Full Glass Front Doors: Ultimate Privacy Hacks

The following post highlights some of the main privacy options for full glass front doors that help homeowners to avoid the issue of reduced privacy with this type of door. By choosing the option best suited to them, homeowners can install full glass front doors without compromising their privacy.

PRIVACY SMARTGLASS

Switchable glass technology offers an excellent solution to the privacy issue that arises when installing full glass front doors. Switchable glass panels use a type of electric glass that offers privacy on demand with the application of a current.

The current changes the appearance of the glass between the states of transparent and opaque at the flick of a switch. By availing of switchable glass panels, homeowners can install full front glass doors without worrying about losing any of their privacy.

Since switchable glass offers on-demand privacy through something as simple as flicking a switch, homeowners can opt for large full glass front doors that optimize the amount of light coming into the home.

Furthermore, privacy smartglass technology has evolved to the point that additional refinements are available.

Homeowners can choose to install solar smartglass, which allows for the precise control of the amount of light, heat, and glare passing through the glass door for improved energy efficiency. Blackout smartglass is another alternative, providing an instant blackout effect that is useful at night time when privacy is most important.

FROSTED GLASS

Frosted glass offers another way to avoid the problem of reduced privacy on full glass front doors. Frosted glass is a textured glass that has an etched finish, which blurs the image one sees when looking at the glass.

The process of making frosted glass involves taking a standard panel of clear sheet glass and either sandblasting or acid etching it. The end panel has a pitted surface on one side, and light can pass through the glass, but the image is markedly blurred and unclear. Frosted glass is a useful way to install a full front glass door without worrying about who can see inside the home.

The main drawback of frosted glass is that it partially blocks the light entering the home, meaning homeowners don’t get the maximization of daylight offered by full glass front doors that use standard clear sheet glass or privacy smartglass technology.

VINYL STICKERS (TEMPORARY)

Vinyl stickers that can be placed on the panes of glass offer a cheap way to improve the privacy of full glass front doors. Vinyl stickers are almost unnoticeable to the naked eye, and they come in a variety of effects, such as a frosted glass look that distorts the view of the inside of a home while looking natural.

As with any cheap solution, there are quite a few disadvantages to using vinyl stickers on full glass front doors. Firstly, vinyl stickers are magnets for dirt, meaning they need to be cleaned quite regularly.

The problem with cleaning is that it can reduce the adhesiveness of the film, particularly around the edges, meaning frequent replacements that can become a nuisance. Therefore, vinyl stickers offer a mere temporary solution to the privacy needs of homeowners who install full glass front doors.

Furthermore, the majority of privacy options for vinyl stickers block out much of the light passing through the panes, which cancels out one of the most important benefits of using full glass front doors.

BLINDS

Blinds offer a functional and aesthetically pleasing way to improve the privacy of full glass front doors. Blinds come in a staggering variety of colours and materials, allowing for a lot of customisation in terms of how they look and how they complement the existing interior decor. Using blinds is one of the more affordable permanent solutions for increasing privacy in the home.

But blinds do come with quite a few drawbacks. Cheaper blinds tend to break quite quickly, meaning a higher initial outlay might be needed to get a set of blinds that actually last for the long-term. Blinds are also quite noisy, and homeowners might not particularly enjoy the rattling sound they make every time the front door opens or closes.

Since blinds take up space on the door frame, they reduce the amount of light entering the glass doors, even when fully opened. The large stack at either the side or the top of the window produced by blinds can be quite unsightly. Lastly, blinds require regular cleaning since dirt accumulates quickly on them, and cleaning blinds is often quite an awkward and laborious task.

In summary, the main options for homeowners who want to install full glass front doors without reducing privacy are:

• Privacy smartglass in the form of switchable glass technology.
• Frosted glass
• Vinyl stickers
• Blinds