Sit by a bare window on a sunny day, and you’ll feel the sun’s warmth. Sit by that same window on a cold, windy night, and you’ll feel chilled to the bone! With today’s economic concerns, smart homeowners are continually searching for ways to cut expenses and save on their monthly energy bills. Naturally, the best place to start is to be sure our homes are well insulated. But all too often, while overall home insulation is a priority, windows seems to be neglected. No matter what your climate, bare windows are a primary spot for energy to escape.
Since windows make up 20% of a typical homes exterior and 40% of contemporary home construction, having many large uncovered windows can break your energy budget. This is especially true when these windows face a cold Northern exposure in the winter or a sun-saturated west wall in summer. It’s important to know that many window treatment products have actually been assigned an R-Value. Building materials are assigned R-Values according to each product’s ability to resist heat movement. The higher the R-Value, the better it insulates your home. Most windows have an R-value of 0.9 to 3.0, and can be responsible for 40 – 70% of heat or cold transfer for an entire home. Using multiple layers at your windows, including cellular constructed treatments, can actually increase an R-value by 1 to nearly 5 points! So let’s look at a variety of window treatment options, and cut energy costs at the same time.
Cellular shades: These honeycomb style window shades are the best of the best for insulating your windows. They usually have an R-value of at least three and up to 7! They come in double and triple cell and trap air in the combs to help insulate. Most brands have many colors to choose from, are easy to clean, mildew resistant and require little to no maintenance.
Vertical Blinds: Available in hundreds of colors, textures and embossed patterns, vertical blinds can increase window insulation by 40 to 123% AND block 95-99% of ultraviolet light. R-Values reach as high as 4 for vertical blinds when closed.
Roman Shades: These beautiful shades have contours of fabric that fold and overlap making a roman shade. They provide a 49%increase in window insulation value and can block 99% of UV light. They boast an R-value of up to 3 and can be custom made or ordered from many window fabricators.
These are just a few window choices that will greatly increase your R-value, but consider that putting something over your window, especially during the daytime when you may not be at home, and during the late night when you are sleeping, will definitely boost your home’s energy efficiency by keeping out the sun and keeping out the cold.
Although there are many window covering sources to choose from, I have always loved Hunter Douglas products. Consider their website when choosing your window covering.
http://www.hunterdouglas.com/
Looking for some fun things to do for Halloween? How about getting in the kitchen with the family and making fun food? Every year I get the kids in the kitchen, with the notion of making creepy, creative, theme-based food. We make lots of fun stuff from radish/olive eyeballs inside of icecubes, to ghoulish, breadstick bones. It creates traditions for celebrating the holidays and great memories! Here are links to several sites where you will find everything from mummy dogs to witch finger sandwiches. Have fun!
