With the insanely hot summer here you’re wondering to yourself, “what kind of curtains help to keep a room cool?” Well lets take a look deeper into the real problem of summer as there’s two main schools of thought of whats causing the warmth.
Sunlight and Outside Air.
Lets dive a bit into the problems with Sunlight. During the day for sure sunlight is going to be your main cause of warmth unless you have the windows completely open. Immediately you maybe thinking well if I just buy really dark curtains then it will be much cooler. Yes and No unfortunately. As you see black curtains will just absorb the sunlight and then get warm themselves to the point that you now have hanging heaters near your windows. It’ll reduce heat a bit since the sunlight won’t be able to actually fill up the room but it will still keep things pretty decently warm. Time to move to the upgraded version of curtains, white backed/thermal insulated curtains. These curtains have a special backing to them that faces the outdoors that reflects the sunlight and heat far greater than any other type of curtain. There will be a considerable feeling of difference between these and normal curtains because all the heat from the sun just goes right back out the window. The good thing is these types of curtains aren’t that much more expensive than the normal curtains, you just got to look out for them. Curtains in general also help keep a barrier between the rest of the room and the windows so it does help even with the smallest and thinnest of curtains. But we always recommend going for thermal insulated/white backed curtains for all seasons. Plus for winter they help keep heat in when you want it. 🙂
Another thing to consider along side your curtains is just typical blinds. Usually a type of plastic of sorts these will help even more considerably because they are usually closer to the windows than what a curtain can do. Thus having both curtains and blinds will be a live saver in terms of keeping out the heat especially when you live in the southern states where the summers are brutal.
Outside air can be an issue but its not as big of an issue as sunlight. Any curtains unless they are just pure thin silk will help alleviate warm air from coming in past the window. The thicker the curtain though the more protection you’re going to have. If you don’t get much sunlight but get really warm still. What to do really is not worry about curtains so much as making sure your windows are sealed tight. Feel around the edges of windows and if there’s any sort of air movement get out the calking gun or make sure to push down tight on your windows. Make sure that things completely close as even just a small amount of air flow can make a huge difference. Not to mention an increase in air conditioning costs!! If your windows are really worn down it may be a good idea to get replacements. It maybe a bit costly up front but it’ll save you so much money in the next few years especially if you have long summers. Newer windows in this day and age are wonderful in that technologically they are more weather proof, soundproof, and insulated to keep your summers cooler and your winters warmer.
What to avoid: Silk! Silk curtains really won’t do you much good if they are super thin. They will help a bit if you’ve opened the windows and want to keep a bit of sunlight out just to air out the house. But they won’t do anything for you on those super hot days because the sunlight will still find a way right through them.
Other options: Thermal additions like a curtain liner is another good alternative. These go behind your curtains to help insulate without having to replace your current curtain sets. Maybe you have that absolutely lovely set of curtains that work all year round and look great inside but during the summers they really don’t help out. Well you’re in luck because companies like Thermalogic make curtain liners to help out.
You can purchase some of these here: Thermalogic Ultimate Window Liner
Thank you all for reading and I hope you all have a fun and cool summer!
