Hints on curtains that reduce electricty use (aka need a/c) help

[Joanne]

First, I LOVE my apartment. I am glad that my living space and the stuff in it finally match how hard I have worked.

 

As a single mom, I love the security of the 3rd floor.

However, the third floor has some "known" issues with staying cool. I am a huge fan of natural lighting. However, I think I need to invest in some of those curtains that block light. I don't know much about them, or installing them "over" mini blinds. I suppose it will take a drill and rod accoutrements beyond a tension rod.

 

What retail store has them, inexpensively but good enough to save electricity? For those who don't know, I live in metro Houston and it is a bit hot.

 

My electric bill is crazy.

 

[BlueTaelon]

I invested in some good thermal black out curtains years ago and they were worth every penny. Dropped the inside temps 10F right away. I dont know what the current brands are but I had just read lots of reviews online and went by that. I ended up with white ones since they had the better reviews and put my pretty curtains over them. This winter I used them to close off rooms/areas and there would normally be a 20-30deg difference between the rooms.

[Susan C.]

We used to live in Texas, and yes, it was sweltering. We were told when we bought our house that if we ran our ceiling fans 24/7 that it would cut our a/c bills, one person experimented and said the month w/o fans was much more expensive. Our bills also went down when the plants grew to block the afternoon sun.... so if you find those windows letting in afternoon heat and do what you can to block it, it should help. I'd be tempted to use something similar to a car visor if regulations permit. Something reflective.

[BlueTaelon]

Oh yeah, I actually got mine at kmart as that was the only big box store within an hour. I think they were Eclipse brand, cant check now as they are in storage.

[PrincessMommy]

I bought mine at Overstock.com but I've seen some nice ones at my local Lowes.  They do make a difference.

 

 

[maize]

I got mine at Lowes, don't know the brand but there were inexpensive options. Got the curtain rod there too.

[MomtoCandJ]

We got some from Walmart that seem to work well (they help block cold air for is in winter)

[naturemom]

I'm indecisive, cheap, and have no style. I tapped some nails into the top of the windowsill to hang old sheets on.

A more positive spin is that I'm an environmentalist on a quest to buy as little as possible. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

:)

[unsinkable]

I got thermal curtains with giant grommets from Target so they just simply slide onto a rod.

 

I caught them on clearance, too, just by luck.

[freesia]

I got ours at Kmart. I think they are Jaclyn Smith brand or something like that. The work very well.

[Renthead Mommy]

Look into Gila Window Film.  We used it in San Antoino and it made a huge difference.  Add curtains over it and it is even better.  But with it, you can still open the curtains for light.  You can get it in 70% heat reduction.  It is super easy to put up, but I would recommend two people, as it is clingy and if it touches itself, it is hard to pull apart.  Dinner time in San Antonio, the sun would beat in my kitchen windown and I'd break a sweat cleaning up dishes.  The film solved that and I could still see out the window.  On the second floor it beat in the windows there and it made huge difference cooling that down as well.  It is a little expensive, but totally worth it.  You can get it at either Home Depot or Lowes, but I don't think both and I can't remember which one carries it.  Maybe wal mart too, but I don't shop there. 

 

We have ended up installing it in every house we have lived in since finding it.  They have all been rentals, and we have known we won't be there long, but it has always been worth it. 

[Lucy the Valiant]

Have had good success with the thermal Eclipse curtains here - they help us keep the heat IN in winter and OUT in summer both.

[Wheres Toto]

I believe we have ones from Target.  They have tabs at the top to slip over rods.   We bought them to keep out the heat and the cold.  We're in NJ and our house is very poorly insulated with huge old windows that cover entire walls.  The curtains made a huge difference in both our electricity bills and propane bills. 

 

My kids managed to pull the rods out of the wall a few years ago so for now they are just stapled into the wall over the windows with a staple gun.  It actually blocks out the light better than if they were hanging from a rod, but it certainly doesn't look as stylish.  :laugh:

[Big Buckin' Longhorn]

Have had good success with the thermal Eclipse curtains here - they help us keep the heat IN in winter and OUT in summer both.

They have them at Wal Mart. They are about $20 a panel, but the panels are small. They are worth the investment. I have them on every window in our house. Every. Single. One.

[jen3kids]

I put Eclipse brand thermal curtains in my older ds' room, and they have made a huge difference.  He has 3 windows and the full sun beats in 2 of them. His room becomes an oven before lunch.  I got them at Target for around $10 each, I think.

 

 

[Joanne]

I'm indecisive, cheap, and have no style. I tapped some nails into the top of the windowsill to hang old sheets on.

A more positive spin is that I'm an environmentalist on a quest to buy as little as possible. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

:)

 

I hear you. I am actually making strides towards more sustainable living.

 

But I lived for years with "décor" that was.....not pretty.

 

This is an area that I am willing to invest in, even if I have to buy one a paycheck.

 

[MaeFlowers]

Our old house had huge picture windows on the west side of the house and I bought Eclipse curtains. They really did help and were inexpensive but the ones I bought were not pretty. When we moved, I bought these for my dd's room. They are much prettier and keep her room incredibly dark and cool.

 

 

 

[EmilyGF]

I'm indecisive, cheap, and have no style. I tapped some nails into the top of the windowsill to hang old sheets on.

A more positive spin is that I'm an environmentalist on a quest to buy as little as possible. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

:)

 

We've used old sheets and cloth (flannel) at times. Thermal curtains are much thicker and more tightly woven.

 

Think of it this way. If you were trying to let your body cool off, you'd use only a sheet. If you wanted your body to keep heat close to it, you'd use a quilt. So, hanging quilts would make for a good thermal barrier, but a sheet will give you a bit of shade and some privacy, not a thermal barrier.

 

Emily

[Lucy the Valiant]

If you have a Christmas Tree Shop, they had the Eclipse curtains in some very attractive stripes / decor for super cheap. I knew they did, so I saved BEFORE I went (one per paycheck is how we did it!) so I could get them all at once (because that store has excellent selection, but when it's gone, it's gone). I lucked out, and they had exactly the green / brown stripe I was looking for.

[Murphy101]

You can go to Tuesday morning or big lots and sometimes find black out thermal curtains for fairly cheap compared to other places.

 

But I'll tell you what we did/do.

 

Option one, works best, but isn't the prettiest - to lowes and buy sheets of styrofoam insulation. Cut them to where they just barely fit in the window and push them in. Complete black out. Curtains cover up the foam from the inside. We only did this on south facing windows and or windows that were never really opened much anyways. (Like bathroom windows for example.)

 

Option two, doesn't work as well, but isn't as hideous and gives access to the window. Go to the Joanne fabric or some such place and buy heavy felt by the bolt yardage. A brown tan works best IMO. Measure and cut to fit inside window. To place in window you can either buy two pressure rods for the top and bottom or you can use Velcro tape to tape it to the window frame. Same theory as the Saran Wrap type stuff taped to windows in the winter.

 

You could probably do every room in your apartment for the cost of getting black out curtains for one window using either or a combo of the above and both work better.

 

ETA: both these ideas don't have to make your home look ugly. You can still hang very nice curtains up and no one will notice what's behind them. :)

[BlueTaelon]

Our old house had huge picture windows on the west side of the house and I bought Eclipse curtains. They really did help and were inexpensive but the ones I bought were not pretty. When we moved, I bought these for my dd's room. They are much prettier and keep her room incredibly dark and cool.

Those are pretty! Much better then the ugly white I got. I need to replace a few panels after stupidly machine washing them. Im adding those to the tax return spending list. Thanks!

[Erica in OR]

We ordered one set of thermal curtains from JC Penney online and had them shipped to the store for free shipping. Larger selection than what we found stocked in stores. We also purchased a set of the Eclipse curtains from Kmart. The padding was not as thick, but they were on windows that needed more just darkening than insulation.

 

Erica in OR

[ElizabethB]

If no one is home during the day, I found that it was cheaper to leave the AC off during the day when I was living in an Apartment in San Antonio. When I got home at night, I would run in and turn on the AC and then go check my mail, the five or ten minutes it took to walk to get the mail was enough to get the apartment bearable by the time I returned. I had a second floor apartment and since I had moved from Colorado, I was comfortable in the apartment during the winter with just the heat from the units below and beside me except for the few days of the year that it went down to the 30's.

[Ellie]

If no one is home during the day, I found that it was cheaper to leave the AC off during the day when I was living in an Apartment in San Antonio. When I got home at night, I would run in and turn on the AC and then go check my mail, the five or ten minutes it took to walk to get the mail was enough to get the apartment bearable by the time I returned. I had a second floor apartment and since I had moved from Colorado, I was comfortable in the apartment during the winter with just the heat from the units below and beside me except for the few days of the year that it went down to the 30's.

 

See, I can easily imagine Joanne's apartment being over 100 without the AC on, and then it would use a boatload of electricity to bring the temp down to where it would be bearable, because I'm sure it would take more than five or ten minutes for that to happen.

[Halftime Hope]

If you sew, another possible way to stretch the usefulness of the curtains would be to get the floor length ones, then if the windows are shorter than all the way to the floor, cut the drapes in half across the drapes, so that one length covers two widths.  I would put them up so that they do not cover the entire window, but they let in a foot or foot and a half of natural light at the top of the window (depending on how tall the windows are), so that there is some daylight to work with.  I'm not sure that will make any sense to anyone else, the way I wrote it.  ??   To finish them, it would be very easy to get wide ribbon in a contrasting or complimentary (sp?) color and make ties to go over the curtain rod, then also run that ribbon across the bottom of the curtain as a contrasting stripe, 4 or 6 inches from the bottom.  You could have a really pretty two-color curtain to go with whatever your décor colors are. 

[swellmomma]

I'm cheap, I'd go with tin foil.  SHiny side facing out to reflect the suns rays away.  With the blinds down you can't see the foil from inside.  Some apartments do not allow it but it helps a lot and only costs you a couple bucks. (With so many cats in my house I can't foil the windows though, they just tear through it)

[ElizabethB]

See, I can easily imagine Joanne's apartment being over 100 without the AC on, and then it would use a boatload of electricity to bring the temp down to where it would be bearable, because I'm sure it would take more than five or ten minutes for that to happen.

Mine was over 100 degrees and it was cheaper to leave it off. I tried both and looked at the numbers. It was bearable after 5 to 10 minutes but not down to comfortable for 30 to 60 minutes after that. But, it saved about $100 per month by running it this way so I felt it was worth it.