Ideas to keep the heat out

Tippytoes

Hi

The current hot weather has made it unbearable - that is even being in my kitchen, let alone cooking in it. My kitchen has quite a big side window and a door which leads out into the garden. Not sure what way the house faces, but from midday until sun down my kitchen gets the full glare of the sun. I've got an ordinary wooden blind at the window which shades the kitchen a bit, but the heat still penetrates.

Has anyone got any ideas on what I can do to keep the heat out? Would blackout blinds keep the heat as well as the glare out? I can't afford to spend too much.

Thanks in anticipation.

phill99

I bought an energy saving blind from Argos for my kitchen. It has a silver coating on the back and is quite effective at keeping the sun out as well as the heat in. Can be trimmed to fit and are not expensive. Also, the important thing is timing. When its hot in the kitchen, its too late to pull them down as the temperature of the room has risen too much. During the summer you need to leave them down all day so the cooler air remians cool and doesn't get warmed up. Pulling them down when its already hot is a bit late! You may also find that closing your venitian blinds first thing in the morning will keep the cool air cool.

Tippytoes

I keep the blind closed all the time. The kitchen is quite cool in the morning, but as soon as the sun moves round the temperature rises quickly. It doesn't start to cool down again until 7ish in the evening.
I'll take a look at what Argos has to offer. I suppose I'll have to find a blind to fit the door too - defeats the object if I don't deal with them both.

Thanks for your help phill.

Welsh_Totster

I second having blinds with reflective backing. Our main bedroom and en suite are in the attic the bedroom has two large velux windows and is south facing and the en suite is north facing with a standard sized velux. All 3 windows have fitted reflective backed blinds (looks like foil!). Now attics are notorious for being baking in warmer weather but we found that opening all 3 windows to get the air flowing but closing the blinds so not letting sunlight in keeps the room nice and cool. The blinds really work a treat!