Daily Home Renovation Tips

Now we are ready to apply the adhesive anchor hardware to our metal window frames. Or are we?

As per the manufacturer’s web site you want to ensure that the window frames are clean and free from any surface film. So we first proceeded to clean the window. Why would we want to put a solar screen on top of a dirty window, eh? Then we used a different solution to clean the window frames, one that would not leave a residue. Now we are ready to proceed with installing the adhesive hardware on our test window.

Remember that there are two kinds of hardware, the type which will screw into the window frame and the type which will adhere to it. We chose the latter as we just had new replacement ENERGY STAR windows installed in our home and did not want to start making holes in the non-maintenance window frames.

The manufacturer suggests that each adhesive anchor hardware be placed between 12 and 15 inches apart. Being our first time with a product such as this we chose on our first window to use 10 inch spaces to be over caution that the solar blind, once installed, would not fly off the window during a windy day ( this was unnecessary but we are an overly conservative type ).

We simply started at the upper corners of the window followed by measuring 10 inch spaces down each vertical frame and marking off with a soft pencil. We don’t suggest using a pen as it could make an indentation in the maintenance free window frame and you want the surface to be as clean and smooth as possible.

The process was then repeated for the horizontal frames. Now we are ready to apply the adhesive anchoring hardware. It goes on very, very easy.

When I applied the anchoring adhesive hardware I did my best to ensure that it lined up correctly, all in a straight line. One could have used a ruler, etc. but I think simply using one’s eye is sufficient. What do you think from the picture above and below?

We then waited a full 24 hours. As per the manufacturer’s web site the longer you wait before applying the next hardware on top of the adhesive anchoring hardware, the stronger a bond will result. So we wanted a full day.

Return tomorrow to see how we made out applying the rest of the hardware and the solar screen itself. As always, lots of pictures. To access the next article in this series on exterior solar blinds, simply select this link to Part 6.