Category: Window Screens

Tips For Shading Your Windows During The Colder Months
Have you ever considered shading solutions for your windows during the colder months of the year? While it’s true that problems with too much natural light in the house occur during the sunnier months of the year, you can run into the same issues if you don’t have the right practical design set up. Even as the hours of daylight diminish! This is how you can prepare the windows of your home for year-round protection:

Year-round Shading Solutions

Fortunately, methods used to block natural light during the warmer months can also be applied during the fall and winter. Retractable screen systems are sometimes considered warm weather-only products, but they can help protect your house from the certain elements all year long!

In terms of money and protecting the environment, fall and winter make it challenging to upkeep an efficient home. For example, the sun pouring in through your windows can throw your indoor temperature control out of whack. Especially if you’ve installed new temperature monitoring systems! Thankfully, window treatments provide an effective block from unwanted natural light, while also giving you another decorative option. As wonderful and life-nourishing as the sun is, it can sometimes double as an annoyance. Simply plan ahead to avoid any inconveniences!

Shading Strategies

Maximizing your home’s utility during the colder months is actually very easy. By following a few simple steps recommended by United States Department of Energy and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, you will find that your energy bills are reduced and your living spaces are more comfortable.
- Exterior shading: Look for places outside your home where you can use overhangs, screens or natural shading elements. If you properly implement this strategy, it can further benefit you by protecting your home from wind, rain and snow.
- Prioritize windows on the west and south for shading. These are the directions where the sun will be at its most intense for the longest periods of time. By focusing more effort and resources here, you will be able to better manage the way light flows into your home.
- Consider glare: Glare can be just as big of an issue as temperature (although, they are often related). Check to see which surfaces in your home are hit the hardest by the sun and implement design ideas to alleviate that effect. For instance, if a cabinet is getting too much direct sunlight the color of the surface may fade. To fix that, you could use a retractable screen to block the window where the excess glare is coming from.
November 15, 2018
How To Decrease Winter Heating Bills

Tis the season! For many homeowners, saving money on energy while keeping your home warm poses quite the challenge. Don’t worry! With a head start on home improvements, you can decrease your monthly heating bills, maintain a toasty home and avoid repairs in the lowest temperatures of the season.

1. Tune-up or upgrade your furnace

You should begin with changing the filters in your furnace and having a technician evaluate its condition. The technician can then fix any problems causing inefficiency in your system. If you have an outdated furnace, you may want to consider upgrading to a more recent model with the Energy Star seal. These updated models produce the most heat in your home while using the least amount of energy so when monthly heating bills arrive you don’t have to worry!

2. Seal or replace your windows

Old windows can be drafty. If you have outdated windows in your home, replacing them altogether could be the most cost-effective option. Properly installed energy-efficient windows seal your home, preventing cold air from entering and warm air from escaping. If your windows aren’t too outdated, you may not have to replace them. Instead, search for areas around your windows where air is leaking and seal them up with caulk. Another way to keep hot air in is by wrapping windows in special plastic. These helpful kits come with tape strips that allow you to adhere the plastic sheets over the window frame. You can then use a small vacuum-like device to make the plastic drum-tight. This will prevent cold air from getting in through drafty windows, thereby acting as indoor climate control.

3. Use natural light

For the good of the environment, make the greenhouse effect work in your home by allowing sunlight to pour inside. By retracting your window screens during the day, you can naturally heat up a room since energy from the sun will be amplified by the glass on your window. This method is most effective with windows that get large amounts of sunlight. Disappearing retractable screens are invisible when not in use, ensuring that the most natural light possible light will enter your windows and heat the room during the day.

4. Block off unused areas

Why waste energy on rooms that aren’t being used? During cold winters, you can seal the doors, hatches or vents in low traffic areas. However, the best way to reduce air flow to these spots is by sealing them with new gaskets or door sweeps. Once these unused areas are properly sealed, the preferred areas of the house will receive a controlled concentration of heat.

5. Consider a programmable thermostat

Installing a thermostat to your home allows you to program certain features that best fit your needs. For example, you can program the system to increase the temperature of your home during the evening. Finishing work late? With this system, enjoy walking into a nice, toasty house and relax. To keep the cost of heating down, you can set the thermostat to decrease the temperature during the warmer daylight hours. This way, your furnace won’t be wasting energy heating the home when you aren’t there to enjoy it.

6. Rearranging furniture

Your furniture may be blocking important vents that carry warm air. By placing a bed or sofa over a vent, you are preventing heat to disperse about the room. This causes your furnace to work harder as it thinks it is not pumping enough warmth. Ensure that your vents are open and unblocked by rearranging your furniture. This will help your furnace waste less energy while allowing warm air to settle in your house.

Now you’re ready to relax, cozy up and enjoy the rest of the winter – the perfect time to watch a little (or maybe a lot) of Netflix!

December 15, 2018
Adding More Light To Your Home

If you ever feel like you’re living in a cave, you might just need more natural light in your home. There are all sorts of features in your house that may be preventing the flow of sunlight without you knowing. From the colors on your wall to the positioning of furniture, there are ways to optimize the daylight that your home receives. Use these techniques to open your home to the natural light of the sun:

Add Windows

First of all, you’ll need to know which sides of the house get the most sunlight. Once you are sure, you can then optimize that part of your home by adding windows on the walls that face the sun. This will increase the volume of light entering the house by adding new passages for the light to travel through. Similarly, you should be paying attention to notoriously dark spaces in your home. Stairwells and hallways are likely to be trouble spots. If these areas have an exterior wall, consider installing windows there, too. You could even add in a “sun pipe” from the roof to bring natural light into gloomy areas of your home that don’t have outside walls!

Dutch Curtains

Getting rid of heavy curtains doesn’t have to mean sacrificing privacy. Instead of curtains, consider investing in Phantom Screens’ retractable screens. Retractable screens are unobtrusive and completely invisible when not in use! When you need privacy or a little darkness to watch a movie, simply deploy the screens. Retractable screens can be fitted on any type of window to make installations easy.

Light entering from the top of the window will reach deepest into a room. Oftentimes, blinds fold up into the top of the window, still blocking sunlight. Thankfully, Phantom Screens’ retractable screens recess completely out of the window to ensure you’ll be getting every drop of light you want!

Employ Reflection

You can also use principles of reflection to multiply the amount of light entering a room. Bright or white surfaces reflect light, so consider painting the walls of your home in light shades to help to reflect sunlight. Meanwhile, don’t forget about your ceilings! You can paint them either white or a color closely related to white. Again, keep reflection principles in mind when choosing furniture. Rather than gloss finishes that create glare, consider purchasing furniture with matte finishes.

Another idea to keep in mind is to utilize contrast to highlight areas of the house. For example, paint the walls with deep colors in cozy spaces, but have bright features. A white piece of art on top of a mossy green wall brings attention to the object, and vice versa. You can also use mirrors as wall art to further reflect light. In other words, be strategic!

Moving Furniture

Furniture can also block light from moving about a space. Large objects, such as bookcases, should be placed perpendicular to the windows. This allows light entering to move forward without any interruption.

Trade For Glass

Consider adding glass to both interior and exterior doors to allow easy light flow. If you are concerned about privacy, not to worry! There are plenty of options to keep your privacy.

For example, font doors can have frosted or patterned glass that obscures images seen through them. Also, while the interior of your home may not be the most intriguing place to add glass, it will promote the flow of light. If the entrances to your study, kitchen or living room have doors, you can replace them with glass fixtures. Another great option would be French doors while exterior doors can be screened with Phantom’s retractable door screens.

January 1, 2019