Game-Day TV Glare? Solar Shades for Iowa City Family Rooms

Solar shades are the simplest fix in Iowa City family rooms when fall sun washes out the TV. They cut the bright patch on the screen but leave the room light and the yard in view. If the glare comes from a window right behind the TV, a blackout or dual shade may suit you better. Test on a sunny Saturday afternoon. That's when the low western sun does the most damage.

Why does a fall Saturday bring so much glare?

Because the sun gets low just as the afternoon game gets good. Kinnick may be a few miles away, but plenty of us watch from the couch on fall Saturdays.

We checked the U.S. Naval Observatory's sun calculator for a mid-September Saturday in Iowa City. At 3 p.m., the sun sits about 44 degrees up in the southwest. By 5 p.m., it's down to about 25 degrees in the west-southwest. At 6 p.m., it's only 15 degrees up and nearly due west. Sunset comes around 7:23.

Low sun doesn't just light up the floor. It shoots across the room at screen height. It's still warm, too. NOAA's normal September high here is about 76 degrees, so the blinds may already be down for heat.

Step 1: Where is the glare coming from?

Turn the TV off and sit in your usual spot. Look at the black screen. The window you see reflected in it is your main culprit.

• Reflection of a window behind you? The glare bounces off the screen. Go to Step 2.
• Bright window right behind the TV? The screen looks dim against it. Go to Step 3.
• Window off to the side? You'll see a bright stripe or haze. Treat it like Step 2.

Step 2: How do you stop glare on a TV from a window behind the couch?

Lower a solar shade on that window. Solar fabric is woven to filter sunlight, so the hard bright square turns soft. You still see the yard. Our solar shades come in different openness levels. Lower openness blocks more sun. Higher openness keeps more of the view. For a west window behind the couch, lean toward the lower end.

One tip: lower it before kickoff, not at the fourth quarter. Glare grows as the sun drops.

Step 3: Window behind the TV: solar or blackout?

This one is harder. A bright window behind a screen makes the picture look washed out, even with a solar shade down. You have three choices:

• Solar shade if you want the view and can live with a brighter backdrop.
• Blackout roller shade if this room is mainly for TV and movies.
• Dual roller shade if you want both. It stacks two fabrics in one casing, a light-filtering layer for daytime and a blackout layer behind it. Pull the blackout layer down for the game.

With blackout fabric, an outside mount blocks more light at the edges than an inside mount does.

Step 4: Does your street have big trees?

Big trees can do half the work at a west window. Iowa City has been named a Tree City USA every year since 1979, the city's forestry division says. On older blocks, mature trees can block much of that low sun in early fall. Their leaves come down later in the season, though. So glare can grow from September to November. Once the leaves are down, our winter light rules for Goosetown and Longfellow pick up the story.

On newer streets the trees are still small. A west family room there may get full sun all fall. Our post on roller shades for three new Tiffin homes covers that young-tree problem.

How do the three shade choices compare for a TV room?

Have a big great room with lots of glass? Our North Liberty building-era guide covers that 2000s-style room.

Got more than one window to tame? We can bring solar shades in Iowa City to your family room, with samples to test in your real afternoon light. Every shade here comes cordless, or you can go motorized. That's a plus with kids and pets around. Our own team hangs them, and we run every shade up and down before we leave. Book your free consultation.

Kevin Sill is CFO and co-owner of the family-owned Budget Blinds franchises serving the Iowa City area.