The Science Behind Heat-Resistant Window Coverings
Beating the heat is more than just getting comfortable! Here in the Valley, we treat it as an ethos—you have to be able to beat the heat to stay comfortable, keep your home utility bills low, and prevent your furniture from being damaged by UV rays. To beat the heat, you must understand the heat. This time on the Budget Blinds Scottsdale and Fountain Hills blog – the science of heat, how it transfers, and how to beat it with heat-resistant window coverings!
What is Heat
In simple terms, heat is an energy that is transferred from one body to another as the result of a difference in temperature. If two bodies at different temperatures are brought together, energy is transferred—i.e., heat flows—from the hotter body to the colder. For our purposes, Body 1 is the sun, and Body 2 is our homes. Heat is the energy that is transferred from the sun to our cooler homes, warming up our living rooms and making our cars into ovens. You measure heat with thermometers and read it as temperature. Alright. Step one is done!
How Heat Travels
So heat moves from the warmer body to the cooler body; that’s the basics of it. Heat flows in three different ways.
- Conduction: This is heat moving through solid materials. Think of how a metal pot handle gets hot while you’re boiling water on the stove.
- Convection: Heat transfer through liquids or gases, like hot air rising to the ceiling.
- Radiation: Heat moves in straight lines and warms anything in its path that absorbs it.
All three of these are types of heat that can warm our homes. The heat of the sun warms the glass of our windows, which in turn warms the air inside the home, increasing the temperature, and voila, you’re heading to the thermostat and turning on the A/C. To tackle them all, we have to have an answer for each. To do that, we rely on materials and their “R-value”.
The R-Value System
The R-value is a number assigned to any material designed to insulate, including windows. The R-value illustrates how well the material resists heat. The higher the R-value, the better the material blocks out heat. Typically, the ratings you’re likely to see in the US range from R-0 to R-60. Window treatments usually fall in the R-0- to R-3 range. R-60 is reserved for heavy-duty insulation materials, like the kind you’ll find in attic insulation. R-0, as you can imagine, means that heat is transferring right through the glass and into the air in your home. But anything higher than 3 has excellent heat-fighting results.
So we know how to measure the heat, and how it travels, now how can windows protect your home?
How Window Treatments Beat The Heat
If you have the ability, replacing your windows with specially insulated windows can be a huge step too, but that’s not always a realistic option, or perhaps your windows are so specially sized that getting custom high R-value windows would be unreasonably expensive. Thankfully, window treatments like blinds, shades, and curtains can do an incredible job of beating the heat.
As we said, three types of heat three defenses are needed!
Insulating window treatments are step one. These stop the flow of conductive and convective heat. Then, for radiant heat, we want to use a barrier window treatment, especially if it has a reflective material to push radiant heat back where it came from. Essentially, one type reduces heat by absorbing it in and preventing further transfer, the other by sending it back out of the house.
Cellular Shades
Cellular shades, also known as honeycomb shades, are the best, most energy-efficient window treatments, period. Their cell construction between the fabric allows for warmed air to be trapped within, creating pockets of insulation that slow heat from transferring through your windows and into your rooms. These coverings can reduce the transfer of heat by up to 80%!
And here’s another added benefit! Cellular shades come in a wide range of options, from fabrics to colors, to opacity levels, and more – allowing you to beat the heat and look good doing it.
(Lined) Blackout Drapes
Blackout drapes block out the sun's heat entirely, and if you opt for a lined variety, the drapes themselves won’t fade either. Drapes are made with a fabric that has a core layer of sunblocking material, meaning they don’t have to be actually black if you have a different aesthetic in mind. Drapes are also easy to open and close, so on those days when heat isn’t an issue, you can pull them wide open and get a full serving of Vitamin D.
Solar Shades
As you might guess by their name, solar shades are hugely powerful in beating the heat. Solar shades block out the intense UV rays, which helps beat the radiation type of heat. Some solar shades are also built with a reflective backing that, in addition to preventing UV and heat from coming indoors, reflects the heat back out of the windows entirely.
Arizonans have a love/hate relationship with the Heat. It makes for decent weather almost year-round, but when it’s so hot and affects the insides of homes it tends to be a bit much. Get the proper window coverings installed today and enjoy Arizona living without all of that extra heat.