to video. It has tricks that you will be very grateful for. [...] CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN. I used windex first and then followed up with solution. Your new squeegee will be very handy. Then I sprayed with solution again and meticulously scraped every inch of window with a single edged blade. You want this to be the cleanest window you have ever cleaned in your life. Buff the streaks out with cotton diaper. Soak your squeegee when done to remove all traces of windex if you opted for this step (recommended). You will also want to remove any bubbled out sealants/caulk on the edges of all panes and PARTICULARLY in the corners if present. MEASURE MEASURE MEASURE Use the old carpenter's adage "Measure Twice, Cut Once". You'll want a nice smooth table to lay out on. You absolutely want a helper for this step as the film is tough to manage alone. I used a 9 year old and it worked very well. You REALLY want a perfectly straight cut to avoid wasting material and to make your life easier when you go to install. You'll want a half an inch extra on all cut edges assuming you make nice, straight cuts. Make your mark, check it twice, and use a yard stick for a straight edge guide. SPRAY SPRAY SPRAY Hose the window down, then spray it again. Trust me. Use the tape trick outlined in the directions. Trust me. Hose the film down as you remove the backing then spray it again. Trust me. While you might be able to manage this alone your 9 yr old will come in very handy here too. Film will virtually leap on to the window but, because you have hosed down both surfaces, you can play with it for 30 mins if you need to to get it lined up the way you like it. I worked L to R and aligned the factory edge accordingly. If you dont like what you see, peel it back, hose it down, and do it again. I had a gnat get trapped in the middle of one of mine and I removed the entire sheet and reapplied without the first problem. Work all the big bubbles out and then move on to your next window. Come back in about 30 mins and trim all your edges. Hose window down again and then work it with your wall knife repeatedly until you can make a pass without seeing any bubbles being pushed ahead of the knife. Keep the window wet as you do this to avoid scratching your film. This is not a slap it up project. The first window will take about an hour, each succeeding one progressively less. Once I hit my fourth one it was taking about 20 mins as I'm now pretty good via practice. READ THE DIRECTIONS. WATCH THE VIDEO. DONT SHORTCUT. USE LOTS OF SOLUTION. [...] Be patient, use lots of solution just like the video instructs and you can have PERFECT results. I will admit the first window I tackled was not perfectly trimmed (but it was virtually unnoticeable) but even that window had not the first bubble or crease. This is when I discovered the let it stand for 30 mins trick. If you do make a slight screwup the next day come back with some scrap pieces if you are as anal as I am and the only person who ever know your trimming was less than perfect will be you. My other panes were virtually flawless. I bought this for a kitchen nook that faced the rising sun. Real nice @ 6:00 am, hot as hades by 10 and the HVAC was struggling to keep up. First day the results were simply remarkable and I'm logging on to buy a 100 ft roll to do a bunch more of my windows as the specs claim year round savings and I now believe them. I'd give this stuff 6 stars if I could... READ THE DIRECTIONS. WATCH THE VIDEO. DONT SHORTCUT. USE LOTS OF SOLUTION. [...] ************************ Followup 4 years later March 6, 2015******************************* I logged in to buy another roll to install in my granddaughter's room and discovered my review has been helpful to many, glad I could help. 4 years in all my windows look just like the day I installed the film.No cracks, blisters or peeling. The only thing I am doing to maintain them is I use the baby shampoo installation spray to wash and rinse with a 25% white vinegar and water solution to clean as I had concerns that ammonia based products might strip and/or deteriorate the film. Not sure if this matters or not but better safe afterall. I can really tell the difference summer and winter; can't feel hot or cold drafts from the windows transferring energy anymore and my HVAC unit runs half as often as it use to. I'm getting the same results from installing this product on all my windows I'd have gotten from installing 5 grand worth of triple pane windows. 5 years ago I started trying to reduce my energy footprint by adding a couple of hundred bucks worth of do-it-yourself blown insulation in my attic (home depot will give you a free blower with purchase), installed a cool roof system on my home, applied a case of caulk to every crack around doors and windows inside and out and installed this film on every piece of glass in my house. Did all the work myself as I'm a tightwad with weekends off so the expense was about 1800 bucks and 6 or 7 days worth of busy but not backbreaking work. I reduced my footprint 30% in the process which allowed me to recover my investment in a little over a year and now pays for a week at the beach with my grand kids. Gila's product has been a big contributor to these savings.