Best curtains for keeping heat in?

mark1231

Hi all, I recently moved into a new house in March and realised this house gets so cold.

I've had a combi boiler installed which is amazing when the heating is on but i'm looking at other ways to help keep the heat in. The house is tiled and has laminarte in both bedrooms and the living , i'm looking to change both bedrooms to carpet with some nice think underlay and redo the laminate downstairs and put some good insulation in. which i know will help and i'm looking into seeing if i have wall cavity as well as loft insulation.

The next thing i'm looking at is some nice curtains. Whats best for keeping heat in when they are shut, is lined best or blackout? i know thermal would be best but its hard to find any at a decent price and that look good.

Thanks Mark.

Coastalwatch

HI Mark and welcome to the madhouse!

Afraid I can't advise on that matter but the thread below should prove interesting if not conclusive!

Hopefully others may have a firmer opinion!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6063242/thermal-honeycomb-blind-conundrum#latest

silverwhistle

How about rugs in the bedrooms? It's just that I find hard flooring better in the hot weather we have now and I take up the lounge rug/carpet and store in the loft during summer.

In the longer term I'm thinking of external shutters like I used to have in Italy, where all houses and flats have them.

joefizz

Ive both pull down blackout blinds and thermal curtains in the bedrooms. Think the bedroom ones come from IKEA although I did get thermal lined ones made by a local company for either the hall or the main bedroom, were an odd shape so bespoke was best.
In winter the pull down blackout roller blinds are inside the window cavity with the thermal ones pulled across covering most of the wall outside. In summer just the blackout roller blinds. In the main bedroom the window was too big for just one roller blind so bought two and sized them for the join in the window panels.
Second the rugs on the wooden floor idea, have wooden floors throughout the house although it helps that when I redid the house a couple of years ago I put the largest/best thermal underfloor insulation I could (replaced skirting boards, cut bits off doors etc).
Ikea also do some non-slip material to put between the rugs and laminate so you dont go on your ear when you get out of bed in the morning ;-)

Neil49

Take a look at Dunelm for thermal curtains. They often have a lot of reduced items which can save you quite a bit of money. 

Exiled_Tyke

Mickey666 said:

Carpet may FEEL warmer than a laminate floor but the actual temperature of both will be the same.  Same as a granite worktop FEELS colder than a wooden one, even though both will be at the same room temperature.
The reason for this difference in feeling is because body temperature is higher and therefore will lose heat when in contact with ANY cooler surface.   However, laminate/granite will conduct heat better than carpet/wood so feet/hands will lose heat FASTER And so that surface will FEEL colder, even though all surfaces will be at the same room temperature.
In or there words, fitting a carpet will do nothing to help warm up the room, it will just make feet FEEL warmer - which of course has some value but the same thing will be achieved with a thick pair of socks.

But isn't it also true that carpet is a better insulator than laminate and so will help keep the room warmer? It is implied in what you have said, laminate conducts heat away more effectively than carpet.  

Exiled_Tyke

I got some excellent thermal curtains from M&S. Not cheap but great quality and a lot cheaper than having bespoke curtains made. 

EricMears

Exiled_Tyke said:

But isn't it also true that carpet is a better insulator than laminate and so will help keep the room warmer? It is implied in what you have said, laminate conducts heat away more effectively than carpet.  

Of course with UFH,  'insulating' the floor surface needs to be avoided.

frozen_wastes

I’ve used thermal blinds supplied by a company called blinds2go.  These are blinds with a honeycomb cross section.  There’s two principle varieties- a translucent variety, and a blackout variety.  The blackout variety has a foil lining that helps with reflecting radiative heat.

I’ve  installed these over the course of the last 6 years. They are really very effective.  They are made to measure and easy to install.