Becca turned 10 yesterday. We already gave her the “big” present (computer) a few weeks ago so she got a few presents and she’s happy. Next weekend Teresa is taking her and a few of her friends out to go ice-skating and play at Dave & Busters. Tuesday I was very upset that work was cancelled on Wednesday because of a minor storm but then the gods put me where I was needed and Becca was happy to have me home for her birthday. Funny how things work out…
So now let me tell you a little about window foil. That’s the metal tape you used to see on storefront windows and glass doors. It is a huge pain in the butt to get it right but when you learn how, you can make these things look like artwork. The thin metal tape is stretched onto the glass and the alarm circuit is passed through the tape as if it were a wire. If the glass breaks, so does the tape and there you have the alarm. Of course, if someone scratched it, you got the same effect. There is a rule that foil only goes bad at 2am. I can’t count how many nights I had to drag myself out of bed and drive to some bar or some store to patch up a scratch in the foil. Even if it was scratched during the day, for some reason it would hang on to the connection until about 2am.
Earlier electronic glassbreak detectors were unreliable and prone to false alarms. As they became more reliable, alarm companies have phased out window foil. The company I used to work for was the last in Jacksonville to have techs that installed/repaired foil. As of four years ago, even the distributors stopped carrying the stuff. It is an obsolete technology and no one does it anymore.
When I moved into the house 12 years ago, I put window foil on all my den windows. 10 panes of glass, all beautifully outlined with foil. I was pretty good at it, not the best, but still pretty good. There were some people that were so good they could write names in cursive in the stuff. When we moved in, I used the den as the band practice room so I had the windows covered with soundproof foam. The foil protected the windows and I could still cover them up. The idea was flawless, until last night, and of course it was 2am.
I remember hearing the alarm system go off but I was so exhausted I thought it was her alarm clock. When I realized what it was, I bounced out of bed and by then Teresa was already at the keypad. “Den Windows” it said. Well, someone might have forgotten to lock a door and it swung open or maybe a bedroom window was loose but if it said Den Windows, someone had to have broken the window to get in. I didn’t even stop to put on shorts, I ran out into the hallway and towards the den, naked carrying a .38 I’m sure it was quite a sight. Teresa checked on Becca and I stalked my den. I didn’t hear any noise and the dogs were quiet so I didn’t get too worried. I opened the den door and everything was fine. I got dressed and went outside to check for broken glass. Unfortunately, everything looks fine. It is damn near impossible to troubleshoot this stuff unless you see a bad spot. There are a few spots where 12 years of sunlight and humidity have aged the foil and created a few bubbles in the tape but no real scratches. I think it’s time to scrape the foil off and go with something more modern. That’s sad because I did a fairly decent job on the installation and it just might be the last operational foil job left in Jacksonville.
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