Fading of furniture through large glass a problem?

true

Interesting debate posed by someone in the pub tonight. Someone advocated large glazing panels i.e. floor to ceiling "glass wall" in an extension. Someone else said furniture / carpets etc would fade quickly as its southerly facing. Is this correct...or is there something which can be added to glass nowadays to reduce fading of things in direct sunlight? Or maybe fading is not as much an issue through double or triple glazing? Anyone any thoughts or experiences - would you go for lots of glass again if you've got that already?
Is it cost effective to go for lots of glass if furniture etc has to be replaced every number of years?

Thoie

My sitting room has one wall entirely glass (double glazed with... k glass?) facing ssw, and yes, things fade a lot.

Strong colours will fade more - I have a red chair that's still red, but nowhere near as vibrant as it used be. Most of my furnishings are light coloured, so it's not a problem for me, but it's definitely noticeable. I have a lot of books in the room, and it's obvious where the spines of books are very much paler than the front and back covers.

I'd still do it again, but make sure when designing it that you account for where/how curtains or blinds will be hung. I have curtains, which I find very necessary. On very bright days you need something to keep the sun out of your eyes - particularly during low winter sun.

muffler

Moved to C & P

sydthebeat

muffler wrote: »

Moved to C & P

High sheen and natural products are much less susceptible to this degeneration. It occurs more in textiles that are dyed and have a matt like finish

muffler

sydthebeat wrote: »

High sheen and natural products are much less susceptible to this degeneration. It occurs more in textiles that are dyed and have a matt like finish

I'll move it back again so

true

Thoie wrote: »

My sitting room has one wall entirely glass (double glazed with... k glass?) facing ssw, and yes, things fade a lot.

Strong colours will fade more - I have a red chair that's still red, but nowhere near as vibrant as it used be. Most of my furnishings are light coloured, so it's not a problem for me, but it's definitely noticeable. I have a lot of books in the room, and it's obvious where the spines of books are very much paler than the front and back covers.

I'd still do it again, but make sure when designing it that you account for where/how curtains or blinds will be hung. I have curtains, which I find very necessary. On very bright days you need something to keep the sun out of your eyes - particularly during low winter sun.

I wonder about houses sometimes where there is a bit of an overhang over the window ( roof , balcony or whatever ) for say a meter / 3 feet. Would that be a good compromise / reduce the fading considerably without reducing the light too much? I guess its always going to be a compromise. Sometimes on the house building / renovation programmes on TV you see lots of glass and no curtains / no blinds and you wonder what its like to live in on a daily basis. Will it look dated in say 5 or 10 years time? Looks great when everything is clean and new though.

Thoie

true wrote: »

I wonder about houses sometimes where there is a bit of an overhang over the window ( roof , balcony or whatever ) for say a meter / 3 feet. Would that be a good compromise / reduce the fading considerably without reducing the light too much? I guess its always going to be a compromise. Sometimes on the house building / renovation programmes on TV you see lots of glass and no curtains / no blinds and you wonder what its like to live in on a daily basis. Will it look dated in say 5 or 10 years time? Looks great when everything is clean and new though.

I honestly don't know about the overhang, but from my own sitting room, a canopy would really only help against the high summer midday sun - as the sun moves around (or as we move around if you want to be technical), an overhang won't help much.

I don't mind things fading. I wouldn't hang a Van Gogh on my sitting room wall as it would get damaged, but unless your belongings are vital antiques, I don't see a major problem with it. I furnish the place with fading in mind. For example a friend asked me recently why I wouldn't buy a purple chair, and my reason is that purple fades to grey, and in a few years it would be a rotten colour.

While I like the aesthetics of a completely glass wall, I laugh at many of the renovation programmes on television, as they often have literally nowhere to hang curtains/blinds from. The practicalities are that most people need a window shade of some kind from time to time. If I want to watch television during the day at certains times of the year I usually end up pulling one curtain. At times during the winter there is one seat at the dining table that gets blinded by the sun without some kind of shade. Extended computer work can be very hard on the eyes if the sunlight is too bright.

While I'm not suggesting that everyone sits around all day watching television, imagine spending your life unable to watch any televised match that takes place during daylight?

fatty pang

This is a problem that is unfortunately likely to increase as Window Energy Rating is increasingly (if erroneously) used as a specification tool. Low iron glass and pyrolytic coatings (K-glass) are optimised to increase energy from the sun. Laminated glass will eliminate circa 99% of UV light (300-380nm) which is the primary* cause of fading. The occupant will also have the additional benefit of increased security.
Clear security films will also provide UV reduction for windows in situ. There are specialised films available that are optimised to reduce fadings but they may be difficult to source. <SNIP>

*Fading can also result from energy in the visible light spectrum up to 700nm so laminated glass or films will provide significant reduction but will not entirely elimnate the problem

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