Summer is on its way, and depending on the quality of your windows, you may be really feeling the heat this year. That’s because poorly installed and low quality windows can fail to insulate your home against the summer sun. In other cases, your windows themselves may pass the test, but some supplementary heat-blocking tools could provide you with a cooler, more enjoyable summer.
Whether you’re about ready to seek a contractor to install new windows in your home or you just need a few low-intensity summer solutions, there are plenty of ways to reduce how much heat makes its way through your windows.
Give some of these strategies a try for a lower mercury reading. You’ll be glad you did.
Cooling Décor Options
One way to beat the heat that’s coming in through your home’s windows is by decorating with the specific goal of keeping your home well-insulated. Interior blinds come in many styles to suit your home’s look. The options have expanded well beyond your mom’s old white horizontal blinds that did little more than attract dust.
Alternatively, drapes can also be used to keep your home cooler. By hanging drapes, and keeping them closed during the sunny portions of the day, you can keep the temperature in your home lower. With medium colored drapes backed in white, you can achieve a full 33% drop in heat gain. Those same drapes, when hung in a heated home during the winter months, will also keep your home warm when the temperatures drop by preventing indoor heat from escaping.
If you’ve got the supplies and initiative, hanging double layers of drapes will keep your home even cooler. It’s also important that the drapes be long enough to meet the floor or windowsill for maximum coverage. Attaching Velcro or other closures allows you to seal your drapes to keep the sun out when the temperature rises.
An External Approach
Not interested in hanging blinds or heavy layers of drapery in your home? Then external sun blocking approaches might be better for you. External bamboo screens are a good way to limit your home’s exposure to heat. Installing awnings can also be helpful. These options both provide shade and decrease immediate sunlight into the home, keeping things cooler. Awnings allow you to still look out your windows, while external screens will block any views.
Low-e films are another way to reduce your home’s heat absorption while also keeping your views intact. Though the films block the majority of UV rays and window glares while reflecting heat back out of the house, they’re still see through. Want to keep the kids in view or look out on your beautiful garden? Low-e films could work for you.
The Need For New Windows
Although you can do a lot by covering and protecting your windows during the summer months, if your windows are old or poorly installed, there’s not much that will help, other than replacing them. Luckily, replacing your windows can have more than one benefit. New windows installed by the experts at Siding & Windows Group – especially those meant to be highly energy efficient – will also enhance your home’s safety. Your investment in new windows will be more than worth it.
How do you know if the only answer is new windows? In some cases, you may notice an actual draft around your windows. If you can feel air moving about when the windows are closed, that’s an obvious sign that there are gaps or cracks that are causing your home to heat up. You may also be having trouble getting your windows to close and lock fully. That will also cause drafts and heat absorption.
Another sign that your windows aren’t doing their job properly is condensation inside the glass. Condensation may form at many different locations, depending on what kind of windows you have and what is going on with them structurally.
Interior condensation at the bottom and corners of the glass means there’s a humidity problem in your home – the problem isn’t the windows – so you can stop worrying about that one. Additionally, you’re more likely to run into this problem in the winter. Condensation in the center of the pane inside you house, however, means you have a gas leak between panes. That’s a much bigger problem when it comes to the question of insulation and needs a professional consult.
Finally, if your double- or triple-pane window has condensation between the panes, this means the panes are no longer sealed and need to be replaced. You can replace these one-by-one, depending on the extent of the problem.
If you are going to replace your windows, you’ll want to choose windows that offer extra insulation. This may mean choosing windows with low-e qualities built in already. This eliminates the need for shades, drapes, or low-e films.
Another alternative would be to choose windows with exotic in-fills, such as argon and krypton. These substances help the windows do a better job of insulating your home than standard double or triple-paned windows, due to the lighter gases. The multiple layers of such windows also create a greater degree of insulation, even without the exotic in-fills.
When Only Experts Will Do
If you’re going the repair or replacement route, you’ll want to employ the expert work of the Siding & Windows Group. Our experienced, professional team brings a high level of skill to the job, and matches those abilities with only the highest quality products, such as James Hardie fiberglass windows. Having worked with James Hardie siding for many years, we are thrilled to be able to offer their new, high quality window products.
Contact Siding & Windows Group today for more information about our services and to learn how we can work with you to improve your home. With the right tools, we can help bring you a cooler summer – at least indoors. That’s our professional guarantee.