Approximately 200 square feet of sunroom glass in a Schell Brothers home at Coastal Club in Lewes, Delaware treated with 3M Sun Control Window Film Ceramic Architectural Series 45 — a low-reflectivity ceramic film chosen to cut solar heat and UV while keeping the room bright and the exterior glass looking natural rather than mirrored.
A sunroom is mostly glass by design. Sun enters from several directions at once and there is very little insulated wall area to buffer it, so the room heats faster than the rest of the house — often to the point where it goes unused through the middle of a warm day. Newer Coastal Club phases have very little mature tree cover to soften that.
The homeowner wanted it solved without darkening the room and without a shiny, mirrored exterior appearance against the white frames and light siding of the elevation.
CA45 is a ceramic-based, non-metallized sun control film built to reject solar energy while holding onto a high level of visible light. On 1/4-inch clear glass, current 3M technical data lists 45% visible light transmission, 52% total solar energy rejected, 41% solar heat reduction, 99.8% UV rejected, and 49% glare reduction. Those figures are tied to that glass condition; 3M's Ceramic Architectural family page notes the series can block up to 55% of heat depending on the film and glass combination.
For this sunroom that means roughly half of the total solar energy hitting the treated glass is rejected and over 99% of ultraviolet light is blocked, while 45% of visible light still comes through. Exterior visible light reflectance is approximately 6% — close to ordinary glass — so the room does not read as a mirror from the patio.
Roughly 200 square feet of sunroom glazing was surveyed, prepared, and filmed pane by pane, including the tall fixed panels and door glass, then detailed and checked from inside and from the patio for a consistent finish. The finished room keeps its daylight and its view, with solar energy and UV control added to the existing glass and no glass replacement.
Coastal Club is a Schell Brothers community off the Route 9 corridor in Lewes, and its glass packages — wide rear elevations, sunrooms, morning rooms, transoms and gable glass — are the reason so many film calls come from this neighborhood. Shore Tint & More is an independent 3M window film contractor; Schell Brothers is the home builder for this featured residence, and the film work was contracted separately by the homeowner.
Glass type matters: insulated, low-E, tempered, and annealed glass behave differently with film, and published performance figures are tied to a specific glass condition. We confirm the glazing before recommending a film.
3M Sun Control Window Film Ceramic Architectural Series 45 (CA45), installed across approximately 200 square feet of sunroom glass in a Schell Brothers home at Coastal Club, for solar heat and UV control without darkening the room or mirroring the exterior glass.
On 1/4-inch clear glass, current 3M technical data lists 52% total solar energy rejected and 41% solar heat reduction. Performance depends on the glass the film is applied to; 3M's Ceramic Architectural family page notes the series can block up to 55% of heat depending on the film and glass combination.
Not at this shade. CA45 transmits 45% of visible light, so the room keeps a daylight feel and a clear view out.
No. CA45 has approximately 6% exterior visible light reflectance, close to ordinary glass, so the windows keep a natural appearance. Reflective and dual-reflective films are far more reflective.
CA45 rejects 99.8% of ultraviolet light, a major contributor to fading. Fading is also driven by visible light, heat, and humidity, so film substantially slows it rather than eliminating it.
Yes. We install 3M window film throughout Coastal Club and the wider Lewes area, and we have filmed Schell Brothers homes across Sussex County — most often sunrooms, morning rooms, rear walls of glass, and transom and gable glass.
Yes. Film is applied to the interior surface of the existing glass, so frames, panels, and doors stay in place with no glass replacement.
Request a free estimate or call (302) 947-4624. Shore Tint & More (Delaware Window Film) — 3M Authorized Dealer, IWFA accredited, serving Delaware and the Maryland Eastern Shore since 1989.