While looking at various types of curtains you may have noticed some say uncoated on them or coated with a number but not sure what exactly they mean by this.
Uncoated – Composed of polyester or cotton or even a combination of both can help provide a nice touch to the living room. These are usually very tightly woven fabric that does provide some benefits like heat insulation and some light absorption. However most of the time since the fabric is not thick enough or closely woven enough it is unable to block out all of direct sunlight. You will likely see a variable amount of light coming in depending on the time of day(or night) and thickness of the curtain itself. Curtains of this type do not block out noise as well as coated curtains which is why looking for blackout curtains is usually a better bet as those are coated 90% of the time.
Coated – Similiar to an uncoated curtain with the same fabric types however coated has a pass or three of a liquefied rubber polymer. Coated curtains usually shoot for two main benefits, blackout and heat reduction. On a single pass of coated fabric you are looking at 50-60% blackout. After three passes though you get a wonderful 99-100% blackout which really means no light will be coming in, in any situation. You sometimes can notice this coating on curtains usually on the backside(or what faces the window) where the coating took place as it feels a bit different from the front.
When looking for a good set of curtains if you’re deciding between two selections and one states that it has been 3 pass coated vs the other then definitely go with that one. It will not only save you money but allow you to have a much more enjoyable sleep anytime you want to.