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You’ve decided to install window film in your home to increase your comfort or privacy (or both) and now you are wondering how to tell the liner side of the film from the film side. This article will go through exactly how to do that!
You may be wondering – why do I care which side the liner side of the film is? Well, the simple answer is, the liner side has the adhesive on it! So, it is important to know which side has the liner on it, because once you remove the liner, it is that side of the film that you are going to adhere to the glass.
The liner is just a clear piece of plastic that protects the adhesive of the window film. It MUST be removed prior to install to get the film to adhere to the window properly. You CANNOT install the film with the liner on as it will not stick to the window.
Some films we sell (Silver 15, Matte White, Clear UV, 4 MIL Safety) have a pressure sensitive adhesive which is sticky to the touch. When you remove the liner, it will be easy to know which side to stick to the window because the adhesive side will be sticky.
Our ComforTech™ Ceramic Series film has a dry adhesive which is not sticky to the touch, so it is more important to keep track of the liner side (adhesive side) of the film so you place the correct side on the window during installation.
You can read more about window film adhesive types here.
The first question to ask to determine the liner side from the film side, is which film did you purchase? How to tell the liner side from the film side differs depending on the type of film you have.
If you purchased any of the shade of our ComforTech™ Ceramic Series film, skip down to this section of the blog post to read more about how to tell the liner side from the film side. It will depend on how you purchased the film (i.e.: precut or custom kits vs. rolls).
Our 4 MIL Safety window film kits each contain one precut piece of safety film that is 36” x 30”. The film has tabs attached to it to remove the liner. One side of the tab has the words “PEEL HERE” on it – this is the liner side of the film.
All of our other films:
are sold in rolls only. These rolls are rolled liner side OUT. That means when you open the box and see the film, you are looking at the liner side of the film.
For the Matte White it is a bit easier to visually determine the liner side of the film from the film side because the liner is shiny and the the film side is matte. In the photo below you can see the liner side has a sheen to it while the film side has a matte finish.
If you purchased ComforTech™ Ceramic Series film, determining the liner side will depend on how you purchased the film. We have three ways you can purchase film from us:
Read more about the three ways you can purchase film here.
If you purchased precut cut kits OR custom cut kits from us, each piece of film will have tabs attached to them for easy liner removal.
The tab will be located on one corner of the piece of film. One of the tabs will have the words “PEEL HERE”. The side with the PEEL HERE tab attached is the liner side of the film as shown in the illustration below.
Rolls of film come with tabs, for liner removal, but they are not attached to the film. They are included in a yellow sleeve in the roll box.
You can attach the tabs to the corner of the film to help remove the liner. Unlike all other films, ComforTech™ Ceramic Series rolls come with the liner IN. That means when you open the box and view the roll of film, you are looking at the film side of the tint.
If you have a piece of ComforTech™ Ceramic Series film with no tab on it and are unsure which side of the film has the liner, you can do a quick test to determine it.
Carefully take one corner of the film and bend it over to rub it against itself. If the film squeaks when you gently rub it, that is the FILM side of the window film. If the film moves easily with no noise, that is the liner side of the window film.
The video below demonstrates this so you can see the technique and hear the difference between the film side and the liner side.
In closing, here are the key points to know about the liner side of the film:
If you have any questions about this – feel free to reach out to us any time via the chat bubble on the bottom right corner of our website, by email at support@windowfilm.com or by phone at 888-206-1413.
And you can view our installation instruction video here!
