Window film or heat blocking shades?

[tru]

So it's an oven in my house, plus the AC broke yesterday and I actually wound up in the cool waiting room of our nice police station because the town made no provision for an ACed place for this type of thing on the 4th of July.

This gives me a foretaste of when global warming kicks in more and I suspect we'll run out of energy for AC.

A big problem is my house has south facing windows and the neighbor took down the big trees that shaded them.

So, window film or heat blocking shades? Assuming there is such a thing as heat blocking shades? And any specific suggestions for products?

I've planted trees, but I'll have croaked by the time they get big enough to do any good. Thanks.

[HereSince1628]

1. Decades ago I used window film in a 2nd floor apartment in College Station Tx.

it did make a difference.

[Warpy]

2. Window film does make a difference

Plus, it'll keep the carpet and upholstery in the room from fading. However, when I had huge west facing windows and no way to plant anything to block them, I got some heavy film made into roller shades and it worked, too.

The main problem with window film is that it also cuts down on passive solar heating during the winter, the reason I opted for the roller shades.

[tru]

3. thanks both of you

I am really liking the film shade idea.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

4. We did film last year and love it.

We have two inch wood blinds but even they heat up and act like a radiator heating the room.

IMO, the best way to keep the heat out is stop it at the window. Or better yet, stop the heat outside the window.

We live in a west facing third floor condo so we get a ton of afternoon sun. Outside awnings or shades wouldn't work for us but if I was in a single family I would go with awnings AND the film. If I had the right set up, I would fashion or build a temporary shade that could be removed in winter. Maybe some colorful canvas and shaped like those outdoor sun-shade sails anchored to a couple decorative posts that could double as a bird feeder or clothes line..

We have a skylight we are now covering with landscape fabric. We thought about buying an inside shade but they are expensive AND they only stop the heat once it's inside. The landscape fabric looks neat as it shows a honeycomb pattern. We have a flat roof with easy access so putting it up and taking it down is no problem.

The window film is a two person project so have a helper. It's kinda like hanging wall paper. Make sure you buy the kit that includes the soapy? water in a spray bottle and a razor knife and a plastic straight edge (very similar to a wall paper kit). The kit is sold next to the film at Home Depot.

We thought about removing the film in the winter but it's kind of expensive and not REAL easy to do. We figured it's a comfort issue in the summer so the little heat we passive heat we miss out on is worth it. Also, we keep the shades down even in the winter to keep blinding sun out anyway. With the film we can open the shades and not be blinded.

[tru]

5. awnings

I know that awnings are very effective. The problem is I live in a very windy area, and I'm too long in the tooth to go pulling them up whenever there's a strong wind or storm. The canvas ones are surprsingly heavy. Plus I'm not always home or awake when one starts up. I can't see myself out there at 3 am in a storm raising the awnings.

If I were fabulously wealthy, I'd get those motorized ones you can work from inside the house and some automatic thing that would close them up over a certain wind speed

[ehrnst]

6. I created a living shade outside my windows - climbing green beans on twine, and sunflowers.

They shaded the windows during summer, and died off when cooler weather came.

And I got green beans.

If you can plant outside those windows, any number of climbing plants - non-invasive to your area, of course, might work.

We screwed in some large hooks over the windows, and strung heavy jute twine through them, secured with stakes in the ground. The vines went right up. We alternated the vines with tall unflowers.

We used matchstick blinds on the ouside of the windows the first year, before we could get a garden established. It really helped.

[tru]

7. I do have stuff growing on the outer side of the deck

Not that tall, because it would block a water view.

The advantage of overhead trees is usually the leafy part starts high enough so that you still have a view.

The wind would wreck outside blinds in this area.

[Kolesar]

8. I always wanted to try these shades that snap on to the outside of a window

You can still open the window with them on.
https://www.ezsnapdirect.com/index.php/gallery/view/album/id/1/

Or, Outside rollers:
http://www.blindsgalore.com/products.asp?id=outdoor-shades/window-shades/

[Hassin Bin Sober]

9. Wow. Thanks for those links.

I think that easy snap system is a great idea. That might be a good solution for the OP if they have single level ground floor/easy access.

I think stopping the heat BEFORE it gets in is the key.

I'm quite proud of my nine dollar "easy shade" made out of landscape fabric and bungee cords over my skylight. It's on a flat roof so no one sees it and I have easy access. We did it last year and loved it.

I bet someone creative and handy could make something out of screen material (or something else?) and some sort of frame.

Something that could look neat and not home-made junk.


PVC? Half inch copper? Something that could hang on hooks. Or mount to posts attached to the building.

[Kolesar]

10. "Greg it looks like West Virginia"

That's what my landlord's wife said when we stapled visqueen to the picture window as our economical version of winterizing the duplex. He spent about nine dollars. Greg took it down early in the spring.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

11. Definitely have to watch out for that fine line between craft and trash.

[quakerboy]

12. Depends on the goal

For light blocking, window film. For heat blocking, insulating shades.

We use a blackout window film for the bedroom. I like a dark dark place to sleep. It works great for that.

But it turns the window into an oven. It radiates a huge amount of heat into the room. On a hot sunny day, it gets hot enough you cant really touch the window. Hot enough that it cracked the inner pane of the window. Even on a cool day, it radiates an uncomfortable amount of warmth into the room if the sun is out. We have resorted to putting a sheet of styrofoam in between the window and the blinds, which seems to block most of the heat.