Window Film Must Meet City Standards

If you are remodeling or selling your house and you live within the Los Angeles city limits, make sure any shatter-resistant film you use on patio doors meets the city’s standards.

Check with the Department of Building and Safety before you make a financial commitment.

If the house was built after Jan. 1, 1965, the chances are good that the doors already meet the standards.

The ordinance, sponsored by Councilman Marvin Braude, went into effect Jan. 1, 1987. It requires that approved shatter-resistant film or tempered glass be installed on patio doors on any remodeling job valued at more than $10,000. The law also requires the safety retrofit if you are selling a house.

“Shatter-resistant film is the most cost-effective and easiest to install to meet the requirements of this ordinance,� according to William Hoover, president of Southwest Window Films in Glendale, the regional distributor for 3M energy films.

David Pearson of the Stewart Co. Inc., a subsidiary of Southwest Window Films, said that in addition to the 3M film, the city has also approved Madico and Armorcoat films.

Even if you have only the slightest interest in woodworking and cabinetmaking, you’ll want to pick up “Country Furniture� by Aldren A. Watson (New American Library/Plume, New York, $9.95). This is a reprint of the 1974 book published by Crowell that Watson wrote and illustrated with 300 pencil sketches.

The sketches drew me into the book, but Watson’s writing style kept my interest.

Watson traces the history of the craft in America, with particular attention to the development of tools and joinery. The sketches are better than photographs for showing how to execute the procedures.