Insulating your home for the upcoming winter will save energy and money while keeping your home at a desirable temperature. Looking at all of the options available for insulation can seem confusing and intimidating. That’s where Dolphin steps in to help.
Here at Dolphin we can evaluate the condition of your home and find the perfect insulation plan for you. Not only do we encourage insulating to conserve energy, but we also have other tips for saving energy within your home.
If you are looking for an easy way to boost your energy savings even more in your newly insulated home, look into purchasing window shades. Shades do not require you to replace your windows—an expensive task—but rather help you save money to use on insulating and air sealing your home.
Blinds protect your home from cold winter weather and shade you from the summer sun. Having an obstacle between the inside of your home and your windows creates an effective sound barrier, protects your home’s interior from UV damage, and keeps a comfortable and constant temperature.
Blinds offer increased energy savings by helping an insulated home further protect from heat transmission. Insulation protects your home from heat loss, and focusing on your windows takes the final step to sealing your entire home.
There are many different kinds of shades: honeycomb cellular shades, wooden blinds, and vinyl shades. Each type has various strengths to create the most energy efficient option for each window.
Honeycomb shades, also known as cellular shades, are a good fit for any sized window. Generally, the larger the window, the larger the cells will be inside the blinds. This allows for more static air within the shades, which means less moving air. By slowing air movement, the blinds stop heat transmission.
Honeycomb shades come in single, double, and triple-celled shades. As the number of cells increase, the insulating effect that the blinds have increases as well. Air catches within the cells and the more layers there are, the less chance the air has to escape.
These shades not only regulate movement through your windows, they block out light. Honeycomb cells range from light-filtering all the way to blocking all light from entering your room. When the shades are raised, cellular shades reveal more of your window than other shades. They are easily pulled up and can expose your entire view to outside with the simple pull of a string.
Another energy saving option is to install wooden blinds. There are no holes between the shade’s boards, which allows them to close tighter. The tight boards seal the window off to both heat movement and light. Wooden shades have specially designed bottom rails that bring the blinds closer to the window’s edge, which further seals off the area.
Wooden shades offer an earth-friendly option by limiting the use of highly manufactured materials. The wood gives your room a more comfortable and natural look while sealing off heat flow.
Vertical blinds offer a similar look to wooden blinds, but they are usually made out of vinyl and thus do not have the same natural look. Although vinyl has a different look than wood, it is a highly insulating material that effectively blocks heat transmission and light. Vinyl blinds are often extremely cost-effective and deliver the desired results.
Installing the right blinds in your windows is an unobtrusive way to save energy in your home. The small steps you take to accompany installing help exponentially to save you both energy and money. Instead of wasting unnecessary money on replacing your windows, you can put more money towards insulating and air sealing. Installing blinds adds to the atmosphere of your home while completing its purpose to block heat flow and light.
The first step to save you energy and money is to insulate your home because insulating is the single most effective way to stop heat transmission. While insulation is at the top of the list, the small steps you can take to continue to seal your home also add to your savings.
