Anti-Graffiti Films

Glass is a very easy target for graffiti. Sacrificial window film protects glass surfaces from accidental and deliberate attacks.

When desired, the film is simply removed which means that graffiti and other damage is removed along with the film.

Even with the cost of several treatments of sacrificial window film, considerable savings are still achieved when compared to replacing the glass.

Glass is a very easy target for graffiti: glass is easily attacked.

Chemicals that etch the glass or small, easy-to-conceal tools that scratch the glass are common examples of the vandal's preferences.

The etch marks and scratches are difficult to remove and become a moving advertisement of the damage caused by the graffiti "artist".

The cost-effective answer Sacrificial window film

This special type of film is made to cover and protect glass surfaces from deliberate or accidental damage.

The film is "sacrificed" to keep the glass looking good.

Of course, a virtually invisible appearance after professional installation allows a choice to be made from either optically clear film, or from tinted or coated film to modify the glass to a solar control product.

Is there an alternative?

Apart from glass replacement and sacrificial window film, scratches can be removed by polishing the glass.

But this reduces glass thickness and introduces distortion into the glass; reduced glass thickness can also mean reduced glass strength. And if the glass is scratched again the window has to be replaced anyway.

Graffiti doesn"t affect glass very much, does it?

Graffiti on glass is not only annoying, it obstructs vision view through glass and destroys the aesthetic appearance of windows. It makes people feel uncomfortable about using the trains and buses that have graffiti on the glass. Worse still, "graffiti attracts graffiti" – once there is some graffiti present, more graffiti will often appear nearby.

Thousands of train windows in Germany are replaced every year because of this type of damage and the problem is being seen across Europe.

It is expensive to replace the glass

In addition to looking bad, it costs a lot of money to replace damaged glass. High performance glazing in buildings can cost hundreds of Euros per window to replace. Ask any train or bus operator, especially in the large cities.

Some of these organisations will spend hundreds of thousands of Euros a year on replacing glass that has been defaced by graffiti – profits that cannot then go to shareholders and pension funds, or money that local and national governments have to pay out from their tax and other revenues.

This is often a hidden cost for our public transport systems that we don’t always appreciate. Also, consider how a glass pane has to be replaced in, for example, a train:

Take the train out of service and move it to a safe location, often the train engineering warehouse. Remove the fixings that keep the glass window in place. Have the complete glass pane removed from the train using a crane or pulley. Winch the new glass into place. Replace the fixings.

Put the train back into service – at least 2 hours later, and more if there are several windows to replace.

All this costs money, and uses highly skilled train engineers who could be doing other more productive and satisfying work.

Sacrificial Window Film

If the film is damaged, replacement by professionally trained staff is quick and easy. The train or bus can be out of service for no more than a few minutes and does not have to be moved far from its normal place of work. For buildings, the disruption caused by replacing a window is avoided. And the cost is much lower than replacing the complete piece of glass.

Glass stays looking good for longer. Better still, the adhesive can hide mild scratching, saving the cost of replacing some damaged glass! The film provides protection against a variety of attacks: scratching, felt tip pen, paint and even glass etching chemicals.