Thermal blinds?

[Craikeybaby]

My son has a couple of west facing windows in his bedroom, which currently have blackout blinds, and no curtains. But in this weather the blinds feel like they are putting even more heat into the room. This evening I measured with my IR thermometer and the blinds were 25ºc hotter than the surrounding walls. Would replacing the blinds for something lighter help? Ideally something that will still keep the room dark. Can anyone recommend anything?

[OutInTheShed]

Anything light coloured will be a start.
We have a pale venetian blind in the kitchen which makes a difference.
Curtains with pale linings in another W -facing room are good too.

You can try opening the windows a crack, to let out air heated by the blinds.

[JoshSm]

The last lot of curtains I bought I ticked all the boxes including blackout & thermal lining.

They ended up very thick/heavy but definitely keep the heat out/in. (depending on time of year)

Not sure which bit does which job - the white coated lining on the backs is probably reflective & blackout.

[Patio]

Craikeybaby said:

My son has a couple of west facing windows in his bedroom, which currently have blackout blinds, and no curtains. But in this weather the blinds feel like they are putting even more heat into the room. This evening I measured with my IR thermometer and the blinds were 25ºc hotter than the surrounding walls. Would replacing the blinds for something lighter help? Ideally something that will still keep the room dark. Can anyone recommend anything?

Been looking at this myself

1 of our bedrooms is on the south facing garden side and the bedroom has been getting red hot in the recent weather

Dunelm do "thermal blinds" but not sure how they work and if effective

Not hijacking but also looking for tips

[CoolHands]

Have literally just been looking at these myself. They do a few colours.
https://www.blinds-2go.co.uk/roller-blinds/32555/c...

I reckon they’ll help. Can be any worse!

[Craikeybaby]

OutInTheShed said:

Anything light coloured will be a start.
We have a pale venetian blind in the kitchen which makes a difference.
Curtains with pale linings in another W -facing room are good too.

You can try opening the windows a crack, to let out air heated by the blinds.

Thanks, unfortunately these windows don't open. They on the side of an extension, so I don't know if it was a planning thing, or a cost cutting thing (hopefully the former).

[Craikeybaby]

JoshSm said:

The last lot of curtains I bought I ticked all the boxes including blackout & thermal lining.

They ended up very thick/heavy but definitely keep the heat out/in. (depending on time of year)

Not sure which bit does which job - the white coated lining on the backs is probably reflective & blackout.

Thanks, curtains are an option, but we were hoping to stick with blinds for now as the room will likely need to be plastered later in the year, so don't want to be hanging curtain rails just yet.

[thetapeworm]

We have a similar issue on quite a few windows in the house and with the recent hot weather I thought I'd give some "perfect fit" ones a go to give a "blackout" (the edges let light in) and add some protection from the sun.

They're a honeycomb with a foil inner and have made a noticeable difference on the two windows I've done so far (it would be three but after measuring 12 times and writing it down correctly I then typed two digits in incorrectly and didn't take out the insurance against such idiocy).



I compared 8 different places and https://www.247blinds.co.uk were considerably cheaper, quality seems fine.

Those ones above are probably a higher quality solution, I'm just a cheapskate.

Edited by thetapeworm on Monday 14th July 22:03

[Craikeybaby]

CoolHands said:

Have literally just been looking at these myself. They do a few colours.
https://www.blinds-2go.co.uk/roller-blinds/32555/c...

I reckon they ll help. Can be any worse!

I came across those on my search, and they look like they tick both boxes.

[Craikeybaby]

thetapeworm said:

We have a similar issue on quite a few windows in the house and with the recent hot weather I thought I'd give some "perfect fit" ones a go to give a "blackout" (the edges let light in) and add some protection from the sun.

They're a honeycomb with a foil inner and have made a noticeable difference on the two windows I've done so far (it would be three but after measuring 12 times and writing it down correctly I then typed two digits in incorrectly and didn't take out the insurance again such idiocy.



I compared 8 different places and https://www.247blinds.co.uk were considerably cheaper, quality seems fine.

Thanks, that sounds interesting, and good to hear of first hand experience.

[Mr Whippy]

thetapeworm said:

We have a similar issue on quite a few windows in the house and with the recent hot weather I thought I'd give some "perfect fit" ones a go to give a "blackout" (the edges let light in) and add some protection from the sun.

They're a honeycomb with a foil inner and have made a noticeable difference on the two windows I've done so far (it would be three but after measuring 12 times and writing it down correctly I then typed two digits in incorrectly and didn't take out the insurance against such idiocy).



I compared 8 different places and https://www.247blinds.co.uk were considerably cheaper, quality seems fine.

Those ones above are probably a higher quality solution, I'm just a cheapskate.

Edited by thetapeworm on Monday 14th July 22:03

The energy is still in the house though.

Once it’s past the glass it still seems to get stuck in your house, not just bounce back outside.

I’ve had those honeycomb things and the glass and ally frame bifolds got too hot to touch by 9am in summer on an east facing aspect kitchen/diner.

The solution is that reflective film on the outside of the window.
But remember to remove in winter as it does knock out UV and about 15-20% if the light.

[Craikeybaby]

Just remembered that those windows have external beading, so won’t be able to get the perfect fit blinds.