I started a project last Fall to start upgrading the South facing part of the house. There were two parts that I wanted to help with energy efficiency for our home:
- Tint the windows
- Install new blinds
In between long runs for my marathon, I worked on the two windows downstairs. The first part was to tint the two sections of each window. The tint / window film I choose is supposed to help with the following:
- reject 70% of the sun’s heat
- retain winter heat (because it’s low-e)
- block glare
- reduce fading
Basically, it’s supposed to help with the overall energy savings that we’ve been working on here at Ramsgate Manor. After putting the tint on the first two windows downstairs, I could tell the sun”s intensity was reduced and the heat coming through wasn’t as strong.
I also wanted to upgrade the blinds in our windows. We had the cheap, plastic blinds that seem to attract more dust that anything else in the house. Merri Beth and I decided to upgrade to the faux wood style made by Levoler. We had them custom cut at Lowe”s to match our window frames.
Instead of doing the entire house at once, we upgraded one room at a time. In the Fall, we completed the two windows downstairs. In the winter, we added new blinds to the master bedroom. A few weeks ago, I tinted and added a new blind to Zander’s bathroom upstairs.
This weekend, I completed the project. It was a cloudy day, which was perfect weather to apply the window film. I tinted the three remaining windows, two in Zander’s room and one in the bonus room. Then I added the last of the blinds.
The best part is, the entire South side of our home, the front, is ready for the harsh Summer sun. The tint should help reduce the amount of heat coming in from the windows and the blinds make our windows look nicer and also help block sunlight. All-in-all, a good investment in our home—making it more energy efficient and upgrading our windows to something a little nicer.