Are You Insulated?

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There are other ways of improving a window's insulating properties.

Curtains call be made more effective insulators. You can use thicker material, or even a quilted material with an insulating filling; add a reflective covering to send heat back into the room; and make sure that escaping down-drafts between the window and the curtains are reduced by:

(1) using a valance that fits well around the top of the curtain;
(2) ensuring that the sides of the curtain connect as well as possible to the sides of the frame and to themselves in the middle;
(3) providing a shelf or sill for the seam of the curtains to lie on; and
(4) ensuring that if a radiator is fitted below the window, the warm convection current from the radiator does not go behind the curtain. (Either tuck the curtain behind the radiator or install a small shelf.)

Blinds call be made to fit in slides at the side of windows, so they are easier to seal than curtains. The bottom of the blind can simply rest on the sill and a simple flap can contain the top. Blinds, being more rigid than curtains, can more easily be treated with special coatings or incorporate a thin insulating film.

Shutters can be designed to be insulated and tight-fitting, and hinged so that they fold back and to the side when not in use. These will almost certainly need to be specially made.

Pop-in insulation panels. are a cheap and effective solution. A ridged sheet of insulation, preferably one that is a sandwich of aluminum foil and card (in order to protect the foil), is cut to size and fitted to exactly the inside of the frame, and the side facing the room is covered with fabric. The main disadvantage is the extra work required to place them each time you wish to insulate the window. One solution is to have them hinged at the top so they can swing up out of the way and be attached to the ceiling by a hook.

External security and insulation blinds. are made first and foremost for security. However, they have the advantage that they are placed on the outside of the house and so do not interfere with internal arrangements of rooms. They would be worth thinking about if you are having external insulation fitted, if you have a real security problem in your neighborhood, or if the facade of your house has little aesthetic significance.

Ground Floor/Basement Insulation

The ground itself acts an excellent insulator below about two feet; its insulating effect is similar to being attached to a neighboring house. Floor insulation thus takes a lower priority compared with roofs and external walls. Traditionally ground floors have been made from boarded joists supported by masonry sleeping walls. This has the essential function of airing the timber used in their construction and, incidentally, ventilating away any radon seeping up from the ground. This means that the temperature of a well ventilated underfloor crawl space in high wind can be closer to that of the outside. Insulating just below the floorboarding between the timber joists becomes a beneficial measure to undertake.

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