How Much Does Window Tinting Cost?

We all want our homes to be light and bright, but sometimes the sunlight pouring through our windows is too intense. Home window tinting reduces that intensity, usually without changing the look of your home.

Home window tinting saves energy, prevents hot spots, and protects furniture and floors from fading. It increases privacy and reduces glare on TVs and computer screens. You might not have guessed that it also makes your home safer and more secure.

About Home Window Tinting

Home window tinting doesn’t block light from entering your home; it blocks the sun’s infrared heat and harmful UV rays. Window tinting keeps your home cooler and more comfortable on hot and sunny days, and it can reduce cooling costs by as much as 30 percent. It protects your skin from added exposure to UV rays, and it extends the life of your fabrics, carpets and hardwood finishings.

Tinting also adds and extra layer of strength to your windows, helping to hold panes together if the glass breaks due to extreme weather or the neighbor’s baseball. Tinting makes it more difficult for burglars to enter the house by smashing a window.

Tinting film is always installed on the inside of your windows, never the outside. It comes in a variety of shades, from almost invisible to fairly dark. With lighter versions, a casual observer would have no idea the film is there.

Most film lasts about 15 years.

Cost of Home Window Tinting

Quality film usually costs $2-$4 per square foot. You don’t want to skimp here: Poor-quality film might not last five years, let alone 15. Professional installation usually brings the price to $5-$10 per square foot. Most professionals will give you a choice of film brands, explaining the cost and pros/cons of each.

Some people choose to save money by tackling the installation themselves, but this is risky if you don’t have experience. Improperly applied, window tint can bubble. We’ve all seen bad tinting jobs like that on cars - they’re an eyesore.

Eventually, most people will recoup the cost of home window tinting in energy savings. The federal government also offers a tax credit to people who tint their home windows under the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which extended tax credits put into place in 2009. Homeowners can recoup 10 percent of the project’s total cost, up to $500.

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