Best Way to Keep Light From Entering Theater (1 Viewer)

[MikeTz]

I'm going to install a Runco CL-710 DLP projector in my theater room. I've been watching a large direct view TV and never worried about ambient light in the room until now. There are double pleated shades in each window but my room has a west exposure (in Texas) so the windows get very intense sunlight. The shades filter out some light but it still gets bright in the room during the day. Is there a film I can put on the inside of the windows that will eliminate the light? Any other suggestions?

Thanks

MT

 

[Jeff Engel]

Well, to really answer the question we need to know what you plan on doing with the windows. Do you still want to be able to use them, or do you just want to block all light coming form them in a semi permanent manner. If you still want to use them, I think you'll have to go buy some blackout honeycomb shades that fit tighter than regular shades and block a lot more light coming in.

On the other hand, to completely blackout the light you can go to JoAnn fabric store and purchase their blackout fabric. It's a very dense material that works great. You can then just staple this to the inside of the window frame and all the light will be gone. Or you can purchase some curtain material and then sew some blackout material to the curtains and hang them on a rod over the window to draw open or closed as appropriate. Velvet curtains work extremely well for this application.

Regardless of which way you go, I would stop by Lowes and pick up something called "Gila Window Film". It's window tint for the home. They have many different grades, darkness', mirror finish, and privacy film. It's pretty pricy but the benefit is worth it. It blocks out like 75%(highest grade) of the heat and 20% of the light coming into that window. Which means it's great for those west facing windows in Texas. The temperature dropped literally about 10 degrees from standing in front of non treaded window as opposed to the treated one. If you put some of the mirror finish up with a blackout honeycomb shade and curtains and you should be all set.

Jeff

 

[Glenise]

I 2nd blackout fabric from www.joanns.com
I bought some curtains from Target and safety pinned the blackout fabric behind the curtains and boy did it make a difference.

 

[DanielSmi]

I have this thing were I can't sleep with a bunch of light in the room and it's hard to take a nap in the middle of the day. So what I did was take some black material and tape it over the windows, it does a great job and now my room is the darkest in the house. The idea actually came to me yesterday of doing it to my HT room because the sun like to come in that room around 4-5pm.

Daniel Smith