Insulating curtains and shutters

[NickR]

I am building a cabin in Maine that will have substantial glass exposure to the southwest. I am already researching windows and there seems to be good info available (Marvin, Home Guard, etc). I would interested in your experience with insulating curtains or shutters for nighttime heat conservation, i.e. brands, dealers in eastern Maine or New Brunswick, installation tricks, do it yourself projects, etc.
Thanks, Nick R.

 

[steam man]

My house faces true south and I get plenty of heat gain when the sun is low. You want to be sure you have some eve overhang for the summer. There are solar shades that are available that are effective for controlling heat gain. We use them on the ships I work on.

Mike

 

[drizler]

Not much you can do without major engineering but nice heavy drapes. They make a big difference both summer and winter. One thing that can save you a bundle is the curtain rod. Unless you need neaty nicey plated special get out your wallet stuff do it the easy way. Go to the local steel fabrication mill and get yourself some 1" round pipe. It comes in 22 foot length. Cut that puppy to length making sure its long enough to accomodate the curtain pulled to the side then clean it well with thinner prime and paint with a decent metal paint. No one will ever be able to tell the difference, its at least 3 times as strong and costs about 1/5th as much as a curtain rod to fit say a double french door like I have at 16 feet. Prices for commercial curtain rods over 10 feet are truly insane, look for yourself and while you are it notice how thin and flimsey they are. You can cut the holders out of wood or even a 2 by 4 like I did, sand them and fill the sunken screw holes with wood putty and paint. Use the curtains with the simple loop at the top the curtain slides inside like a sleeve. No nice neato hangars, clips sliders and foolish cords. Just grab with your mitt and slide them together and apart. You can't stand on one side like a fancy cord rig but when you are dealing with long large heavy curtains there is oh so much to go wrong and get tangled. Mine have been soldiering on happily for about 10 years and never stick or jump tracks they just work. If I remember the curtains were a lot cheaper mail order just shop around. Dark colors don't show those little grunge marks that show up sometime or another.

 

[jebatty]

Why bother - build an insulated wall instead. Why spend big bucks on windows so you can enjoy the outdoors from inside your cabin and then cover them up? Get good windows and you don't need shades, drapes. Do the research -- much better windows are available than you might think, but they are very pricey.

We have 30' of glass facing SSW, 4' eaves, no window coverings of any kind. Early spring, winter and late fall sun totally warms the house from passive solar, while summer sun with eaves is fully shaded and no heating at all. Plus, -30F winter not unusual here, and no drafts, no condensation, and still winter solar heat gain. In fact, we have no window coverings on any windows. Every night the deer gather outside to watch the man and woman do their thing.

Take a look at https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/11948/

 

[drizler]

The deer back east are more old school. They hang out in the pasture out back because we are all vegetarians, they like the grass in the pasture and the coyotes are afraid of the horses. What kind of glass you got there? Ours is low E about an inch thick across the capsule and its still worth drawing the shades. Between the French doors and the skylights I get the same heating but it sure seems to cool off faster than it heats up.

 

[jebatty]

What I have is no longer made, as best as I can tell. We bought our windows as replacements starting in 1992, and were from Hurd of WI and known as Insol8. I understand that an interior glazing on some of these windows failed, ours have been perfect now for 15 years. They were advertised as R8 (u=0.12), probably center of glass rather than window unit.

You want to get the rating for the window as a unit, not just center of glass.

In any event, windows now typically are rated on U value and other factors. I think U is the the inverse of R. My advice, if your goal is the type of window we have and with which we are exceptionally pleased, is to look for a window with a U rating less than .20 and as low as you can get and afford.

These are rated U=0.15 but are commercial.
(broken link removed to http://www.visionwall.com/Html%20Files/featuresbbenefitstestdata.htm)

These are rated R-5 to R-15 (U=0.20 to U=0.07).
http://www.alpeninc.com/product_specs/broc_fiber.html
http://www.alpeninc.com/windows/index.htm

There likely are other brands available.

 

[steam man]

I am building a cabin in Maine that will have substantial glass exposure to the southwest. I am already researching windows and there seems to be good info available (Marvin, Home Guard, etc). I would interested in your experience with insulating curtains or shutters for nighttime heat conservation, i.e. brands, dealers in eastern Maine or New Brunswick, installation tricks, do it yourself projects, etc.
Thanks, Nick R.

Hey Nick-where are you building the cabin? I live in Millinocket. Let me help you out here. Since I made the mistake years ago by installing some holes in my roof usually called "skylights", I am dealing with the aftermath and want to seal them for the winter. Below I listed some links to books and whatever on the subject you may want to consider. I haven't read any of them yet.

You sure you want to build near here? I have to go shovel the roof off for the umpteenth time before it caves in. At least build a roof with a steep pitch. And metal roofing too......................

http://www.amazon.com/Thermal-Shutters-Shades-Schemes-Reducing/dp/093179014X/ref=pd_sim_b_title_1

http://www.amazon.com/Movable-Insul...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203950429&sr=8-1

http://www.knowledgepublications.com/

http://www.cetsolar.com/heatconservation.htm