Freeze or Pay the Price: Wise Window Treatment Design Lowers Utility Bills

Windows – who doesn’t love them? All that glass, all that marvelous light and view – delish. Your windows were probably the reason you fell in love at first sight with a room or two in your home. And of course, you already know that you paid for all that glass when you purchased or built your home. However, what you may not know is that you are still paying handsomely for your windows.

To you, it’s a window. To me, it’s an energy hole. Your windows are responsible for both heat loss and heat gain in your home, every moment of every day of every year. Your windows are magnifying glasses that will fade, fry and fray your furniture, wood flooring, beautiful hand-knotted rugs, fabrics, draperies and artwork.

This thermal image is showing heat loss around the window

Now, before you start popping the antacids, please know that I can combat these phenomena by using wisely designed, energy efficient window treatments. But in case you’re not convinced yet, here are some “get me an Alka-Seltzer” facts:

• Even closed windows offer little resistance to the flow of heat – in or out.

• Compared to a well-insulated wall, your standard double-pane window allows 10-15 times more heat energy to flow through them.

• Up to 50% of you home’s heating and cooling energy spills out through your closed windows.

• UV rays – the thing we protect ourselves from with sunscreen – can and will cause furniture, fabric, draperies, wood flooring and artwork to fade, fray and wear.

• UV rays can reach even more deeply into our homes during the winter months.

We can help you combat this. Window treatment design is much more complicated than people realize. I take into consideration many factors above and beyond the aesthetic we are working with. There are many ways we can put energy-efficient window design to work for you. Weigh the costs and you’ll likely find that energy efficient window treatments can be one of the most wise and cost effective investments you can make to help control your utility bill. In fact, engage us for two or more window treatments in February, and enjoy 15% off custom window fabric. Give us a call to see how we can help you and your family…and put away those antacids while you’re at it.

SAVE THE DATE

If you’re in the Newtown, PA area on April 16, Donna will be co-hosting a live event with Sycamore Kitchens.  Check back here for more information.