毎日の家の革新はひっくり返る

In Part 5 we had completed the installation of the 3M Adhesive Stud hardware and waited 24 hours to achieve 90% bonding strength (per the manufacturer’s web site). We are now ready to complete the installation of the EZ Snap solar blind on our test window.

We started by simply applying the male part of the EZ Snap fasteners onto the adhesive studs that were already on the window frame from the prior day. You could actually hear and feel the fastener ’snap’ onto the adhesive stud. It took I would say a medium amount of pressure. All of the fasteners were installed on the adhesive studs for our test window in about 2 minutes.

Here is what it looks like close up for one of the male fasteners on top of the adhesive stud.

And, for comparison, in the picture below the top adhesive stud does not yet have the male fastener applied while the lower hardware does have the  male fastener applied.

Now, let’s talk about the measurements for the solar mesh. Our windows are recessed within the face of the brick. And, for aesthetics I wanted the mesh to cover not only the window but also the window frame. So I planned on having an extra 1/2 inch of solar mesh around the outside of the window frame.

In measuring the opening in the brick for the window frame I had the following measurements:

• Left side height - 71 inches
• Right side height - 71 inches
• Top width - 4 feet 1/2 inch
• Lower width - 4 feet 1 inch

Yes, the lower horizontal dimension was slightly wider than the top horizontal dimension. Good thing this product can, as the manufacturer claims, fit any size or shape of window, even one that is not a perfect square like mine

I then proceeded to cut the solar mesh. There are one of two ways you can go. Either use a sharp pair of scissors or a sharp utility knife and a straight edge. I chose the latter for two reasons. First, I had lots of unused heavy duty replacement blades for my utility knife. And, second, I did not trust myself to cut a straight line using the scissors.

In fact, as discovered, visible in the solar mesh are the fabric lines. So, I could have used this as a guide to use the scissors and cut a straight line. Again, the straight line is only for aesthetics.

Once the mesh was cut based on the dimensions above, I proceeded to install on top of the male fasteners. This was a very quick process (2 minutes?) as it was a small window. I first positioned the mesh over the window to determine exactly where it would be applied covering all of the window frame and then simply pushed the mesh onto each male fastener with little effort.

I started with the male EZ Snap fasteners along the top window frame, followed by those on the vertical side window frames, in parallel with each other and lastly with the fasteners along the bottom frame. The picture below shows the same upper left corner with the solar mesh installed prior to the application of the cap hardware.

The next step was to push the caps onto the protruding male fastener. This actually was the hardest part for me and took a significant amount of pressure. Below is a picture of the portion of the solar blind with the cap applied to the EZ Snap fastener on the right compared to the fastener on the right that does not yet have the cap applied.

I even used a small hammer to ensure I had the caps on sufficiently tight. (WARNING: Using a hammer to install the caps is not recommended. I’ll explain why in a future article so you can avoid what you can likely guess happened to me….not on the test window but on one of the other windows)

And there you have it. The EZ Snap solar blind fully installed on our test window.

But, how does it look from the inside? And, is there any noticeable reduction in the sun’s UV rays and heat build up? We will discuss this in our next article in this series.

To continue with this series of articles on exterior solar blinds, simply select this link to Part 7.